wwwwwwwFor creating individual species, I settled on a multistep process.
Many papers include images of bones and/or diagrams of estimated skeletal structures, as well as online references. Using those, I sketch a side-view of the organism and its skeletal structure. Then, using a handy-dandy set up using a reading light, my desk, and a glass pane from a picture frame as a lightbox, I sketched in where muscle groups would go, based on other references and the anatomical sources I outlined in my previous post. Then, I will use a similar process to build the other soft tissues and integumentary -- the skin, the feathers, etc. In doing so, I am also referring to papers I saved previously regarding the species, or that I have come across in my searches (such as an entire paper on the tail muscles in Tyrannosaurs) that describe muscles and soft tissues. These are just sketches, and after familiarizing myself with the organism, doing my best to confirm tweaks, features, and general proportions, I outline a posed sketch for a final work. Then, I'll build up muscles roughly again, more rigorously focus on proportions and specific features (such as, for example, if a species or specimen has skin impressions). Once a final sketch is done, I use a combination of colored pencils and photoshop (with my wacom tablet) to develop it. An example below is Baryonyx walkeri, in its earlier-sketch stages: Obviously, it is not perfect -- the hands and feet, for example, are controlled more finely by tendons and ligaments, and share the phenomenan seen in birds of "drum stick legs" because of it -- heaviler muscled upper legs compared to the relatively spare "foot." But what is clear is where muscles pull, and what generally connects to what. If a species is primed for quickly darting its head downwards to catch fish, not unlike the way a grizzly bear may swiftly swipe its paw into a stream, those muscles may be more developed. If the species is large and powerfully, and walks forefully, relying heavily on its hind-limbs, than the tail may be more robust, as the caudofemoralis muscle must serve to pull back on its leg. Teeth are added in later stages, if the mouth is presented as open.
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AuthorJulia Youssef Archives
April 2021
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