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The Lord is walking his afghan hounds. Well... That's how these creatures have been presented to him, and he seems quite OK with that anyway.
Category All / All
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File Size 535.4 kB
Hehehe another one :) I love the way you draw scales... many details but in some areas they look like feathers. However you know how much I like your arts :)... hmm If you learned how to color them well you would get even better results... That man looks good but personally I think you you're the best at mecha... next is furry and humans are on the last position.
Hahahaha I almost forgot... They looks like velociraptors :) Sort of strange because it was very predatory species :) but in your picture they are like sweet little puppies XD
Hahahaha I almost forgot... They looks like velociraptors :) Sort of strange because it was very predatory species :) but in your picture they are like sweet little puppies XD
But... But... These ARE feathers, not scales !!!! T_T
Anyway, you're right about humans, they are still one of my biggest challenges and it's rare when I'm satisfied of those I draw.
BTW, they look very much like, but they aren't indeed velociraptors but some of their cousins, hence their missing special toe. Anyway, predatory species doesn't mean they can't be sweet puppies : cats, dogs, dolphins, falcons, cheetahs are the same, what's important is their sociability, their intelligence, and the empathy master and pet can share together.
And well, Jurassic Park didn't lie about that, small theropods not only had very developped brains and thus probably a high intelligence like mammals, but if their brains were constructed the same way actual birds' brains are (and birds are descendants of some of these small theropods), then they could be even more intelligent than we think without needing especially big brains - it has been found recently that birds' brains are organized differently from mammals, but as efficiently or perhaps even more.
Anyway, you're right about humans, they are still one of my biggest challenges and it's rare when I'm satisfied of those I draw.
BTW, they look very much like, but they aren't indeed velociraptors but some of their cousins, hence their missing special toe. Anyway, predatory species doesn't mean they can't be sweet puppies : cats, dogs, dolphins, falcons, cheetahs are the same, what's important is their sociability, their intelligence, and the empathy master and pet can share together.
And well, Jurassic Park didn't lie about that, small theropods not only had very developped brains and thus probably a high intelligence like mammals, but if their brains were constructed the same way actual birds' brains are (and birds are descendants of some of these small theropods), then they could be even more intelligent than we think without needing especially big brains - it has been found recently that birds' brains are organized differently from mammals, but as efficiently or perhaps even more.
Very good and detailed drawing, as always...
By any chance, have you been inspired by this April Fool news bulletin from the BBC ?
http://scienceblogs.com/afarensis/2.....n_london/#more
By any chance, have you been inspired by this April Fool news bulletin from the BBC ?
http://scienceblogs.com/afarensis/2.....n_london/#more
Ha ha ha, excellent, that's the first time I see this... "document" XD XD
No, like Ittmi said above, it's sort of a child dream I had since quite some time.
As for the "documentary", it's excellently well-done and very funny (and coincidently resembles a documentary I saw last week about New Zealand parrots ripping off car elements !!!), but too bad they are scalies there, when troodons have been the very first theropods scientists confirmed feathers on !!!!!!!
No, like Ittmi said above, it's sort of a child dream I had since quite some time.
As for the "documentary", it's excellently well-done and very funny (and coincidently resembles a documentary I saw last week about New Zealand parrots ripping off car elements !!!), but too bad they are scalies there, when troodons have been the very first theropods scientists confirmed feathers on !!!!!!!
Certainly a clever idea! As for scales vs feathers, perhaps at this stage they are still transitioning from one form to another. It's unlikely they could jump from scales to feathers in one mutation. There would most likely have been some multistep elongation of scales into spike-like structures (which would have similar properties for controlling body heat as hair in mammals) and then a secondary development of side fibers which would be developed into modern feathers. Temperature control was a real problem for dinosaurs - witness several groups developing long, vulnerable-looking back fins to act as solar heaters or cooling heat-sinks as required.
It has been discovered recently that contrary to what was believed, feathers do NOT come from scales - the source is the same, but there was no transformation from scales to feathers, it was a totally different process. As for the back fins you're talking about, these were mostly a feature of reptiles or mammalian reptiles (not dinosaurs, like for example the most reknown, Dimetrodon) from the permian era (just before the dinosaurs appeared after the most massive extinction that killed those reptiles) that did not have any feathers at all - real reptiles. The latest dinosaurs (with or without feathers) should not have any heat problem, and had a metabolism similar to mammals, we know now that they could live in quite cold places, and were able to do massive and long migrations, something normal reptiles can't do at all.
Actually, Dimetrodon-like sails were developed by the Spinosaurs, which are considered dinosaurs. It's also been suggested that the back plates of Stegosaurus served a similar function. The reason being that the plates were large and bear marks of extensive blood-vessel networks. If the plates were primarily defensive, that would make them very vulnerable to damage and bleeding. But if they were primarily for temperature regulation (like the spinosaur's sail), then they would have functioned well for that. Another argument against their being mainly defensive is that the plates were only embedded in the skin, not articulated to the spine. That means that they could have been pulled out by a predator. Doubtless they also served "intimidating" and mating display purposes.
The question of "warm-bloodedness" in dinosaurs is more complex than just they were or they weren't. Dinosaurs were not modern reptiles. They had a long evolutionary history that not only made them a unique group but which allowed them to differentiate into various sorts of animals within their group. Smaller, more active forms such as dromaeosaurs were almost certainly warm-blooded. And since birds seem to have branched off from the theropods and birds are warm-blooded, then small theropods probably were, too. Since the were relatively small, their high surface area to mass ratio would make it valuable to have a way to conserve internally generated body heat - feathers or fur. But as animals scale up, the problem becomes not staying warm but cooling off. For a creature like a large tyranosaur, much active movement would have generated a great deal of heat from muscular metabolism in a short time. For even larger sauropods, you not only have the problem of massive muscles, but of heat produced from fermentation of vast amounts of plant matter in the gut. With their massive bulks, they would have had less need to be warm-blooded to keep their bodies warm.
I confess I have not kept up with the literature on the scale/feathers question - can you direct me to any recent on-line articles on the subject?
---Ray Jones---
The question of "warm-bloodedness" in dinosaurs is more complex than just they were or they weren't. Dinosaurs were not modern reptiles. They had a long evolutionary history that not only made them a unique group but which allowed them to differentiate into various sorts of animals within their group. Smaller, more active forms such as dromaeosaurs were almost certainly warm-blooded. And since birds seem to have branched off from the theropods and birds are warm-blooded, then small theropods probably were, too. Since the were relatively small, their high surface area to mass ratio would make it valuable to have a way to conserve internally generated body heat - feathers or fur. But as animals scale up, the problem becomes not staying warm but cooling off. For a creature like a large tyranosaur, much active movement would have generated a great deal of heat from muscular metabolism in a short time. For even larger sauropods, you not only have the problem of massive muscles, but of heat produced from fermentation of vast amounts of plant matter in the gut. With their massive bulks, they would have had less need to be warm-blooded to keep their bodies warm.
I confess I have not kept up with the literature on the scale/feathers question - can you direct me to any recent on-line articles on the subject?
---Ray Jones---
Your arguments are indeed sharp, and you're true about the formidable development of the dinosaurians that finally created species far different the ones from the others - they had far more time for that than the mammals since their disparition. Indeed, we don't know if ALL dinosaurians were homeostasis or not (or if some were, but it's almost certain now).
But even if temperature were globally warmer at that time, it wasn't sahara everywhere, just a few degrees more ! So heat wasn't really a problem for most of them - plus, you're indeed giving good examples, but these were exceptions, not rule. After all, actual big mammals should suffer from the same problems, but most of the biggest live in hot countries !
About the feathers/scales, I cannot give you my references, as these are french scientific magazines (Science et Vie for example), but I am sure you can find such articles on the net from serious sources !
But even if temperature were globally warmer at that time, it wasn't sahara everywhere, just a few degrees more ! So heat wasn't really a problem for most of them - plus, you're indeed giving good examples, but these were exceptions, not rule. After all, actual big mammals should suffer from the same problems, but most of the biggest live in hot countries !
About the feathers/scales, I cannot give you my references, as these are french scientific magazines (Science et Vie for example), but I am sure you can find such articles on the net from serious sources !
Tiens !? Etrangement, ce dessin m'avait totalement échappé !
Oui, l'idée est assez tordue et c'est vrais que ça me plaît assez...
Encore plus bizarrement, j'ai eu une impression de "déjà-vu" en découvrant ce truc... Comme si ça me rappelait quelque-chose d'autre, de plus ancien !
Peut-être que cette idée a déjà été exploitée, jadis, par un autre illustrateur ?
Mais, impossible de me rappeler où j'aurai pû voir ça !
Oui, l'idée est assez tordue et c'est vrais que ça me plaît assez...
Encore plus bizarrement, j'ai eu une impression de "déjà-vu" en découvrant ce truc... Comme si ça me rappelait quelque-chose d'autre, de plus ancien !
Peut-être que cette idée a déjà été exploitée, jadis, par un autre illustrateur ?
Mais, impossible de me rappeler où j'aurai pû voir ça !
God, I can 'hear' this picture...just the sounds they would make, the clacking of their claws on the sidewalk, the breathing through their nostrils. the inquisitive "hrnnnn?" noise the top one is making. The guy is just thinking, looks like he keeps mostly to himself anyways, but isn't quite sure what to make of it. Awesome pic!
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