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Artwork (Digital) / Animal related (non-anthro)
Species Dinosaur
Size 1280 x 780
File Size 349.5 kB
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I consider this to basically be my magnum opus of paleoart at this point in time. I've spent months on all of the details and shading. The full resolution version is about five times larger than this one. I am SO glad it is finally finished.
This represents a hypothetical scene from the Jehol group of early Cretaceous Liaoning of China, something like 122 million years ago. Several animals from the Yixian formation are represented here: Sinornithosaurus millennii, a feathered dromaeosaurid dinosaur; Liaoxitriton zhongjiani, a salamander; Alloraphidia, a snakefly; Epicharmeropsis, a mayfly, and a dead Callobatrachus, a frog.
The gliding dinosaurs are meant to be generic microraptorine dinosaurs, not Microraptor gui specifically, in order to avoid the slight anachronism caused by placing Microraptor and Sinornithosaurus in the same scene. Despite that, it is (obviously) based on Microraptor gui (I started this scene before I learned that the two animals were not quite contemporary, I admit).
This illustration will be the section header for the chapter on feathered dinosaurs for the book on evolution and religion that I'm currently working on with a few other people, including Cayro. Once again, thank you Cayro for shading critiques and suggestions.
To see a larger version, please click here.
This represents a hypothetical scene from the Jehol group of early Cretaceous Liaoning of China, something like 122 million years ago. Several animals from the Yixian formation are represented here: Sinornithosaurus millennii, a feathered dromaeosaurid dinosaur; Liaoxitriton zhongjiani, a salamander; Alloraphidia, a snakefly; Epicharmeropsis, a mayfly, and a dead Callobatrachus, a frog.
The gliding dinosaurs are meant to be generic microraptorine dinosaurs, not Microraptor gui specifically, in order to avoid the slight anachronism caused by placing Microraptor and Sinornithosaurus in the same scene. Despite that, it is (obviously) based on Microraptor gui (I started this scene before I learned that the two animals were not quite contemporary, I admit).
This illustration will be the section header for the chapter on feathered dinosaurs for the book on evolution and religion that I'm currently working on with a few other people, including Cayro. Once again, thank you Cayro for shading critiques and suggestions.
To see a larger version, please click here.
Category Artwork (Digital) / Animal related (non-anthro)
Species Dinosaur
Size 1280 x 780px
File Size 349.5 kB
Thank you! I tried to make their poses very expressive without compromising their wildness and naturalistic portrayal. Nowadays it tends to be a specific goal of mine in paleoart to make the animals expressive and empathizable without anthropomorphizing them in any way. It can be a tricky balance to get right.
And ah yes, you're quite knowledgeable about mushrooms, aren't you? I've never been totally clear on how far back in the Mesozoic it's appropriate to draw mushrooms all over the place. Copying what I said to someone else a while ago: As far as I know, the oldest fossil containing elements that resemble basidiomycotes is Palaeoancistrus, from the Pennsylvanian, so around 310ish million years ago. After the Permian-Triassic extinction, there was a fungal "spike" where many groups of fungus suddenly flourished and exploded in diversity. So that's my excuse for drawing mushrooms in any Mesozoic period, though I don't know whether that's generally accepted!
And ah yes, you're quite knowledgeable about mushrooms, aren't you? I've never been totally clear on how far back in the Mesozoic it's appropriate to draw mushrooms all over the place. Copying what I said to someone else a while ago: As far as I know, the oldest fossil containing elements that resemble basidiomycotes is Palaeoancistrus, from the Pennsylvanian, so around 310ish million years ago. After the Permian-Triassic extinction, there was a fungal "spike" where many groups of fungus suddenly flourished and exploded in diversity. So that's my excuse for drawing mushrooms in any Mesozoic period, though I don't know whether that's generally accepted!
Now that I finally see this masterpiece finished, I feel an overwhelming urge to say more than just "Very nice" or "I like it!". This deserves much more than that.
The sheer amount of detail you've put into this piece is almost disorientating; everything from the pedantically painted plumages to the meticulously made mayfly wings. Even the eyes shimmer pleasantly. The poses are excellent and believable for this scene.
I find myself also falling in love with the shadow-work and the lighting; and I do have a weakness for crepuscular rays.
My arbitrary alliteration above mostly betrays my loss for words right now. This is just amazing. It is, indeed, the best art I've ever seen from you. The scaled-down FA image does not do it justice in the slightest.
(New desktop background, whoo!)
The sheer amount of detail you've put into this piece is almost disorientating; everything from the pedantically painted plumages to the meticulously made mayfly wings. Even the eyes shimmer pleasantly. The poses are excellent and believable for this scene.
I find myself also falling in love with the shadow-work and the lighting; and I do have a weakness for crepuscular rays.
My arbitrary alliteration above mostly betrays my loss for words right now. This is just amazing. It is, indeed, the best art I've ever seen from you. The scaled-down FA image does not do it justice in the slightest.
(New desktop background, whoo!)
I'll definitely be posting a journal to advertise it once it's finished. :) The general gist of the book is that evolution is not incompatible with Christianity, and that creationists should not feel like they need to compromise anything about their religious beliefs by accepting evolution as truth. Even though I and the other editor are not religious, we do think that it's important for religious people to not feel threatened by evolution.
You're ability to paint a truly "living" scene is absolutely astounding! You can see, hear, and even smell the environment here XD It's just that well done! On a more personal note I must say that you did a beautiful job on rendering the tree bark.. that has always been a tough texture for me to paint and always ends up being such a pain in the ass @_@
I also really like how you choose a cool blue background and gradually warmed the image with yellows and earthtones for the foreground. It gives the painting a nice sense of depth.
Honestly, I could go on and on about how wonderful your attention to detail is and how each thing you did enhances the picture in so many ways... Overall I just have to say that I think that this painting should belong in a Natural History museum. It's seriously that awesome!
I also really like how you choose a cool blue background and gradually warmed the image with yellows and earthtones for the foreground. It gives the painting a nice sense of depth.
Honestly, I could go on and on about how wonderful your attention to detail is and how each thing you did enhances the picture in so many ways... Overall I just have to say that I think that this painting should belong in a Natural History museum. It's seriously that awesome!
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