Dinoreplicas doodles

[Dinoreplicas]

Haven't been active for a while, had a bit of a break from arty stuff. Got myself a Surface Pro, hopefully it'll help me get back into drawing. Of course I couldn't resist removing Windows and putting Ubuntu on it (sorry Microsoft I just prefer Linux).

Courtesy of the patched Kernel from linux-surface It seems to work pretty well. My drawing/painting software of choice is Krita, I've been making some custom brushes (pencils, pens, crayons) to try and replicate my scratchy drawing style, this Ceratosaurus pair is the first Experiment. Entirely digital, no traditional media was harmed in the construction of this drawing.



There's another motive at work here too, my Grandsons have moved into a new house and are wanting a mural for their bedroom. Dinosaur themed of course, there's not much wall space but I'll see what I can come up with. It's been years since I've done any proper drawing, this is the start of me tuning up my hand and eye a bit so I'll probably post some more scribbles intermittently.

[Halichoeres]

Looking good! I recently got a tablet so I'll be interested in your further thoughts on drawing digitally. I hope we'll also see progress on the mural!

[Tyto_Theropod]

If this is what you call a 'doodle', I can't wait to see what your 'real' stuff is like!  I agree with @Halichoeres, I'd love to see the mural if it's possible, but no pressure.

[Dinoreplicas]

Looking good! I recently got a tablet so I'll be interested in your further thoughts on drawing digitally. I hope we'll also see progress on the mural!

Thanks, looking forward to seeing what you produce with it. I'm finding drawing on a screen feels different to drawing on paper but still superior to the hand/eye disconnect I get with my Huion tablet. There's something special about working traditionally though and I could never give it up completely.

If this is what you call a 'doodle', I can't wait to see what your 'real' stuff is like!  I agree with @Halichoeres, I'd love to see the mural if it's possible, but no pressure.

Cheers, I call everything a doodle . Spent a bit of time polishing the Ceratosaurus piece, sometimes I use language a little imprecisely .

I've been making a few measurements for the mural to get a handle on what kind of proportions I'm working with. The plan is for the painting to be in the blue area of the drawing. the adjacent wall would've been better but as you can see it's been occupied.



So the working area is kind of a tallish square. Would've preferred a more widescreen aspect for the scene but never-mind. Want to try a late Jurassic scene (that's why the Ceratosauruses). Want to make the dinos big too so not much background will be visible. Gone back to pencil/paper for these rough layouts showing Ceratosaurus, Stegosaurus and Camarasaurus.

First composition, quickly realised I wanted to squeeze in another species.



The stegosaurus pose is loosely based on the 'Sophie' mount in the Natural History Museum London. Tomorrow I might try adjusting the composition so that the stegosaurus is nearer the bottom.

[Dinoreplicas]

Rapid scribbles, trying out an idea.





Couple of studies, trying to drama up the confrontation a bit. I've raised the height of the view position because of the tall/portrait aspect of the mural area but I don't like doing this because looking down on dinosaurs makes them look less imposing.

I might try lowering the eye level and see what happens. I still want a Stegosaurus/Ceratosaurus stand off in the foreground with a pair of Camarasaurus lumbering about in the background. Maybe some thumbnails tonight.

[Dinoreplicas]

Yet more poses

Having another go with the Surface Pro and it's starting to feel more natural for drawing. I'll never give up traditional materials completely but there's some nice advantages to digital.





For drawing figures and animals, I like to find the pose with a few loose gesture lines (light blue) then work a more detailed drawing over the top on a new layer.

[Dinoreplicas]

Prep sketches for background characters

[Dinoreplicas]

Rough layout for mural, not the most elegant of compositions but probably OK for a bedroom mural for two boys under 6. My aim was to get the dinos nice and big in the frame at the expense of environment.



Might be worth going back to the older design with the stegosaurus in the middle and the ceratosaurus at the bottom, It had better layering from foreground to background, I'll see how it goes.

[Halichoeres]

I also prefer the Ceratosaurus at the bottom with the Stego in the middle. That's kind of a tricky angle to draw a theropod! At least for me it is, but I think you're gifted with a stronger sense of space than I am.

[Dinoreplicas]

Well the lads liked the scene so I'm not going any further with alternative designs. Refined the drawings a bit, I've started blocking in a colour rough already, kind of bright and sunny. I'll push to finish over weekend.

[Newt]

This looks great! I'm sure your grandsons will be very happy.

[Dinoreplicas]

Up till 5am fiddling with this. After discussing colour preferences with grandson No 1, the study came out like this.





Had another look after a sleep, I think I need to fix the posture of the front sauropod. In trying to make the pose more 'dynamic' I put a little too much bend in the forelimbs. I'll adjust it when I'm putting it on the wall but I might fix the digital file as well at some point.

[Stegotyranno420]

Reminds me of those good old children's books about dinosaurs I used to have, but scientifically more accurate.  Great job!

[Dinoreplicas]

Reminds me of those good old children's books about dinosaurs I used to have, but scientifically more accurate.  Great job!

Thanks, I'd wish I could claim the bright colours are because it's for a child's bedroom but the truth is, my colour sense has never been subtle .

[Stegotyranno420]

Reminds me of those good old children's books about dinosaurs I used to have, but scientifically more accurate.  Great job!

Thanks, I'd wish I could claim the bright colours are because it's for a child's bedroom but the truth is, my colour sense has never been subtle .

to be fair, it is still a masterpiece

[Dinoreplicas]

to be fair, it is still a masterpiece

You're very kind.
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Not doing arty things for for the past few days, last night I scratched down an idea that had been bouncing round in my skull. Not done for the mural but clearly I still haven't got Camarasaurus out of my system yet . Back to real pencil and paper for this one, where would I be without my A4 scanner!

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

That's beautiful artwork

[Dinoreplicas]

That's beautiful artwork

Thanks!
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Still having a go at this, nearly finished some more detailed penciling traced over this rough.

[Kapitaenosavrvs]

Awesome work! I like the whole friendly vibe of it. Yes, there is a Battle of life and death, but it feels friendly to me
Keep on doing this, i would be happy to see more in the Future

Also i really like your way to approach something like that. Everything you do seems to be planned, planned, more planned and then executed. I never plan anything and just start, which brings a lot of problems in the End. Or i try to plan, think that its way too much for me and don't do anything at all.

[Dusty Wren]

I love seeing an artist's process, so thank you for taking the time to scan in all those pages and talk about why you made certain changes. Kapitaenosavrvs is right; even though this is a battle scene, the colors and the clean line work make it seem so warm and inviting!

Also, consider me impressed that you can draw a convincing Camarasaurus head from such a tricky low-angle perspective.