Happy Birthday, T.Rex

Peter Bond over at ART Evolved informs us that it's the 106th birthday of Tyrannosaurus rex and Albertosaurus sarcophagus today.   

My playful disdain for tyrannosaurs (and larger carnivores in general) aside, I have sadly not yet had a real opportunity to quite do justice to T.rex and its kin (inasmuch as I can be said to have really tackled anything with seriousness; the Citipati may be the best of the very few examples so far).  But I think this may be as good an excuse as any to share what few sub-par things I do presently have of the king.

This sketchbook spread of T. rex studies is in fact my first saurian work since I resumed drawing dinosaurs  in earnest a little over a year ago, after many years' gap of not having drawn any dinosaurs at all.  Chief among the many wrongs are the too fine and too numerous teeth, and the lack of jaw muscle.  I am perhaps a little embarrassed to be showing this piece now, but I suppose I'm duty-bound to do so for archival purposes, etc...  

'Everybody Loves T.rex' was tangentially inspired by this article by Brian Switek, and by Marc's series of posts based on his undergraduate dissertation (for which he received a first, you know), but for the most part, it is my own gentle and affectionate satire on T. rex mania among the general public and dinosaur enthusiasts alike.  By the by, that's Marc himself clinging on to the tail...  

In between those two pieces, there was this little ACEO, part of a series of gifts drawn for the members of the Dinosaur Toy Forum (more about these another time).  I don't think there is much to be said about it, I fear.  Except that the full view of it here is much bigger than the original, which is 3.5 x 2.5 inches. 

I'm afraid I have never yet drawn an Albertosaurus.  I hope it will forgive me.  But I wish it a very happy birthday nevertheless.

Hadrosaurs for the Win

It's always a pleasure seeing a hadrosaur triumph over a tyrannosaur, no?  This was my submission for Scott Persons' Hadrosaur Conference art request via ART Evolved.  My race is between an Olorotitan and a Tarbosaurus.  I'm afraid I may have failed somewhat in making the Tarbo look sufficiently different from a T. rex, in spite of those studies, but then I suppose many people regard them as belonging to the same genus at any rate.  

Scott remarked that the piece was "evocative of the Aesop fable, The Tortoise and the Hare -- this is a charming twist (and one I had not anticipated).  I like it very much!"

Readers who are already familiar with my work will observe the little personal indulgence in the bottom right corner.  The version which was eventually considered among the final round of entries actually omits this, as the following correspondence between Scott and myself explains: 

Scott: "I have a small concern about the small... swordsman sitting astride the Protoceratops. I like him, and I would not hesitate to include him, if I used the image in my symposium talk, but I think he would be too confusing were he to appear in any press releases.  Attached you will find a modification of your original image with the little fellow digitally removed.  As the contest comes to a close... , would you object to having this modification be the version that moves on to the final round of consideration? "

I replied: "...I have no objections at all to your considering it instead for the final round.  My thought in including the little 17th century soldier was that he would have been the one officiating at the start of the race, and so appears now at the end to cheer on the winner.  He also happened to serve rather well as a compositional anchor, and was something of a personal 'stamp' or motif, ... it was very indulgent of me.  He would work sequentially, but I do indeed see how he could be very confusing were the image to appear singly in a press release, the thought of which had escaped me.  I'm afraid my illustrator's mind was working in its natural narrative mode!  I think that was also why I was reminded instantly of The Tortoise and the Hare when I first read your brief."

There is more about this piece to follow (I am sitting on some news which prevents me from saying more for the present).  For the moment, here is a sketchbook page with the roughs I made for the entire sequence.