The preceding Nyctosaurus drawings are but one picture in a series of three pterosaurs in the art show. If all goes as planned, Nyctosaurus, Dimorphodon, and Tapejara will be represented. This is to show the breadth of pterosaur diversity but also some really freaking cool crests will be in there. Dimorphodon has been giving me trouble, just because its proportions are different from other "rhamphorhynchoids." Today, while in Palmer (discussing the art show), I whipped up this sketch, which is the first I've been happy with for this taxon.
On a related note, Nyctosaurus is functionally finished. I just have to shrink the sketch, improve the crest on another sheet of paper, then blow that sketch up and use it for the canvas piece. The Nyctosaurus will be colored like a murre, and the Dimorphodon will get puffin colors. I think another artist (Raven) will be doing the Tapejara, and a tropical pterosaur with a giant crest will be very colorful indeed!
Again, be brutal when it comes to comments about this picture. Head too small? Body too long?
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2 comments:
Again, "skeletals are your friend!" Its the palaeontographer's mantra. Learn it, Love it, Live it!
Readily googleable:
A lithographic plate of the actual fossil from Owens 1865 Monograph on the Fossil Reptilia of the Liassic Formations
http://tinyurl.com/yo6xdj
H. G Seeley's reconstruction from his 1901 Dragons of the Air. After 107 years its still better than most modern ones. Although the feet should be plantigrade, the thoratic vertebre should not have such high spines and the articulation of the lower jaw and quardrate is a little wierd here. Recent published skeletals usually make the skull look strangely higher and shorter than it appears to be in the actual fossil
http://tinyurl.com/25bzyq
The best skeletal done of this species is by Jaime Headden
http://tinyurl.com/2bphw8
Also, the pteroid always points medialy, toward the shoulder. Always! Bennett's pteroid paper:
http://tinyurl.com/28d9wv
Cheers,
Thanks again, Chris! I've been relying on Wellnhofer and Unwin for most of my pterosaur reconstructions, and I lounge at Mark Witton's pterosaur page from time to time to get ideas. Jaime Headden, like Conway, is a brilliant illustrator. Thank you for pointing me in the right direction(s) once more!
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