I feel like sculpting... specie suggestions?

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I'm for Allosaurus ! ;D

But..hey. I said TYRANNOTITAN ! If that's not an epic hardcore carnivore I don't know what is.. lol

[hajime]

Tbh the Tyrannotitan suggestion is my favourite thus far. Forgive my ignorance but are there a lot of good references out there? Good quality, up to date reconstructions by other artists are fine. My dino knowledge isn't great so I never know what to look for and how to judge.

In fact, is there a website renowned for having good up to date paleo illustrations in general?

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I know Scott Hartman has good skeletal reconstructions. I can find you more pics though..

[sbell]

Aug 1, 2011 19:44:41 GMT Blade-of-the-Moon said:

I know Scott Hartman has good skeletal reconstructions. I can find you more pics though..

Just don't work from Greg Paul's work. That makes him angry. You wouldn't like him when he's angry.

Seriously, he has a real beef with people working from his skeletal reconstructions (if I had to guess, that includes the picture that was put up of the known skeletal material). If I understand right, this even includes ones that are part of peer-reviewed publications

But no worries--we won't tell if you do

[arioch]

That pic is Breth Booths though, ot atleast looks like his style. His paleoart is nice and usually accurate albeit he tends to do theropods a bit too bulky and monster like.

[Horridus]

I think Paul will attack if you illustrate your animal in a left-foot-pushing-off-the-ground running pose.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Aug 1, 2011 20:40:04 GMT arioch said:

That pic is Breth Booths though, ot atleast looks like his style. His paleoart is nice and usually accurate albeit he tends to do theropods a bit too bulky and monster like.

That last one I posted is Brett's.. he does some awesome artwork. Aren't most theropods " bulky " though ? From what I understand the new ideas are make less thin and more muscled and thicker to be more accurate.

[arioch]

Oh I got it, that´s Breth Tyrannotitan. At first I thought you posted it as an example of G. Pauls reconstructions, haha.

I think G. Booth deliberately exaggerates the bulk of certain muscles and creepy features on theropods to make them as scary as possible. But its fine, he really seems concerned about accuracy and still most of his work falls within the realms of possibility. With new ideas I guess you mean showing more of the muscle lines on dinosaurs and less bones....

[hajime]

I'm aware of Greg Paul's anger management issue. I'd understand if he was angry about people copying his artwork, but they aren't. People are using his work as a REFERENCE because it is REFERENCE material, that is the PURPOSE of the images he makes. It would be like building a house and then growling at anyone who came to view it. So odd. I dunno if his responses are blown out of proportion and he's just got angry with several people making money from his work without credit? I dunno why he just doesn't make his images available to "buy".

But yeah. There's not a lot he can do unless it's being sold, other than growl.

[hajime]

Why does the skull on this reconstruction seem so thin? Is it accurate?

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e5/Tyrannotitan_remains_01.png/800px-Tyrannotitan_remains_01.png

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Tyrannotitan is a Charcharodontosaur..so it should be thinner than say a Tyrannosaur. I would look to Giganotosaurus and other similar relatives to make a better guess.

[hajime]

Yes, but my point is it's a heck of a lot thinner in the wiki pictures than the paleo art and skeletal reconstruction you posted. Why?

[arioch]

The pictures are speculative, since only a few fragments of the skull have been found.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Could be artistic preference. There isn't much of the skull to really get a great idea.

I would be wary of the Wiki one anyway, Wiki doesn't usually do research to make sure something is right and of course the image is dated 2005. There is a good article on Tyrannotitan in PT from last year I believe.

[Horridus]

I'd just give it a head based on restorations of the skulls of Giganotosaurus or Carcharodontosaurus.

One other thing - the legs in the skeletal you posted don't look flexed enough to me. If you look at theropod skeletals by Hartman or Paul you'll notice that the legs are always very flexed at the knee. This is because they wouldn't articulate otherwise. (After I found that out the NHM dino gallery suddenly became that little bit more nerdily annoying.)

[hajime]

I've been doing some research doodles, but they are just based on Carcharodontosaurus.

hajimesartblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/think-im-going-to-make-another-dino.html

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Looks good so far..maybe the pose is a bit too..neutral ? A sitting theropod would be awesome.

[Horridus]

The legs look too long at the moment...in this pic in particular 1.bp.blogspot.com/-6qEs0XC4ZFU/TjqUYgKH3fI/AAAAAAAACCg/akx_Nn1p0qw/s1600/040811_dinosaur_03.jpg the legs look very dainty, like they belong to a much smaller animal rather than an elephant-sized behemoth. It's worth remembering that these big allosauroids have proportionately shorter legs than the similarly-sized Tyrannosaurus (which was actually unusually leggy).

Note the legs on this carcharodontosaur (or less controversially, allosauroid): fav.me/d2406d8

You're also right about the legs being too straight, especially in that last pic. They wouldn't articulate like that - they have to be flexed at the knee as in birds.

...Hmmm, I seem to have come over awfully critical. I do like the head and wattle on the neck!