In my quest to truly understand gaits, I’ve dove into the study Biomechanics of locomotion in Asian elephants by Genin, Willems, Cavagna, Lair & Heglund. The graphic below is from the paper, and you can see that they are interested in calculating the forces on each of the joints. While that is interesting, I’m after the visual effect as represented in a walk cycle. So I took that bottom image and created an animated gif. It should run at .2 seconds a frame on most current computers, which would be in keeping with the given speed for this gait. I’ve doubled the walk so that – on the left – the elephant is stationary, on the right the ground position is. I want to do both gaits and eventually develop a system so that the footfall pattern can determine a non-linear, hand-animated sequence.

This sequence will – hopefully – be based on a simulation that Heinrich is trying to squeeze into his busy schedule, so that it would be specific for Kentrosaurus. Rock’n'roll.

Stand from last Tuesday (been on the road since then). It’s… getting there. Need to do some modular studies of footfall patterns.

Hi guys. This is Kentrosaurus. Or at least it will be… bear with me and some very rough w.i.p’s. But look at him. What a freaky, dragon-like beast! What I love about this is that I never would have thought of a Kent moving like this. I mean, I read the svpow lying neck posts like everyone else, I know how vertically stiff the tails must have been and the size of this guy at the museum is just… chin-height. But sometimes it takes a scientist to kick you in the ass and actually try out what all that might mean. And then – despite all its unpolished keyframes and problematic deformation – a noble, strolling dragon appears. Who’d a thunk it?

Apparently, Heinrich. More to come.

Over at artEvolved, Scott Persons has called for illustrations for his talk at the Hadrosaur Symposium. What fascinates me about this is the spirit of a scientist asking for caricature to help communicate the message of his study – even proposing a human with a starting pistol next to a Trex and a Hadrosaur about to race for – no, not their lives – but for a bit of athletic pride. One of the orthinischian home team, so to speak. Almost makes you want to put a sauropod rooting for Trex – the saurischian jock.

As such, this puts communication of concepts in the front seat – ala Bakker’s illustrations – as opposed to specimen geek-out ala Paul. And as I’m a total fan of Bakker, I’m in. May even finish all three, whether Scott wants them or not. here’s nr. 3: the hadrosaur triumphantly busting through the finish line and an exhausted tyrannosaur plodding up behind. My Trex is beyond plodding…. he’s beat.

Brian Switek plugs Heinrich’s Kentrosaurus paper at the Smithsonian blog, and my illustration is there, front and center. Heinrich’s write-up is at Palaeontologia Electronica, again, with my illustration. It’s worth a read (as are the other papers there) and I suggest you hit the link and head over.

This illustration is a landmark for me. It’s the first full-fledged illustration that I’ve done of a dinosaur – as opposed to speed-paints, concepts and sketches. It shows what my intentions are – I want a detailed, lush imagery with science at its core, something that generates excitement without being spectacular.

Did I manage all those things? No. Stylistically, it’s a bit too ambiguous in style between realism and illustrative. And it could read better in a few parts, compositionally its too uniform in color and the main Kent’s pose could be more dramatic. Lesson learned. What I discovered is that I enjoyed the challenges of creating an environment that felt like a huge creature has been ravaging through the foliage – and feel I’ve been successful. The ravaging isn’t by the Kent, by the way… there are already young fern fronds indicative of stage one recovery. The Kents are browsing through a path previously trampled by a sauropod herd.

And that’s what I enjoyed most about making this: and where I am in fact happy with the result. The image is suggestive of a story, and the story explains the science. There’s a rearing Kent, then the foreground Kent who’s been disrupted, and an Allosaurus feigning indifference up front. That’s what makes me look forward to future projects, such as finishing this one. It’s begging to be an animation.

Yes, I have not gone the way of the dinosaurs, though of course – I have. Here’s a teaser for an upcoming illustration. I’m quite excited about it because it will be the first that approaches my ambition for a ‘final’ piece – as opposed to the sketches Ive previously posted.

Had to round off a presentation video for a pitch, so I tackled some remaining issues and ignored others (ie. the wing feather deformation). This is the Scott Hartman approved Archie, though he hasn’t seen the walk yet. Anxious to hear his feedback.

I’ve had a chronic tooth ache for the last two weeks, a bone spur on my heel that keeps me from running, though I can now walk, and I haven’t done a speed paint in ages. This isn’t one either, as it took 2 hours and 44 minutes. It didn’t change my mood much, but it did reflect it. Michael Maisch is a passionate paleontologist who – as I discovered on my last trip to southern Germany – is out of a job. In a country that spends 163 billion Euros a year on subventions. And bails out banks.
Hope it’s not true. I had no photos of Michael to go on, just a sketch that I made during a wonderful talk he gave at the museum in Stuttgart. So – it likely misses the resemblance, but I remember this pose of his – and his passion.

If you have the animation software pmG and would like to play with the technique shown in the last post, I’ve decided to share the file. (Heribert, I’m looking at you.) If you do something cool with it, or have questions, join the discussion over at the pmG forums.

heribert – this one’s for you. A painting-with-polys test in messiah. Not all the way there yet, but very promising.

Here’s the near-final texturing (not shading) of Archeopteryx, as realized under the scientific direction of Scott Hartman. Lots of funky stuff in there, such as the jaw hinge and the first toe orientation. Will show that in upcoming close-ups.

I’m very happy with alot of things that are going on here, even if I’m not satisfied with the current realization thereof. The bones are starting to do what I want them to – communicate species-relevant characteristics – without looking like bones that’ve been excavated. But they need to be even more sculptural. More abstracted.

I’m thrilled with the idea of crediting Scott and all of his research and pursuing ways that might make the team aspect of this kind of work function financially as well. The “approved by” stamp is a consequent continuation of the Kentrosaurus and Plateosaurus I’ve started with Heinrich Mallison, so I look forward to returning to those with an “approved by Heinrich” stamp. It seems to me a first, visual step towards recognizing the long chain of interdependencies present in creating a piece of paleoart.

This is my first go at a hand out poster promoting the Ask a Biologist website, as requested by Dave Hone. Some out there might think of me as a destructive personality for doing something like this for free, but I’ll pass it on… Dave Hone’s then being destructive for doing the site on a shoestring budget. For the record,  I’ve abused reference photography that I found on the net, a font that I believe comes with Windows, but I’m not sure, and… And I don’t believe we should consider public service messages – to which I categorize outreach projects like this – as stringently as commercial gigs. Call me names if you like.

On to the poster:
I’ve stuck to the site’s C.I. as I find it very well-done and memorable. (Congrats to whomever – I stole your work here too.) I picked up on the potpourri character of the site by throwing some actual questions together – high and low brow formulations – that are reflected in a (hopefully) catchy headline. The site also invites you to browse answers and so encounter all sorts of weird information. I wanted to reflect that and so I included the question query numbers… I’m not sure people would be net-savvy enough to actually use them, so I added a hint in the same format – the “.com” by the logo. Not sure if this is good. I’m trying to extend a hand for those who might not know how to get to the site, but I think this is superfluous nowadays.

Anyway – would love to hear what you think, about the poster and about doing something like this for a beer. (Yes, you owe me a beer, Dave! But I won’t hold the high res version until getting it. Just send me change requests / feedback and I’ll send it.)

I’d wanted to do some variations but my time schedule and computer both didn’t think much of that idea. So… here it is. Only – I’m not telling you what species are represented here. I want you to tell me, so I can see if I came close or not. Even if its only a speed paint, I figure I should be able to get a likeness down. Make your educated guesses in the comments section.

pathetically little, I know. Client called up.

Some sauropodii exhibiting a front sweep kick.  Let me know if you can tell the species I’m trying for. Celebrity likeness, so to speak.  I’m going to spend a few speed paints with this motiv… I figure Mike Taylor’s morbid fantasies need some cathartic appeasement.

Tried for a more dramatic view of this terror bird for the terror bird gallery at art evolved. Went about an hour. Fought tooth and nail with misbehaving brushes. This week I re-boot my digital life once more.

More great titles for this one than you can shake a fist at. Inspired by the great, late post at Andrea Cau’s Theropoda. how can you resist the googlation Paleoart Why Is Not?

Thanks to Andrea Cau for continuous inspiration and the others at artEvolved for their paints.