Monday, May 2, 2011

_Hesperornis_ Challenge

Hi everyone! I'm new to posting at Art Evolved, and let me first say that I'm honored to have been included in a site that features so many amazing paleoartists (most of whom put my own art to shame!). I've been a reader and supporter of this site since it started, and I think it's great that we're starting to see such communities of palaeontographers coming together.

In lieu of a full introduction (and not meaning to simply promote my own blog!), I'll finish with a challenge. I noticed that last month hesperornithids lost out to hadrosaurs (both groups in major need of more exposure among illustrators). I've been working on my own restoration of hesperornithids, but found it hard to get good anatomical info important to their life appearances. Now, according to my wife I'm a stickler for details, and I have an annoying habit of compulsively continuing my research and reading into a subject well into the process of restoring it, even when the illustration is almost finished, and in this case I stumbled on some issues that caused me to have to revisit some major aspects of my Hesperornis. Before I write up a longer post about what I found, I wonder how many of my readers already know (or have some idea of) the research I overlooked. So, take a look at my first draft of Hesperornis. What's wrong with this picture? Feel free to comment here or at DinoGoss!


--Matt Martyniuk