Newt's paleoart

[Newt]

After a long hiatus, I've made an attempt at paleoart. Nothing fancy, just a sketch of the early Permian beastie Seymouria sanjuanensis. Let me know what you think! I'm going to try to produce paleoart more regularly going forward.

[Shonisaurus]

It is very good to start. What materials have you used to draw the diadectes? Is it a drawing on paper, watercolor, pastel?

[Lanthanotus]

Looks great and shows a lot of experience in sketching and coloring. Am keen to see more to
come.... you gonna intent to add some environment to those works?

[Libraraptor]

I like it! Looking forward to seeing more to come!

[ceratopsian]

That is pretty accomplished. I would like to see more of your work.

[Newt]

@Shonisaurus - Gracias! The drawing is done with colored pencils on toned paper.


@Lanthanotus - Thank you! I have some more ambitious pieces planned, with full environments and multiple animals. I will probably produce several of these simpler sketches before doing those.


@Libraraptor - Danke!


@ceratopsian - Thank you! I have posted a couple of paintings here before: Prognathodon and Toxochelys.

[Halichoeres]

This looks great! The tail is interesting, I didn't realize before this that they had caudal ribs. I wonder what those ribs were enclosing.

[Newt]

Thanks @Halichoeres ! I've been wondering the same myself. I have a fair bit of literature on Seymouria, I should reread it and see if any theories have been presented. My first thought on seeing a reconstructed skeleton was, "Oh, it's got a fat tail like so many extant lizards". But you don't need ribs to store fat. It would make sense if it housed some sort of reproductive structure, but you would then expect it to be dimorphic. I don't think there are enough articulated skeletons to test that idea - two from the Bromacker quarry in Germany, maybe two or three of S. baylorensis from Texas. They could easily all be the same sex.

[Kapitaenosavrvs]

Looks great! As Lanthanotus already said, the experience can be seen in this. Looing forward to see more.

[Newt]

Danke schoen, @Kapitaenosavrvs !

[Newt]

I've long been pondering making a series of prehistoric animal sculptures in 1/20 scale. I have finally begun my first entry: Limnoscelis paludis. Here are the early stages of the armature:




With the tools used: graph paper and pencil, 24 and 32 gauge aluminum wire, calipers, wire cutter, and an assortment of pliers.






Normally the next stage would be "bulking out" the sculpture with something lightweight and inexpensive, such as aluminum foil, but this fellow is so small (about the length of my middle finger) I skipped the bulking out step and went straight to "blocking out" the major masses of the body.





With the tools used: Aves Apoxie (a two-part epoxy sculpting compound) and a brush/shaper combo and Safety Solvent for smoothing the epoxy,




More progress soon!

[Libraraptor]

Looks promising!

[Newt]

Thanks, @Libraraptor !


Beginning to add clay:





With tools used: Super Sculpey Firm, pasta machine, florist's tape, leatherworker's modeling tool, and ribbon tool.

[Newt]

Thanks, ? @Stolpergeist !


A little progress modeling the face:

[Halichoeres]

Cool. I don't see enough art of these early amniote types. What a fun, weird noggin to sculpt, looking good so far!

[Newt]

Thanks again, ? @Stolpergeist ! I thought this beast would look nice with some wrinkles. He is almost 300 million years old, after all!


Thanks, @Halichoeres ! I have a long list of taxa (all North American for this phase) that I want to sculpt for this project; I've aimed for a mix of the familiar and the obscure. You may be pleased to know Rexy didn't make the list.

[Halichoeres]

Ha ha, I have to say that doesn't displease me.

[Newt]

A little more progress:





Modeling tools: some bought, some hand-made




This guy's in the oven for his first baking now.

[Dusty Wren]

This little guy is turning out so well!

What's the plan for the fingers and toes? Are they each going to have a wire inside for support?

[Newt]

Thanks @Dusty Wren ! Having individual wires in the fingers and toes is my preference, but I don't know how well it will work out. They're just so tiny! The entire foot is only a little over 4 mm long (manus and pes are the same size). I may have to just attach a wad of clay and carve out the digits. I've also considered cutting foot armatures from heavy paper. We shall see.