So… in order to get up to speed for the true task of the month, it’s obvious that I’ll have to get my drawing hand into shape, shaking off that crust of rust and start thinking about reconstructing Kentrosaurus.
As a primer, I’ve grabbed two images of Varanus indicus, one skull and one living beast – drawing them to fit one over the other in order to get a feel for at least one analogous soft-tissue reconstruction. I was inspired to do this after noticing how much this guy’s nostrils bulged out. Unfortunately, I’m only working from googled images here… no opportunity to poke and prod and such.

Notice the position of the nostril’s opening compared to the skull opening, and how much the soft-tissue cavity arches over the nasal depression on the skull. Function? Might be to lessen warmth & water loss, I have no idea. (Please pipe in if you have ideas, and feel free to correct terminology – I’m new to this!) Other interesting features are the bone over the eye and how small the eye is in comparison to the skull opening, and the volume of soft tissue about the neck. No surprise with all the musculature, trachea and esophagus.

Coming soon…
I go raving mad and rant about what I consider implausible fleshiness by established artists as capable as Louis Rey, then try my own hand at those big nostril-ed beasts called sauropods, possibly getting expert feedback rants in return. One can only hope!