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A warning for some artists.
1 min read
22aroth.deviantart.com/ and 23aroth.deviantart.com/. The guy that runs these pages is stealing from quite a few artists, several of which are friends of mine. If any see anything you recognize let me know. I doubt he'll heed the warning I gave him so we're preparing to report him.
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Got tagged for this
2 min read
I got tagged by fishfossil.deviantart.com/ for this 13 question thing. I'm not gonna be tagging anyone else, partially because I don't know who else has already been tagged, but mostly because I'm too lazy to go looking at who I could possibly tag. 
Anyway, here goes...
1. Why do you make art?
-Because it's what I love to do. I've been drawing since I could hold a crayon.
2. Favorite medium?
-Ah that's difficult. I'm going to say digital? That's what most of my work is now anyway.
3. John Oliver or Stephen Colbert?
-How am I supposed to choose between them? They're both hilarious. Though i must applaud Oliver his tearing apart of Drumph. And I will call him that now.
4. Do you watch anime?
-Ayup. Favorite anime/manga series is Blue Exorcist.
5. Any pets?
-4 snakes and a tarantula. All very cute.
6. Paleozoic or Mesozoic?
-Mesozoic
7. If you could change one of your past decisions,
would you do it?
-Yeah. I wouldn't have let people talk me out of Paleontology when I was young. I spent 10 years being out of the loop because of that, and only got back in October last year. I'm struggling to cram in all the new knowledge now.
8. Hmm? Oh sorry, got distracted. Just write a word you like saying.
-Hrm.
9. Thoughts on Trump?
-Drumph
10. Cats or Dogs?
-Cats all the way. I'm afraid of dogs.
11. Any other hobbies?
-Listening to music and playing The Isle. Also pacing.
12. Favorite genre of music?
-It varies, and depends on my mood or what I'm doing. Right now it's movie scores, specifically HTTYD.
13. Apple or Android?
-Android.
Aaaaand I think that's it. I may have missed something, but I'm too lazy to care and check right now.
Anyway, here goes...1. Why do you make art?
-Because it's what I love to do. I've been drawing since I could hold a crayon.
2. Favorite medium?
-Ah that's difficult. I'm going to say digital? That's what most of my work is now anyway.
3. John Oliver or Stephen Colbert?
-How am I supposed to choose between them? They're both hilarious. Though i must applaud Oliver his tearing apart of Drumph. And I will call him that now.
4. Do you watch anime?
-Ayup. Favorite anime/manga series is Blue Exorcist.
5. Any pets?
-4 snakes and a tarantula. All very cute.
6. Paleozoic or Mesozoic?
-Mesozoic
7. If you could change one of your past decisions,
would you do it?
-Yeah. I wouldn't have let people talk me out of Paleontology when I was young. I spent 10 years being out of the loop because of that, and only got back in October last year. I'm struggling to cram in all the new knowledge now.
8. Hmm? Oh sorry, got distracted. Just write a word you like saying.
-Hrm.
9. Thoughts on Trump?
-Drumph
10. Cats or Dogs?
-Cats all the way. I'm afraid of dogs.
11. Any other hobbies?
-Listening to music and playing The Isle. Also pacing.
12. Favorite genre of music?
-It varies, and depends on my mood or what I'm doing. Right now it's movie scores, specifically HTTYD.
13. Apple or Android?
-Android.
Aaaaand I think that's it. I may have missed something, but I'm too lazy to care and check right now.
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The Shrinkwrapped Scaly Bird
2 min read
This, to me, is getting really interesting. On the actual piece I challenged the people who saw it to take a gander at what it really is. No one has gotten it so far. If you'd like to try your luck, the art work is here: Shrinkwrapped Scaly Bird
Also send this pic to your dino loving friends, I want to see how long it takes before someone gets the bird right.
The point of this whole thing is to really drive home just how different creatures look when you do this to them. Originally I had planned to use a Tanager skeleton for the reconstruction, but it's actually pretty hard to find one online. The bird I settled with should actually have been easier to guess, or so I thought. But the creature I invented by doing this is apparently so different from the real thing that people just can't figure it out. So far I've got guesses for raven, chicken, and peacock; all of which are such different birds from the other, and yet this messed up creation of mine seems to invoke all of those when it is none of them.
Think about this when you draw dinosaurs. The vast majority of dinosaurs probably had feathers of some sort, and just like birds today, probably fleshy dewlaps and caruncles and all that jazz. If you traveled back before the KT mass extinction you would probably be hard pressed to actually recognize some of the dinosaurs we know so well. The extra fat, thick skin, and fleshy add-ons would probably change the form so much you wouldn't know what you were looking at. You might have to stare at a Parasaurolophus for several minutes before realizing, "Yeah that's definitely a parasaurolophus, at least I think..."
So my challenge to paleoartists is this: Go wild with a dinosaur, any dinosaur, but still keep to within the realm of reason and see what you can come up with. See just how much you can hide a skeletal form with flesh and feathers, and see how long it takes your viewers to recognize it.
Also send this pic to your dino loving friends, I want to see how long it takes before someone gets the bird right.
The point of this whole thing is to really drive home just how different creatures look when you do this to them. Originally I had planned to use a Tanager skeleton for the reconstruction, but it's actually pretty hard to find one online. The bird I settled with should actually have been easier to guess, or so I thought. But the creature I invented by doing this is apparently so different from the real thing that people just can't figure it out. So far I've got guesses for raven, chicken, and peacock; all of which are such different birds from the other, and yet this messed up creation of mine seems to invoke all of those when it is none of them.
Think about this when you draw dinosaurs. The vast majority of dinosaurs probably had feathers of some sort, and just like birds today, probably fleshy dewlaps and caruncles and all that jazz. If you traveled back before the KT mass extinction you would probably be hard pressed to actually recognize some of the dinosaurs we know so well. The extra fat, thick skin, and fleshy add-ons would probably change the form so much you wouldn't know what you were looking at. You might have to stare at a Parasaurolophus for several minutes before realizing, "Yeah that's definitely a parasaurolophus, at least I think..."
So my challenge to paleoartists is this: Go wild with a dinosaur, any dinosaur, but still keep to within the realm of reason and see what you can come up with. See just how much you can hide a skeletal form with flesh and feathers, and see how long it takes your viewers to recognize it.
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On Shrinkwrapping Dinosaurs- Skulls
3 min read
So this is a Journal series I plan to be doing, basically just explaining shrinkwrapping on dinosaurs and why it's actually wrong and not just an artistic license kind of deal. This first several entries are just to explain some key points to avoid shrinkwrapping a dinosaur.
The idea for this was spawned by the game Mesozoica, as the vast majority of their models are rather horribly shrinkwrapped. I don't say that to be rude to the creators of the game. We've all gone so long seeing shrinkwrapped dinosaurs in films like Jurassic Park and TV series like Walking with Dinosaurs, that we don't really question it. It just becomes a thing; you've seen it so many times that you think it must be correct. However, the fact of the matter is, those dinosaurs are emaciated. Several key points to look at when drawing or modeling dinosaurs are as follows: the skull, shoulder blades, ribs, belly, backbone, hip bones, and pelvic bones.
First up-
The Skull: DON'T MAKE THE FENESTRAE TOO OBVIOUS. This is probably my biggest problem with paleoart, is the rampant sinking in of dinosaur facial features. The fenestrae (or those big honking holes in the skull, for those of you not familiar with the term) were more than likely covered in flesh and skin. The indentation in the face might have been slightly visible, but more than likely it wouldn't really have been visible at all. The fenestrae in the middle of the skull may have been used to amplify sounds, but then it really wouldn't have been to obvious unless the dinosaur was calling out, in which case you may have seen the skin over the fenestrae vibrating.
Think like this: [link]
Another point on the skull to watch out for is the eye socket. A lot of artists draw dinosaur eyes sunken in, when in reality, they probably weren't. Dinosaur's closest living relatives are birds. Actually if you want to be entirely correct birds are dinosaurs, so if you want to get the best possible model for an extinct dinosaur, you may want to look at the extant ones. Birds' eyes are generally surrounded by flesh, aren't wedged into the eye socket, but actually stick out a bit.
Which you can (hopefully) see here.:
And finally the jaw area. The back of the lower jaw needs to be muscled. That area is where the jaw closing muscles attach.
So this is a T. rex skull:
This is a T. rex with muscle: T-Rex Head Muscle - In Color
Make sure your dinosaur has jaw muscles.
And that is all for now-
Meden
The idea for this was spawned by the game Mesozoica, as the vast majority of their models are rather horribly shrinkwrapped. I don't say that to be rude to the creators of the game. We've all gone so long seeing shrinkwrapped dinosaurs in films like Jurassic Park and TV series like Walking with Dinosaurs, that we don't really question it. It just becomes a thing; you've seen it so many times that you think it must be correct. However, the fact of the matter is, those dinosaurs are emaciated. Several key points to look at when drawing or modeling dinosaurs are as follows: the skull, shoulder blades, ribs, belly, backbone, hip bones, and pelvic bones.
First up-
The Skull: DON'T MAKE THE FENESTRAE TOO OBVIOUS. This is probably my biggest problem with paleoart, is the rampant sinking in of dinosaur facial features. The fenestrae (or those big honking holes in the skull, for those of you not familiar with the term) were more than likely covered in flesh and skin. The indentation in the face might have been slightly visible, but more than likely it wouldn't really have been visible at all. The fenestrae in the middle of the skull may have been used to amplify sounds, but then it really wouldn't have been to obvious unless the dinosaur was calling out, in which case you may have seen the skin over the fenestrae vibrating.
Think like this: [link]
Another point on the skull to watch out for is the eye socket. A lot of artists draw dinosaur eyes sunken in, when in reality, they probably weren't. Dinosaur's closest living relatives are birds. Actually if you want to be entirely correct birds are dinosaurs, so if you want to get the best possible model for an extinct dinosaur, you may want to look at the extant ones. Birds' eyes are generally surrounded by flesh, aren't wedged into the eye socket, but actually stick out a bit.
Which you can (hopefully) see here.:
And finally the jaw area. The back of the lower jaw needs to be muscled. That area is where the jaw closing muscles attach.
So this is a T. rex skull:
This is a T. rex with muscle: T-Rex Head Muscle - In Color
Make sure your dinosaur has jaw muscles.
And that is all for now-
Meden
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I'm Alive!
1 min read
I've been off here for so long, cause life has been hectic with school and moves and stuff. In all this time I've been drawing nonstop, so I figured it's about time I started posting some new things. Most of my old stuff on here will probably get moved to scraps, just so people know. I'm also going to be working on a comic with a friend of mine, so I'll try getting the characters up soon.
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