Drawing a dinosaur

I recently produced a short description of the geology of a farm located in the mountains north of where I live. The document was used to design a field outing for tourists and for local teenagers to educate them on aspects of the local natural history.

I realized that one way to engage young people is to introduce that magic work, dinosaurs, to the conversation. In reality there are traces of dinosaurs in the area. Certain formations have yielded fossil bones attributed to a number of different species that inhabited the region.

I introduced the dinosaur history in the text of the second edition of my geological guide, but thought that some illustration would to accompany the text would engage the attention of the reader.

One of the fossil animals is a type of dinosaur identified as Ornithomimids. These were animals that resemble modern day large birds such as the ostrich. I began my work by looking in illustrated books at drawings produced by paleo artists to see what these animals were thought to look like. 

Artist impressions of dinosaurs (From: Dixon, 2016, The complete illustrated encyclopedia of dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures)

 I then found a diagram of the anatomy of dinosaurs that were very similar in stature and overall body form to the Ornithomimid type dinosaurs. In fact, all these images remind me of the modern bird anatomy.

Dinosaur anatomy (From: Witton, 2018, The Palaeoartists handbook)

I tried to create my own unique image without resorting to copying the existing art work of these animals. I like to at least try for some originality, and also challenge myself to create something a little on the edge of my capability. After a few attempts I realized that this was not feasible, my imagination was defeated. So, I resorted to the next best thing, a model.

I drew a top and side view of my imagined animal and used these profiles as the basis to build a small model from scrap paper. Construction began by emulating the main body mass with a pair of box structures, one for the pelvis and one for the rib cage. These were joined by a log strip of paper that served as the backbone or spine. I then glued arms, legs, and a tail onto this box arrangement. Finally, I constructed a third small box to represent the head, this was glued on the end of the spinal paper strip. To stop the head sagging from its relative weight I added a second strip running up vertically across the chest region to raise the head. The whole arrangement is then mounted on a toothpick that can be inserted into a suitable support. In this case another box like form.

Paper model used for creating the drawing

Once I had the paper model to look at it was relatively easy to envisage how the animal would look as it bounded across the landscape. It probably did bound at considerable speed. I think that is the case because they had a very lightweight anatomy, long legs, and very efficient respiratory systems.

Final rough sketch of the dinosaur

Above is the completed sketch. I just created it as an experiment on scrap A4 paper. What remains to be done is the creation of a fine copy of the image for inclusion in the second edition.

The artistic point of this post is to illustrate how one can move from what you imagine to something tangible that can be represented on paper. I suspect the biggest barrier to doing this is the translation of aspects of a form in our imagination into to the coherent image required to convey the idea to others. 

Below is an additional rework of the image shown above, I did this to serve as an illustration in a geology guide I have written about a local farm. 

The image represents a medium sized Theropod Dinosaur that was found locally and named Nqwebasaurus. These animals are suspected of having a feathery coat, but this is debated. I have chosed a middle road and indicated a few salient feathers on the neck and arms. These animals are part of a group called Ornithomimosauria.

Tiger at Ubuntu Wildlife

The Ubuntu Wildlife Sanctuary https://ubuntuwild.com/ is home to large cats that have been rescued from zoological parks and private collections that have become distressed. The animals are too old or disabled to be introduced to the wild and so require care for their remaining life span. Ubuntu provide a suitable facility.

I have been spending some time on the farm providing assistance in the development of educational walking trails. In my visits there is an opportunity to photograph the animals. On my last visit I took a picture of a female tiger.  My picture was taken through a tiger proof fence and was not the most photogenic image of a tiger around. I decided to use the photograph to practice a method called planar portraiture.

A friend of mine, Hilary Adams, bought me a subscription to a Domestika online course in planar portraiture. It was a farewell gift when I left Cape Town. I followed the course and decided to test out some of what I learned to capture the tiger image on paper.

My process started by printing the photograph out on A4 paper and then using a light box to transfer the outline onto a clean A4 sheet (See Fig 1 below). I then drew the various planar lines the define the shape or indicate the relative position of various parts of the anatomy.

Fig 1 - A4 planar structure on image outline

Once I had the image outline, I started to transfer the construction onto an A3 sheet of 60gsm paper (See Fig 2 below). This process is usually quite laborious when using the grid method I have described in the past. I found the planar method comparatively quick by comparison, even though it looks more complicated. In practice the planar approach is not complicated at all, it proved quite intuitive one I had the hang of it. Needless to say, I still made mistakes.  

Fig 2 - Scaling up the image from A4 to A3

Notice in the image above that I use a roller ruler, this allows me to rapidly position a line on the A4 page and transfer it to the A3 page. Just make sure both pages are square to one another. Position the roller rule along the line on the A4 page, roll it off the A4 sheet and remove the sheet, then roll the ruler back to the position you want the line and draw it in.

The other critical activity is scaling to make sure the lines are correctly positioned relative to one another. You can do this with a calculator if you like having to keep on typing numbers into a calculator or computer. You can also do it in your head if you are a mental arithmetic adept! It is also possible to do with proportional dividers, but that requires continual adjustments.

I have found the simplest approach is to use a slide rule…yes, it’s very simple. You set the centre rule to the conversion factor and all the actual conversions are there. You look, aided by the slider to guide your eye, for the distance you measured and next to it is the converted or scaled value.

Measurement is critical in art. I used to try to eyeball my images and it does work up to a point. But one art teacher I had many years ago, Walter Rose, said to me that you need to measure everything and continually check your dimensions and how things align. Needless to say I do not always do this as diligently as I should and the result is that the drawing or image goes awry! In the case of the Tiger drawing shown here, the front foot originally extended a significant distance beyond the nose of the Tiger. I had to do a bit of erasing and redrawing to make it look convincing to the eye.

Once the scaled-up outline is complete on the 60gsm A3 sheet I was ready to add details and shading. I keep my outlines for future use, say to produce a watercolour or oil painting on the same scale. In this case I put the sheet on a light-box and overlaid it with 120gsm paper and traced the outline through. The 120gsm sheet provides a better surface for smudging and toning with graphite. I sometimes use heavier paper and paper with more texture which adds to the visual interest of the image. On a previous post this effect can be seen on the different steam engines I have drawn.

Before, I repeat, before, I start creating the 3D effect on my nice mint 120gsm paper some time is set aside for research. I review from my library of art books animal anatomy and in particular the anatomy of the big cats (See Fig 3 below). For this image I carefully noted how the shoulder blades sit on a cat and where the foreleg bones are in relation to the body.

Fig 3 - Sample pages of big cat anatomy

The reference work that most inspires me is a palaeontology book about the evolution of the big cats. What I like are the pencil illustrations by Mauricio Anton. Mauricio is an artist who sets a standard for reconstruction of long gone species and also a very high standard for pencil illustration. Yes, I am a fan.

Finally, several days are spent doing sessions on the work. I started by producing a light grey toned background. To do this use a pencil sharpener and graphite stick, let the shavings fall on the areas to be toned. The rub the shavings around using a piece of tissue paper. Then lightly start drawing in body structure, muscles and bones that are a prominent part of the form. After that add the landmarks on the image, I use the stripes for this and some of the facial features.

Once the lightly drawn image is complete the next step is to progressively increase the tonal range by making the dark areas darker, and darker, and darker. All the time leaving mid toned areas alone once they are dark enough! Areas that need highlights can be created by careful application of the putty-rubber. Highlights were restricted to the spinal area and parts of the legs.

I also used tonal range to bring the nearside and foreground towards the viewer. To do this I make sure the tonal range of these elements is wide, and the more distant parts, for instance the far side legs, are depicted in a tighter range of tones. The result can be seen below (See Fig 4 below).

Fig 4 - Final drawing of Ubuntu Tiger

Anatomy, Aircraft, and Aves.

 Learning Anatomy

In the past few years, I have been trying to develop my skill in the area of figurative drawing and painting. A few copies of great masters’ portraits and efforts of my own were the starting point. I then attended classes of drawing figures that cumulated in coaching by Paul Birchall. The work with Paul took me to another level where I could draw figures from my imagination. The results were OK but can be improved.

A am a friend of an artist, Charlotte Firbank-King, who produces the most fantastic images straight from her imagination. In her paintings people and animals abound in all sorts of natural settings. Er ability to create and most amazing detail in a scene is astounding. One day Charlotte said to me that to improve my figurative and portrait work I would benefit from the study of anatomy.

I have a collection of books on anatomy and figure drawing for artists. I began a process of study following an idea put forward by Loomis in his book ‘Figure Drawing for all its worth’. Loomis suggests taking a diagram showing the various muscles and identify them from suitable sources.

My process begins by selecting a figure from a book on human anatomy published by 3dtotal publishing. They present a photograph of a model and superimposed on the image are the muscles, tendons and bones visible from the surface. I produce a drawing of the image on A3 layout paper (60gsm) and then refer to my various books to attach labels to the various muscles depicted.

So far, I have created two diagrams through this process. I spend about three days to create a diagram. I work for a few hours and then retire to other activity so that the learning points can sink in. Most of what is depicted remains on the drawing not in my head but I am counting on repetition and practice to address that problem. The diagrams below are where this style of work has reached so far.

 

Muscles of the arm and body from the back

Muscles of the body from the front

Aeroplanes

Following the drawing of the Hawker Hart that I describe in a previous post on this blog I repeated the process to create a drawing of an American Biplane, a Boening Stearman. The aircraft was used to train naval aviators in the 1930s and 1940s.

 

Boeing Stearman

Bird photography

One of my hobbies is photography, with mixed results I spend quite a bit of time trying to photograph birds. I recently had the opportunity to photograph a Turaco, locally known as a Knysna Lourie. The bird has striking red wings that are only visible when it flies. Because it lives in forests the main way of getting about for this bird is to hop along branches and then swiftly leap and fly to the next tree. This presents a challenge for the photographer, getting the bird in the frame, focusing, then capturing the backlit image.

My own attempts were not particularly successful. However, there was sufficient detail in the image to be able to create a drawing of the bird and then add colour using coloured pencil. I drew the image on A3 layout paper (60gsm) using Lyra pencils, then added colour using Lyra coloured pencils. The result is presented below. 

Knysna Lourie - pencil drawing with colourd pencil 'wash' over