Pheaston attempts paleoart (UPDATE September 2015: 5 new pieces)

[wings]

Fair enough.  I have to say I'm familiar with the myriad inconsistencies with Deinonychus skull restorations over the years.  As illustrated in Ostrom's original paper, while much of the skull seems to taper gently toward the premaxilla, there is a brief but distinct rostral flattening above the naris where the nasal meets the premaxilla in YPM 5232.  It looks as though it is the Hartman illustration- not Paul's- that is based on this illustration (though they both very well may be) because Hartman's skull also includes this "flattening" while Paul's does not.   For whatever reason Ostrom restored the full skull much deeper.  At the dinosaur exhibit I managed we even had the infamous "cast," really a sculpture, that just about every institution has, based on the rather Allosaur-like composite reconstruction in Ostrom's original paper.

However, in general, you are correct that the skull of Deinonychus likely displays none of the overt rostral "concavity" that are hallmarks of Velociraptor, Tsaagan, etc.   Of course, none of this excludes the possibility of some sort of keratinous bump on the end of the nose;)

The only reason that I thought Paul's one looks closer because I thought I see a stronger curvature of the maxilla along the gum line as in Ostrom's while Scott's is less curvy (they might well be using the same specimen). Paul's earlier reconstruction have this concave nasal profile as well since at the time that he assumed (and probably thinks that he can actually see a slight depression in this area at the time, possibility not now as in his more recent illustration http://s924.photobucket.com/albums/ad89/Dinosaur_reference/?action=view&current=Deinonychusantirrhopushodeskalle.jpg ) that Deinoynchus skulls have a very similar profile to the more complete Velociraptors'. Hence he also named his animal "Velociraptor antirrhopus" in his Predatory dinosaurs of the world book. All the skull elements were disarticulated, perhaps Ostrom underestimated the length of the skull so the the shape of it does appear to be deeper than the current reconstructions. I don't have problem with "keratinous bump" along the nasal region since there are quite a concentration of foramina (in the Velociraptor specimen that I've seen, I assume that is the same as in Deinonychus), I just don't know how much? Assuming that in Paul's skull reconstruction shows the correct location of these foramina on the nasal and stops approximately at the nasal/lacrimal contact. So it is very extensive rather than isolated at one end. As to whether this would make a concave nasal region to look like a convex nasal region and vice versa, I don't know either. At the moment we can only make estimates and hopefully one day we can get a fool proof calculation, it could well be a little (which would show a rough form of the region like in most illustrations) or a lot (obstructing the whole base structure like how it is now)

Here is a paragraph from Barsbold and Osmdlska (1999). This is just referring to the nasal because even if the premaxilla processes is depressed, it is unlikely to contribute to a concave nasal profile.
"...The nasal of Velociraptor resembles that of Deinonychus in being relatively long, and in having the lateral and dorsal surfaces at right angles to each other, the dorsal one very narrow. However, in Deinonychus, the profile of the nasal slopes uniformly towards the rostral extremity of the snout, whereas in Velociraptor, the nasal profile slopes only along about two thirds of its caudal length and it rises from about the level of the rostral boundary of the antorbital fossa. This results in the so called depressed 'nasal'..."

[Jetoar]

Amazing draws. You are a artists. I like you feathered deinonychus. It has lot of details  .

[pheaston]

Amazing draws. You are a artists. I like you feathered deinonychus. It has lot of details  .

Thanks very much!

[Gryphoceratops]

Interesting with the feathers on the neck.  Any particular bird you drew(haha pun) inspiration from?

[pheaston]

Interesting with the feathers on the neck.  Any particular bird you drew(haha pun) inspiration from?

I didn't have any bird references in front of me at the time, but I suppose I must have been thinking of a whip-poor-will combined with maybe a magnificent frigate bird and a ruffed grouse for the "puffed-up" look.


Here are some more quickie sketches I did in my little sketchbook. 

Euoplocephalus

Euoplocephalus by paul heaston, on Flickr

Velociraptor

Velociraptor quickie sketch by paul heaston, on Flickr

Nothronychus

Nothronychus quickie sketch by paul heaston, on Flickr

Allo

allosaur sketch by paul heaston, on Flickr

Giraffatitan

giraffititan sketch by paul heaston, on Flickr

Parasaurolophus

parasaurolophus sketch by paul heaston, on Flickr

[Himmapaan]

These are all so gorgeous. I wish I had the courage for more spontaneous sketching like this again.

It also occurs to me that I have never yet tackled an ankylosaur.


And anyone even contemplating tearing into these without praise will have to answer to me! *Stands rampant* 

[pheaston]

It also occurs to me that I have never yet tackled an ankylosaur.

This was my first, and I really had to force myself.  I halfway attempted Edmontonia a few weeks ago and the results had to be burned.  They have the most awkward proportions, so finding a suitable action stance is challenging, as is finding way to approach foreshortening with all the complicated armor.

[Gryphoceratops]

Awesome sketches.  Yeah ankylosaurs are weird and awkward to draw for sure.  I think your euoplocephalus could actually afford to be even wider than you already made it. 

[pheaston]

@Gryph:  Agreed, it probably could be wider.  I tried to make the gut and the forward portion of the hips wide, but it's hard to see the whole thing with the other side of the gut hidden.  That and, while the hips are wide-set at the front, the rear legs themselves aren't that far apart, so it's hard to really show his "girth" if you know what I mean, except in full-frontal view. 

Here's an in-progress oil sketch I'm doing of Centrosaurus nasicornis.  Sorry for the lousy photo.  I'll take a better one when it's done.


centrosaurus in progress by paul heaston, on Flickr

[Jetoar]

Amazing draws  . You should to work as paleoilustrator  .

[pheaston]

Thanks!

Better image (still in progress this morning):

centrosaurus in progress 02 by paul heaston, on Flickr

[krentz]

Wow...KILLER work!  Very inspiring...now where is that sketchbook...

D

[Gryphoceratops]

The Centrosaurus is really nice!

[pheaston]

Wow, thanks to both of you! 

Worked on the centro some more:

centrosaurus by paul heaston, on Flickr

[pheaston]

Decided to go for it and try painting my first environment.
Still in progress.


centrosaurus in progress by paul heaston, on Flickr

[alexeratops]

One day i'l be as good as you... or worse

[Gryphoceratops]

Really nice!  So did you paint the background around the animal?  Its been a long time since I did oils but from what I remember its a thick enough paint so that you could easily paint new things on top of a dried layer (unlike watercolors >.< ). 

[pheaston]

Thanks!  Gryph, yup, I just painted around the centro.  With oil it's easy to change stuff, which is great for me because I screw up constantly.  The biggest thing I have to watch is the thickness of the paint layers.  Thick layers dry slower than thin layers, so I leave them for last.  Painting over a thick layer with a thin layer can lead to cracking as the under layer dries.


On another note, here's a quickie Ceratosaurus sketch I did recently:

Ceratosaurus by paul heaston, on Flickr

[alexeratops]

A QUICK SCETCH?!?!?? That's 2 hours of work for me!!

[Gryphoceratops]

Very cool.  Yes I used to work with oils a lot years ago amongst other things but I have since made watercolors my default medium mostly. 

The ceratosaurus looks nice too.  Maybe make the hind leg flow into the tailbase more?  Supposedly there was a big muscle connecting them in life.