Griffin Art- 3/8/12 Microraptor

[Griffin]

No honestly I never thought of that before. That would be really awesome though to have a collection based off of my drawings. If you know anybody who might do it I would be interested.

[sid]

Man, i'm just looking at your drawings and let me say that i LOVE 'em!


Especially how you define muscles and such... Good work!

By the way, i really like the one with the Pachy's ramming his head into the Tyrannosaurid's flank... Something rarely seen in paleoart

[Griffin]

Thanks sid it means alot to me that you say such nice things. Yes as far as concept goes. That pachy using its head for defense rather than courtship is one of my pieces that gets the most attention. I always try to think of things that are unusual, something that nobody else has depicted before, yet still totally possible.

That is a young tyrannosaurus rex in the picture and he was just ousted by his mom. Now hes in his "teen years". He's still too small to hunt larger prey like hadrosaurs and triceratops so he journeys to the mountains and finds a herd of pachycephalosaurus which seem to be a perfect size for him to take down. When he takes a go at a baby, however, he gets a nasty surprise. If you look at his feet, you can see that he's actually being lifted into the air he was rammed so hard.

I'll try to put some more up soon.

[sid]

Aug 25, 2009 16:46:23 GMT Griffin said:

Thanks sid it means alot to me that you say such nice things. Yes as far as concept goes. That pachy using its head for defense rather than courtship is one of my pieces that gets the most attention. I always try to think of things that are unusual, something that nobody else has depicted before, yet still totally possible.

That is a young tyrannosaurus rex in the picture and he was just ousted by his mom. Now hes in his "teen years". He's still too small to hunt larger prey like hadrosaurs and triceratops so he journeys to the mountains and finds a herd of pachycephalosaurus which seem to be a perfect size for him to take down. When he takes a go at a baby, however, he gets a nasty surprise. If you look at his feet, you can see that he's actually being lifted into the air he was rammed so hard.

I'll try to put some more up soon.

Yeah, it's a pretty reasonable scenario... Why other paleoartists have never drew (or painted) these kind of scenes is beyond me.

Take for example Tyrannosaurus Rex vs Alamosaurus... They lived together in the same time & place, so it's reasonable to think that maybe good ol' Rexy preyed upon the Alamo lizard, at least the juveniles or the weakest members of the species... Yet, only TWO visual examples of this scenario actually exist to my knowledge:

- a painting of Skrepnick in which a T.Rex bites an Alamosaurus' flank

- the rotunda in the visitor center in JP, where we can see a T.Rex skeleton and and an Alamo one mounted as they were battling


Weird, considering how much a depiction of this fight (sauropod vs giant meat-eater... Two of the most famous symbols of the prehistoric age in the minds of men) would get recognition

[Griffin]

Here's one I did today. It features Tylosaurus unknowingly saving a Hesperornis' life from a Xiphactinus.

I apologize for the bad quality. This was taken with a camera.

[[][][]cordylus[][][]]

I like it, but the base of the fins seem a little too skinny

[Griffin]

I think the quality of the photo may be responsible for that. Theres a black stripe thats on the flipper itself which may be what you are mistaking for where it actually attaches. The pencil is pointing to where the base of the fin really is.

I went over it a few times more with the pencil itself and redefined the stripe as well so its more clear.

[Ajax]

^^ It looks fine, I could tell that from the original pic. Nice work, action drawings are always fun.

[Griffin]

Thanks ajax, yeah action shots are the best. Its also easiest to be original that way as well

[sid]

Lucky bird! ;D

And cool art as always

[Griffin]

Thanks sid, appreciate it. Wish I had a better scanner as of now I have a lot more I would like to show.

[[][][]cordylus[][][]]

^^ You speak for both of us...

[Griffin]

Here is the remainder of the first half of my collection of illustrations. There's lots more to come. Enjoy.

Ankylosaurus and Glyptodont


Dilophosaurus pair and Ammosaurus


Diplodocus putting an Allosaurus in its place


Herrerasaurus


The ever famous Protoceratops vs Velociraptor right before their deaths.


Stegosaurus. I threw some Archaeopteryx in there too for some more color.


Placodonts


Lambiosaurines

[[][][]cordylus[][][]]

WOW. These look the most professional out of all that you have done. Great work sir! *bows*

[Ajax]

Very cool, All of them. I like the simple coloured pencil and basic backgrounds you draw, your style is very nice and makes for some awesome art. The Protoceratops is really beautiful and also the Stego.

[Horridus]

I have never seen a Diplodocus looking so...angry! Makes a change from slow-'n'-dopey...

[Griffin]

Sept 7, 2009 15:28:05 GMT Horridus said:

I have never seen a Diplodocus looking so...angry! Makes a change from slow-'n'-dopey...

Haha so glad you said that. It was my intent with that picture. Everyone else loves depicting carnivores eating herbivores but if the reality was anything like modern animals today, the herbivores probably won plenty of battles themselves while on the defense.

Everyone else, glad you like them! There is the whole second half of my collection to come very soon.

[Horridus]

Sept 7, 2009 16:15:04 GMT Griffin said:

Haha so glad you said that. It was my intent with that picture. Everyone else loves depicting carnivores eating herbivores but if the reality was anything like modern animals today, the herbivores probably won plenty of battles themselves while on the defense.

I thought that might be your intent. I think the bias towards carnivores tearing herbivores into meaty chunks is just a reflection of the human race...perhaps being predatory ourselves we have an innate desire to see the carnivore win...although it could just be simple childish bloodlust.
More furious sauropod vengeance please!

[Griffin]

I think its just childish bloodlust. There's plenty of people out there who watch shows about dinosaurs and nature shows and such who cover their eyes during fights and show deep sympathy for the prey items.

There are at least 2 more sauropods in my binder of illustrations I haven't shown but I don't think they are doing anything violent (unless you count it towards plants). The two big pro-herbivore ones I did were this Diplo and the Pachy vs young rex. Both of which have been shown. Don't worry though I think the other ones you will like.

[sid]

Fierce Dippy


Great drawings, as usual... I really like the "bipedal" Stego