I’m talkin’ Yesteryears and shit…
So… here’s my take on the yesterdays phenomena. Yo.
It starts off with…
I’m considering an alternative ending in which the Therizinosaur claws its way out of the huge sauropod’s gut… which would explain those claws. Know waht I’m sayin’?
03/07/2013
LOL!
Yes just yes.
This yesterdays thing has the real potential to produce both really good stuff and really unbelievably horrible stupid stuff…
In some ways I’m glad I’m burnt out on palaeo-art at moment.
03/07/2013
I really enjoy John’s work, but I fear that the call for open speculation will drift towards ‘artistic freedom’ for lots of artists. Luis Rey, Mark Hallett, Todd Marshall, and more – they’ve all been doing this with great responsibility for years. Expand the speculation to ecosystems and Raul Martin, Doug Henderson are top role models.
03/10/2013
Here is my spoof/response to an argument I’ve been having on SVPoW about the Yesterday’s approach.
http://www.blogevolved.blogspot.hk/2013/03/ive-made-perfect-yesterdays-piece.html
03/10/2013
Hi Craig. Thanks for linking to that discussion. I … responded.
Not sure I should have, lol! Your basketball response is too flat, imo. It’s really a question of whether or not each viewer is willing to accept the speculation, and that’s such an individual mix of knowledge, preconception, skepticism, presentation, etc.
03/15/2013
The difference between reasonable speculation and your satirical illustration above is that the core idea in your in your picture that is absolutely fucking impossible. Amniote eggs can’t survive in anaerobic environments (such as guts).
Reduction to absurdity does not a good argument make, and ridiculous shit for the sake of ridiculous shit does not make good speculative biology.
When I read your argument about drifting toward sensationalism, I can’t help but feel like what you’re really trying to do is validate your aesthetic preference in paleo-art with pseudo-scientific arguments. You mention Hallet, Rey and Marshall above as ‘responsible’, yet all of them have created numerous illustrations in which the animals, situations or environments are highly speculative, sensationalized or in direct contradiction to fossil evidence.
I mean seriously, you don’t consider this to be sensationalized? highly speculative?http://luisvrey.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/astrodon-and-utahraptor.jpg
The environment reflects nothing of what we know of lower cretaceous north America, there appears to be grass growing on the ground (grass didn’t evolve until the very end of the Cretaceous at the earliest), there is no direct evidence of utahraptors being pack hunters or tackling prey that much larger than they are, and the feathering and soft tissue reconstruction really don’t reflect what is known about Dromaeosaur feather structure and arrangement. Shit, even the blur use and direction doesn’t make any logical sense.
Gimme a fucking break.
03/15/2013
Brian, I anticipate that I’ll be doing work that you think is too far-reached, and that I’ll find too far-reached in hindsight. I do like that Rey has a combative sauropod, I don’t like his fleshy cheeks and nostrils. And yeah, his environment, I suspect, has to do with his reliance on photomaterials. As I’ve written here, I love his sketches, not so much his color work.
I like your soft tissue ideas much more, for what it’s worth.
What I find problematic is the perception of All Yesterdays as a trend or a movement. I wouldn’t say that I wrote about ‘speculation drifting towards sensationalism’ but rather that when developing speculation, it’s important to have those tv documentaries in mind. I apologize if that comes across differently… I was placing your cave piece as within justified
speculation, but beyond my personal preference.
03/16/2013
oh. shit. sorry. I over reacted.
I realize now that the tone of my comment was really in response to that craig dude who’s got slam-dunk deinonychus in the link above and is equating that to what I did in my diamantinasaurus illustration…
hey craig, that shit is silly. their brains were too small. unlike caves, which can be big enough for dinosaurs. and the entrance to the cave in my illustration is in the background, but i decided to make it dark because i like how it looked better.
http://dontmesswithdinosaurs.com/wp-content/uploads/EnghDiamantinsaurusUNCOLORED-Web.jpg
d maas, i look forward to seeing what you’re working on.
03/16/2013
Hey Brian, thanks for writing that. I’m working on NDA celtic stuff now, so can’t show much, and also tinkering on animatable dino looks. Also anxious what they will be like.