The ABCs (animals, beasties and critters)

[Vermis]

Hullo! Another refugee from Deviantart. I'm interested in palaeoart (i.e. prehistoric art) and other animal and fantasy art. I hesitate to start using DA less, because there's a little island of talented palaeoartists among all the other stuff; but they seem to be as forthcoming with constructive criticism as the rest of the site. I'm not sure how many here have experience with this kind of thing, but it can't be any worse than the other place.

So, before I start raiding my DA account for the better sketches, two little disclaimers: I don't use references as much as I should, and I need to work on my backgrounds. A lot. With that in mind, crit away!

EDIT: first uploads shunted down the topic.

EDIT 2: renamed The ABCs. Not only a bad pun on my zoological and fantastic interests, but an admission that from page five, I probably should knuckle down to some proper fundamentals.

[TheMadPaddy]

NICE!! You have definitely studied about what these things look like/should look like. Your anatomy looks great and in perfect proportion.

I Like!

[Ampersand]

Very nice indeed! Your anatomy's looking good, can't find much to crit in that department. I love dinosaurs and enjoy paleoart but have never tried drawing any myself - wouldn't know where to start or get the references.

[Vermis]

Ta!

Ampersand: wherever you can find them. Image googling a specific name usually throws up a few photos of skeletal mounts. You can also browse The Dinosauricon, Skeletal Drawing, and, like I hinted, DA. Books, magazines (particularly old National Geographics), and scientific paper PDFs can also be useful, but can be hit-and-miss and harder to come by.

Another load, this time old (the first two, maybe about 6-7 years!) life sketches of animals.

*Cassowary and Daisy the alligator from Australia Zoo. (I recently found a big, ground-running, living-dino fix closer to home: a petting zoo with rheas and emus, half-an-hour's drive away. Expect to see sketches soon).
*Barbary lion and gorillas from Belfast Zoo.
*Ponies, half-a-minute's walk away.
*Dogs, sheep, Silver Y moths...

EDIT: first post's previous palaeo-stuff added after the moth...

[Orbital]

I really like the gorilla work-up. More please!

[Vermis]

Woah! A comment! Thanks Orbital.

I was about to say that I guess I'd better bump with more work to get more comments. So here's something. A generic allosauroid sketch (3" wide irl) - a test of my brand-spanking-new set of Atelier Interactive acrylics. The anatomy's off because I didn't use a reference (again), but I'd like any and all critiques and advice on the painting: colour choice, shade, tone, etc. etc.

No rheas and emus. The weather during the last couple of weeks wasn't cooperative. Although I plan to head to the zoo tomorrow, get a few more gorilla sketches and photo refs.

[MeTaL-Mike]

nice dino studie

[Vermis]

A week later than promised. I went last week, but let's say the only good thing was that the zoo is deserted in November. Plenty of things that weren't good, or went wrong; too many to list, but I'll say that there's a good reason why a zoo plastered against the side of a tall, coastal hill is deserted in November. Also, when I got home my scanner wouldn't pick up the few sketches I took. Still have to replace it, but I digress.
I went yesterday, again, and made straight for the gorillas, rather than wasting time walking back and forth. Still, for some reason I took fewer sketches this time (possibly because it took me ages to figure out how to focus my camera through glass [which has generous coverings of camo netting, painted leaves, and dirt]. Finally settled on the 'scene' function, but the slow shutter speed made me whine for my tripod), and there's still the problem with the scanner. But here's two that were dark enough to make it through. Wonderful things, 6B pencils.
I'm not as happy with them as my earlier attempts above, though

Also, so ashamed was I of the shocking anatomy of my 'allosauroid' that I broke down and used a skeletal reference for this next attempt. Something tells me I should've stopped at the inking. And I need to practise tone, shading, and watercolour style. A lot.

Crits and advice, please!

[ghoulio]

Yep. we all like em haha, haven´t much to crit, proportions are stunning and nice rendering.

See ya...

[ASVogel]

I second everyone else with your rendering (both in your original post and the latest gorilla pieces), although the emu painting went rather flat on you, and the feathers have a shell-like look. Love the dynamism in the apatasaurus v. raptor pic (Apatasaurs smash!)

[Vermis]

although the emu painting went rather flat on you, and the feathers have a shell-like look.

Aw. That was one I was reasonably happy with.

In defence of it, while it's technically a painting, it's a life sketch (and a cheap watercolour one at that), not a finished piece. And cassowaries have serious cases of helmet-hair anyway. The sketch actually looks too shaggy, in my eyes.

Ta, though.

[RandAlThor]

Nice renderings, looks proportional and factual. Dunno if your gonna go in for the more 'concepted' aliens slash monsters, but if you do you already have a good grounding. Backgrounds and compositional studies could really help push these further... hope you stick around and post some more ;-)

[ASVogel]

Aw. That was one I was reasonably happy with.

In defence of it, while it's technically a painting, it's a life sketch (and a cheap watercolour one at that), not a finished piece. And cassowaries have serious cases of helmet-hair anyway. The sketch actually looks too shaggy, in my eyes.

Fair enough. I do want to see some of your finished colored work.

[Vermis]

Ta!

RandAlThor: it so happens I have an interest in speculative zoology.

AikidoAl: Thanks. Sorry if I sounded a bit... sniffy.

I guess I should try posting more regularly in this. Um. I'll try.

[Auhsan]

Great animal studies , not much to crit here, it is more impressive if you don't use a lot of references.

[Vermis]

Thanks, although it's only dinosaurs that I tend to doodle without cracking open any references. Just in case there was any confusion...

[Vermis]

Not quite a dino or a beasty...

[Vermis]

Back on form. A Pachyrhinosaurus canadensis skull and an attempt at muscle & keratin restoration that didn't go quite right.
Funny, my dinosaurs tend to look more organic and realistic when I don't slavishly follow skeletal refs.

Regarding the sketch in the last post: I've since looked at this topic and the amount of venom makes me uneasy. Can I have a couple of opinions on the merits of the sketch above, beyond the actual results? Rest assured I intended it as a means to an end, not an end in itself.
I can show you the printout that I covered in proportion lines, if you like.

[Eponine]

I really like the gorilla ones youve done I love the emotions and expressions in them. Make them somewhat human like, ofcourse, we are quite alike monkeys. anyway- ill stop rambling- Nice work!

[Krist]

wow, I love animal anatomy and this Speaks it, it drips from the sheet, they walk right out in to the world. just wow :-)

[~Maximiliaan]

Hey thanks for commenting my sketchbook!
You have a very nice sketchbook going on here man, love the horse study.
Keep up the good work!

[Vermis]

Ta all.

[Vermis]

No more ceratopsians for now. News of new, unrevealed discoveries means they go on the back-burner. For now I'll practise my feathery dinos. Although maybe I should concentrate on studies of existing feathery dinos.
Also, I figured that until I get a new, good scanner (not long now; good old Christmas gift envelopes), my sketches would show up better if I used softer, darker pencils. They did.

Dromaeosaurus albertensis, with plumage based (loosely) on the red kite, Milvus milvus.

[Vermis]

A study of the red kite photo ref, and a Shantungosaurus doodle. In 6B, with a lot of brightness/contrast/level shuffling to make it show up. Did I mention I want a new scanner?

[dan.man.86]

DINOSAURS!!!! YAY!!!!!

*cough*...sorry....just though I'd get that out of the way....

great looking stuff.....but i'm sure everyone else has already told you that Loving the pencil sketching and the great attention to detail. Do you reference all your dinos from images, or are these from memory? Just thought i'd ask. The quality reminds me of illustrations in a book I would have read when I was younger Look forward to seeing more though for sure

[Vermis]

Thanks!

Do you reference all your dinos from images, or are these from memory? Just thought i'd ask. The quality reminds me of illustrations in a book I would have read when I was younger

Ah, there's a question that'd make me wax lyrical. Or wax boring. I'll try to keep it brief.
Like I say at the top, I don't use references as much as I should. Hence you get weird stuff like that first painted allosaur, halfway up there. My better stuff tends to be referenced: fleshed-up copies (like the dromaeosaur), or done with a handy ref to one side, or after a few warm-up sketches.
All that helps the memory, too. But, like any other art subject, it's dangerous to rely on memory too much, or for too long.

Tell you what. I used 'doodle' to describe that Shantungosaurus. I'll use that for any unreferenced drawings from now on.

And thanks for the compliment. It's very much appreciated. Although as some'd tell you, dinosaur illustration's continued to improve in leaps and bounds during the last couple of decades. I'm a long, long way from the likes of John Sibbick or Mark Hallett.

[clickety click]

Thought I would drop in....

I'm certainly impressed with your sketches.

On another note... at Zbrushcentral there is a couple that work creating displays of dinosaurs at a French Museum. Their combined work is superb, however you would have to search for their link at that site. You may well find their work in the featured works of the site.

All the best

[Vermis]

Thanks! I'll make sure to take a look.

Some more old stuff, now; getting into speculative zoology. 'Bout time I posted some of it here!.
I have an interest in tabletop miniature gaming, and on one forum I posted up a few sketches of possible creatures for a post-apocalyptic setting. The concept of dingo rats - tiger-sized (or bigger)predatory rodents with touches of canine, mesonychid and creodont, cruising the wastelands in search of anything edible - proved popular.
So, I'll probably try my hand at sculpting a set of these sometime in the future - something around 1/54 or 1/56 scale. But not before the road shark...

[Ignominious]

whoa, your dinos are amazing! no doubt you've heard of james gurney?

[Vermis]

Hullo! Thanks! And yes - the Dinotopia guy, isn't he? Can't say I'm fond of the setting/concept, but he's a veritable paloaeoart titan.

Some more stuff from me: Pachyrhinosaur sketches that I forgot to scan (a restoration based on a skull, and some half-baked attempts at forelimb restoration), and a weird Anchisaurus profile.