IOW #22 - Feathered Dinosaur (Yutyrannus huali)

[Andrew Sonea]

Illustration of the Week #22: Feathered Dinosaur (Yutyrannus huali)

This is a two week topic.

Topic
This weeks topic is Feathered Dinosaur (Yutyrannus huali). This past week a new dinosaur was announced to have been discovered. It is a monstrous tyrannosaur, and WAS COMPLETELY COVERED IN FEATHERS! Your job is to:

- Illustrate how the dinosaur would have looked like, and how it would fit in with its environment.
-Include at least two of the dinosaurs in the image
-Ensure that your image is scientifically accurate (read up on its distinctive features)

Here are a few links for further reading (I strongly suggest you read through all of them and probably more as well):

http://archosaurmusings.wordpress.co...yrannus-huali/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yutyrannus

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/...-tyrannosaurs/



Deadline
The deadline is Sunday 22nd of April, 23:59 GMT



Have fun!

[Rob Powell]

All I'm going to say is....I'M IN!!!

[grenogs]

"-Include at least two of the dinosaurs in the image" Just to clarify this before we start any roughs, you want at least 2 Yutyrannus huali dinosaurs, and not just 2 dinosaurs of any species?

[Andrew Sonea]

"-Include at least two of the dinosaurs in the image" Just to clarify this before we start any roughs, you want at least 2 Yutyrannus huali dinosaurs, and not just 2 dinosaurs of any species?

Yup, two Yutyrannus please!

[Banvivirie]

YAY!!

[dierat]

Awesome topic!

[jamtob2]

Some interesting thoughts and details on the new discovery, for those partaking.

http://archosaurmusings.wordpress.co...yrannus-huali/

[Rob Powell]

guess I'll break the ice with the first wip...still just about clueless what to do with the background though still very rough so I can still play with some ideas...only thing that will really stay for my final most likely are the poses of the two...

[grenogs]

Just found these links, worth looking through if anyones considering adding another species of dino or doing a faily accurate landscape. http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/history_...etaceous#intro
http://animals.howstuffworks.com/din...-dinosaurs.htm

[Rob Powell]

tweaked a few things such as the facial anatomy, changed the background, will probably add more to it as I go. change the positions and sizes of both subjects, made them look bigger as they are rather large....I'm having way to much fun here...

[Animare]

Started with just designing the look of the Yutyrannus huali.
I read in those articles that it was smaller than the T-rex, and that if it had feathers it was likely to live somewhere cold. So I'm going all out with the fluffeh fur.

[Rob Powell]

Animare: here's a few things I wanna mention. but rather than typing I'll just provide a paintover (hope you don't mind), it is actually a pretty shitty paintover, but I think my points get across. I wouldn't call my sketch as purly accurate, as I think I've made some anatmoical and proportional errors here as well, but it's just a quick rough over top of yours. Just remember to look at reference images, there are a few recreations available, but you can look at images of it's skeleton and skull as well. Hope all this helped in some way.

[Banvivirie]

This is the composition I settled on. I think I might do this one in traditional. I am probably going to focus on an accurate depiction of the environment (actual late Cretaceous plants), and think I will go with a color pattern like that of an owl or a large housecat, and an especially fuzzy juvenile.
Rob looks great so far!

[grenogs]

banvivirie Good to see you thinking early on about its environment, not to sound like i'm nit picking here though, but Yutyrannus huali was an early cretaceous dinosaur, and with a yearly average temperature of approx 10'c in that area of the world. Most likely winters were probably quite harsh, there's even new theories of glaciers being in the area, So conifer type trees which can survive through the winters were probably quite dominant. The BBC link above which I've posted has some pretty good info on the time, especially on the types of plants and possible food preys, though if you want to get as accurate as possible, and you wanted other species in your image, you would still have to read up some other extra info on those individual dino species. Dinosaur illustrations are great to do, but it's one of the more difficult natural history subjects to cover, there's so much research and reference to go through to get as accurate an image as possible, and what's worse, theories and new info is constantly changing, so what was good 10 years ago may be of little use today. Sorry for my rant, i quite like dinosaur illustrations, lol

[zy.]

For those interested, the actual scientific paper:

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal...ture10906.html

[Banvivirie]

For those interested, the actual scientific paper:

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal...ture10906.html

It would be nice to be able to pay $32 for the article... however, the author has it for free on his blog. http://www.xinglida.net/Yutyrannus/Yutyrannus.htm

update;
I've found many of the plants have modern relatives, so references are much easier to find. I'm planning on including sequoia, gingko, tempskya, archaefructus, araucaria, katsura, and assorted horsetails, ferns, and clubmoss. I'm debating on placing another Yutrannus in the background for a profile shot, but I like just the two of them.

[zy.]

Banvivirie-- good catch. thanks! I like that your considering the local surroundings and trying to include local flora. For cc-- The head of the large dinosaur looks a little too far turned for the angle of the rest of the body. I'm struggling with it though, joints in dinosaurs have some properties I don't intuitively "get", and extant dinosaurs (birds :-P) in some groups have really flexible necks. Maybe try flipping it a couple times, and see if you can see what I see. My other thought is that they're pretty small in the image, and while I'm all about animals in the environment, for something like a feather-covered t-rex looking dinosaur, that's the kind of thing that can steal the center show. Zooming in a little closer and giving the viewer a little more detail on the subject could helpful. All cc, it's subjective. Take or leave it

[unruhe]

Nice start everybody, here are my first drafts working on composition and integrating both dinosaurs in their environment. Was interesting to dive into this subject since im not so familiar with it, so thank u all for the reference links in this topic.

Going for a typical hunt like approach in the snow.

Nice feedback Rob Powell with the paintover, interesting bits in your notes.

[Animare]

Thank you Rob Powell for the paintover, I took in what you said and changed the design a little.
Here's the composition I'm working on.
Its meant to be them hunting, struggling with the angles.

[Aksel Ludvigsen]

Hey folks! Just chiming in to say that (almost) all IOW badges have been given out. (Except those with multiple badges, as there seems to be a problem with the code)

Keep up the great work!

[Bellhop]

This is what I have so far. I plan on making the two dinos a couple, with one nesting while the other arrives with food. Birds can be colorful, and since all birds are descendants of theropod dinosaurs, I'd imagine feathered dinos could be pretty colorful. I was inspired by turkey feathers and peacocks, haha.

[Dracontes]

Argh! Only 4 days... And I already spent some time on this critter though not to the challenge's specifications :/

Well, at least a few critiques while I'm here...

Rob Powell: Those hands should have the palms facing each other, they should be larger and have really big claws (do check the interpretative drawing of the "twin" specimens on the paper: the one on the left shows this clearly enough). The thigh is far too pulled back on the farther animal for it to be healthy: the femur shouldn't go past the line vertical to the ground. Is that an ear hole just behind the eye? The tail is far too thin.
On your reply to Animare: there are feathers associated with the metatarsals so those would go lower than the knees. Also I'm not so sure it's particularly solid that the snout should be bare: vultures are mostly scavengers; the feathers here are relatively simple and as such easier to maintain.
I'd also like to know where is the end of the pubis in both drawings.

Banvivirie: The arms insert too high on the torso and they are folding in a too avian fashion. From where I'm looking the head looks far to shallow for its skull. Also the metatarsi are far too long: a preliminary appraisal of the animal gives the impression that thigh, shin and foot (ankle to claws) are approximately the same length, with the toes on the latter being half the total length of the foot.

Animare: same I said for Rob's about the hands.

Bellhop: How shall I put this... Using omnivorous birds as a base for reconstructing colors on a predatory dinosaur isn't altogether the most parsimonious option. It'd be better if you based your Yutyrannus off carnivorous birds. Also for the time being the iridescence you're going after simply isn't known for the type of feathers this dinosaur has.
On the nesting behavior, I think it's more likely Yutyrannus used mound nests.

I do hope all this rambling of mine helps...

[Dracontes]

As most people here went the agonistic route, I decided for a more bucolic scene. Here a pair (mates, allied relatives, etc...) relaxes under a ginkgo tree engaging in allopreening: where one individual reaches for the other those difficult spots on the plumage.

[drawfox]

i thought i'd give this a shot- seemed like an interesting topic

[Dracontes]

Drawfox: You illustrated them with far, far too derived feathers. At the most, as shown here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feather...tionary_stages , feathers in Yutyrannus would be stage 3 and discussion of the specimen prior to publication mentioned the existence of stage 1 feathers, specifically elongated broad filamentous feathers (EBFFs) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beipiaosaurus#Feathers .
What I said for Rob Powell in regard to the animal's hands also applies to your drawing.

[Banvivirie]

This has been a huge learning experience. Dinosaur anatomy how does it work?
I decided to have a clutch of babies rather than a single one, as was probably more likely. I had almost all my anatomical errors fixed by my boyfriend, who is a huge dinosaur nerd. I don't look forward to the background; digital painting is not my favorite.

Dracontes I think if you moved the ginkgo behind the pair it would be a more interesting composition. Having the three figures in a row makes it look dull and flat. Also, your necks are too long.

[CassandreBolan]

I was thinking of ways to make my yutyrannus a bit distinctive but still remain accurate. I couldn't resist making a polar dinosaur-come on- it's just so visually cool! Don't worry- I did my research. It is hypothesized that the feathers may have been brightly colored but nothing is proven yet, and if it lived in a snowy climate than well-it makes sense that it's white. I also looked into the range of weight scientists think this family of dinos could have had. Nothing is proven there either-so I bulked mine up a bit to deal with all that snow!

Oh, I should mention that this first WIP is a photo collage. Sometimes this is the way I sketch. None of the figures/landscape is copied though, all are frankenstein-ed from different sources and put together, then painted over.

[Dracontes]

Banvivirie: Once you get the hang of it, you'll find that at least theropods are rather stereotypical. True, there are a good deal of small differences you have to keep your eye out for but, overall, they aren't as disparate as mammals are.

Great work so far Well... some more nitpicking:
According to the bracketing Stokesosaurus and Eotyrannus and looking at the left "twin", the third finger should be less robust than you show and it's proximal portion more appressed to the second finger. Archosaurian (birds+crocs) claws should be, at least, a third larger than their bony cores in life.
Unless that is just a stand-in the reflection shouldn't be simply a vertical flip: as the water is under the animal we should see in the reflection parts of the underside we can't see directly: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ac209/7...n/photostream/

Good points, Banvivirie. I hope I have addressed them sufficiently below.

[GEB]

This is gunna sound really anal... But it's worth noting trees hadn't developed by this point it was mostly ferns. I know... I'm a dick...

[Elwell]

This is gunna sound really anal... But it's worth noting trees hadn't developed by this point it was mostly ferns. I know... I'm a dick...

Nothing wrong with being anal, or even a dick, as long as you're right.
However, there certainly were trees, including many recognizably "modern" types, in the early cretaceous. Although flowering plants (and thus deciduous trees) don't seem to occur until later in the cretaceous, conifers, cycads, ginkgoes, etc were abundant. It was hardly "mostly ferns."