Ictonyx artwork

[Ictonyx]

Thanks Libraraptor, and yeah The Dinosaur Heresies is great. Of course there's plenty of stuff in it that hasn't stood the test of time, but it was written in 1986 - eons ago in terms of dinosaur palaeontology - and I think large chunks of it have held up remarkably well. I think Bakker is often under appreciated as a palaeoartist; The Dinosaur Heresies is absolutely packed with drawings, many of them fantastic, but the fact that Greg Paul really hit his stride in the 80s in terms of spectacular and beautiful paintings has probably tended to obscure Bakker's art somewhat, even to this day.

[Ictonyx]

New laptop is set up, and I can finally get reasonably clean scans.

[Ictonyx]

Triceratops horridus - skeletal ref. from Scott Hartman as usual, with some inspiration from John Conway, Gabriel Ugueto, and Mark Witton.

[ITdactyl]

The trike is my favorite.  I like that you have the animals in such a peaceable pose... well... perhaps everyone except edmontosaurus.  He had to be the rock-star this time.

[Ictonyx]

Thanks! Depicting what is known about Triceratops integument was a good challenge. Edmontosaurus is supposed to be calling, partly because I think hadrosaur faces must have looked strange and interesting with the mouth open.

[Ictonyx]

Torvosaurus tanneri WIP.

[Ictonyx]

The giant Triassic ichthyosaur Shonisaurus. Skeletal ref. Scott Hartman, inspiration from various cetaceans and sharks.

[Halichoeres]

Looks very believable

[Ictonyx]

Thanks!

[Ictonyx]

Elasmosaurus platyurus.

[Ictonyx]

Tylosaurus pembinensis from a different view - I am making a conscious effort to depict animals from different angles and in different positions - full lateral is easiest, but I want to have more artistic variation, and I think animals that are not in orthogonal views tend to look more dynamic and alive. It's difficult getting to grips with the shapes that come with different views, especially when almost all skeletals are in lateral view, with a few in anterior or dorsal view.

[danmalcolm]

These are great. I love your style. Are these mostly just ink?

You manage to make the animals look cute without sacrificing realism.

[Ictonyx]

Thanks danmalcolm, much appreciated. I pencil the line drawing very light, usually with a 3H pencil. I then ink the outline, stipple, and finally erase any pencil markings that still show through. I currently use a 0.05 mm fine liner (uni pin, made by Mitsubishi pencil).

[Halichoeres]

So you do all your stippling with a single nib? That's even more impressive. I usually use at least three to get varying dot sizes and hence varying shades.

[Ictonyx]

I like to show some scarring on some of the big marine animals, like that seen on various large sharks and cetaceans.

[Ictonyx]

Halichoeres: thanks, and yes, all with 0.05 - the differences in shade come purely from differences in dot density. But you've just made me realise that this may not be the best way... I will have to try using different nib sizes at some point! I draw extremely slowly - once I have the outline inked, I basically just sit down and do some stippling between other things - 30 mins here, 10 mins there - and eventually the picture builds up. It is time consuming but I am generally reasonably happy with the outcome.

[Ictonyx]

Deinocheirus mirificus and friends.

[Halichoeres]

I see you subscribe to the gigantothermy argument for featherlessness

[Ictonyx]

Ha, well let's say I subscribe to it being one possibility. Dramatic differences in integument can evolve so quickly between closely related animals - even big animals with slow generational turnover, like woolly mammoths vs. tropical extant elephants - that I think a lot of variability is on the table, and that phylogenetic bracketing is not necessarily that helpful. To be more precise, I think phylogenetic bracketing is very helpful for predicting the sort of filamentous integument that various giant theropods might have had, but not necessarily much use for predicting the amount they had. I imagine this guy to be covered in small bristly filaments, something like an elephant.

[Halichoeres]

Yeah, that seems pretty reasonable. It's a labile trait.