Guest Artist Spotlight: Teddy Cookswell

With some of the recent publicity ART Evolved has been recieving lately, and our ever increasing appearances in google searches, we have been getting a number of interested Palaeo-Artists contacting us. One of them in particular, who you are about to "meet", sent us in a whole portfoilio of his work. It was so nice we decided we had to share it!

Thus we present for your viewing pleasure the first ever ART Evolved guest artist spotlight. If you're a palaeo-artist who'd like your work featured on this site, send us an email at artevolved@gmail.com and we'll get the ball rolling.

Our first guest artist is Kazu Otsuka from Tokyo Japan, but As he signs his work as Teddy Cookswell we'll be referring to him as this from here on in.

Teddy is a designer and has seen his work used in many Japanese museums and aquariums over the past nineteen years. He recently in his spare time started on a huge palaeo-art project. The creation of a short animated film entitled “THE LIFE”, which highlights Teddy's favourite moments throughout the evolution of life. Taking up this project he has had to not just educate himself on prehistoric creatures, but also the artistic medium of CGI.


Despite the hardships of taking on an entire film by himself, Teddy says he has really been enjoying the process. Among his favourite subject matters are Placoderms and Dinosaurs.

You can find Teddy Cookswell's website at this link, and the prototype of his film "THE LIFE" here.


We are now quite proud to host this sampling of Teddy's work, and hope you enjoy it too!


All the works belong are the property and copyright of Kazu Otsuka, and we host them with permission.

Discussion Topic: Sauropod Necks... Slender or Thick?

The most obvious and fascinating thing about the Sauropods was of course their necks. Some them had unfathomably long necks, and with nothing alive today with anywhere near this sort of configuration (at least anywhere near their size) it leaves us asking a lot of questions about them.

This year has seen a great deal of debate about how Sauropods held their necks. Computer modelling has suggested that these giant Dinosaurs could not raise them much above parallel to the ground, but now research by the SVP-OW gang on living animal skeletons suggests this was not the case.

With this issue on our minds, I bring you to my big question about Sauropods. How thick would the soft tissue around their necks have been to hold up such large structures?
Aesthetically I've personally always preferred the super slender neck look, such as this by Gregory Paul.

However today I modelled such proportions in 3D. The results didn't look so convincing. In fact to be honest it looked like the whole neck should have just snapped off and fallen to the ground.

I love this look for Brachiosaurus, but is this slim neck only believable due to some sort of visual trick caused by it being rendered in 2D?

A beefier slim such as this by Mark Hallett is the thinnest I can think of for a 3D model. The Jurassic Park Brachiosaur had similar proportions to these guys.

Or was that still too slim?

In a later rendering by Gregory Paul, he drew a bulkier and more massive neck. It is a drastic departure from his earlier attempt. I can personally see where he is coming from imagining this as a living animal, and not a picture on a piece of paper. Yet it is a drastically different feeling animal and piece.

Some like John Conway have taken this bulking up to Arnold-like proportions.

Artistically we have many choices on how to reconstruct a Sauropod. The question is which of these is artistic liscense, and which is based on the once living animal?

Which of these do you think looks closest to what a living sauropod would have had? Do you know of any research that points to an answer? Or is it like the neck posture itself, and still surrounded by controversy?

Leave your comments below...

MORE Sauropods in Art!

Ever seen something so good that you have to show people more of it yourself? Well such is the case with sauropods... I noticed Peter Bond's pose on Sauropods in art, and I'm really impressed by all the amazing art he was able to find. However, I've got a few more "Sauropods in Art" that I'd like to share with you all as well. These may be especially useful if you're into drawing titanosaurs...

Argentinosaurus compared to a human (by Aldo Chiappe)
Mid-Cretaceous Argentina
Grouping: Macronaria/Titanosauria/basal titanosaur (?Argentinosauridae?)



Head and skull of Rapetosaurus (by Mark Hallett)
Late Cretaceous Madagascar
Grouping: Macronaria/Titanosauria/Lithostrotia/Saltasauridae/Nemegtosaurinae

Rinconsaurus (by Stephen O'Connor)
Late Cretaceous Argentina
Grouping: Macronaria/Titanosauria/Lithostrotia/Lithostrotia incertae sedis

Jobaria (by Stephen O'Connor)
Early Cretaceous north Africa (Sahara)
Grouping: Macronaria/late-surviving basal macronarian (perhaps a Camarasaurid)



Mamenchisaurus youngi (by Stephen O'Connor)
Middle Jurassic China
Grouping: Eusauropoda (or perhaps Neosauropoda)/Euhelopodidae (or Mamenchisauridae)

Sauropoda (and some prosauropoda) by Brian Franczak.
See if you can find Dicraeosaurus, Diplodocus, Haplocanthosaurus, Camarasaurus, Isisaurus, Omeisaurus, Brachiosaurus, and Saltasaurus.

Nenquensaurus (by Andrey Atuchin)
Late Cretaceous Argentina
Grouping: Macronaria/Titanosauria/Lithostrotia/Saltasauridae

Janenschia (by Andrey Atuchin)
Late Jurassic Tanzania
Grouping: Macronaria/Titanosauria/basal titanosaur (or possibly Andesauridae)

Isisaurus (by Andrey Atuchin)
Early Cretaceous India
Grouping: Macronaria/Titanosauria/basal titanosaur



Diplodocus and hatchlings (by Mick Ellison)



Brachiosaurus altithorax (by Mark Hallett)
Late Jurassic Colorado & Wyoming, USA
Grouping: Macronaria/Brachiosauridae/Giraffatitanae



Futalognkosaurus dukei (by Julius T. Csotonyi)
Mid-Cretaceous Argentina
Grouping: Macronaria/Titanosauria/Lognkosauridae

Shunosaurus, Gasosaurus, and Huayangosaurus
(by Greg Paul - this is MOST of the full version)
Middle Jurassic China
Shunosaurus' grouping: Derived cetiosaurid/Transitional form

Apatosaurus herd (by Greg Paul) - an old-school yet still very accurate painting
Late Jurassic Colorado & Wyoming, USA
Grouping: Diplodocoidea/Flagellicaudata/Diplodocidae/Apatosaurinae

Apatosaurus rearing to feed (by Greg Paul) - classic version

Diplodocus herd fending off a river ambush by Allosaurus (by Greg Paul)
Late Jurassic Colorado & Wyoming, USA
Grouping: Diplodocoidea/Flagellicaudata/Diplodocidae/Diplodocinae

The Abelisaur Aucasaurus raids a titanosaur nest (by John Sibbick)
Mid-Cretaceous Argentina
Grouping: unknown - the sauropods here are just generic Patagonian titanosaurs.

A lone Ceratosaur observes An Apatosaurus stampede (by John Sibbick)

Chuanjiesaurus fends off Yangchuanosaurus (by Raul Martin)
Middle to Late Jurassic China
Conservative grouping: Eusauropoda/Mamenchisauridae
Radical grouping: Macronaria/Euhelopodidae/Mamenchisauridae (or perhaps somphospondyli?)

Pleurocoelus getting bitten by Acrocanthosaurus (by Greg Paul)
Early Cretaceous Texas, USA
Grouping: Macronaria/Brachiosauridae/Pleurocoelinae



Tendaguru Scene: Brachiosaurus (Giraffatitan) brancai and Dicraeosaurus hansemanni (by Greg Paul)
Late Jurassic Tanzania
Brachiosaurus grouping: Macronaria/Brachiosauridae/Giraffatitanae
Dicraeosaurus grouping: Diplodocoidea/Flagellicaudata/Dicraeosauridae

Camarasaurus, Barosaurus, and Apatosaurus feeding (by Greg Paul)
Late Jurassic Wyoming, USA

Diplodocus herd (by Raul Martin)

Sauropods in Art

With one month to go before the Sauropod Gallery hatches, it is time for an overview of Sauropods in Art!

What is there to say about sauropods that hasn't been said before? Nothing, so I won't bore you with repeated information and technical mumbo-jumbo. If you want to learn about sauropods, click here for Wikipedia, here for Skeletal Drawings and here for SV-POW! With the following artistic restorations of the genera, I have tried to pick up-to-date, exciting, and rare pieces, that hopefully some of you will not have seen before. Hopefully, you will be inspired to create something great for November 1st!

Restorations of Sauropod Genera
Click the artwork to ENLARGE it - see the DETAIL!


PRIMITIVE SAUROPODS

Barapasaurus by Dmitry Bogdanov

Patagonsaurus by Mineo Shiraishi

Rhoetosaurus by Brian Choo

Isanosaurus by Luis V. Rey

Omeisaurus by Greg Paul

Omeisaurus by Dinoraul

Mamenchisaurus by Raul Martin

Mamenchisaurus by ДиБгд

Mamenchisaurus by Mark Hallett

Shunosaurus by Greg Paul

Cetiosaurus by John Temperton

DIPLODOCIDS

Apatosaurus by Todd Marshall

Apatosaurus by Mineo Shiraishi

Apatosaurus by Ely Kish

Apatosaurus by Raul Martin

Barosaurus by John Gurche

Barosaurus by Michael Skrepnick

Diplodocus by Tim Bradley, the artist behind the Jurassic Park Institute art

Diplodocus by Doug Henderson

Diplodocus by Todd Marshall

Diplodocus by Mark Witton

Seismosaurus (with two apatosaurs) by Julius T. Csotonyi

Seismosaurus by Mark Hallett

Supersaurus, Ultrasaurus, Seismosaurus by John Sibbick

Supersaurus by Raul Martin

Supersaurus by Luis V. Rey

DICRAEOSAURIDS
Amargasaurus by Pixeldust

Amargasaurus by Luis V. Rey

Brachytrachelopan by ArthurWeasley

Dicraeosaurus by ДиБгд

REBBACHISAURIDS

Nigersaurus by Mineo Shiraishi

Nigersaurus by Todd Marshall

Rebbachisaurus by Zhang Zongda

Rebbachisaurs by Felipe A. Elias

MACRONARIANS

Camarasaurus by James Gurney

Camarasaurus by Raul Martin

Jobaria by Michael Skrepnick

Brachiosaurus by Raul Martin

Brachiosaurus by John Conway

Brachiosaurus by John Sibbick

Brachiosaurus by Brian Franczak


Brachiosaurus by Gregory S. Paul

Giraffatitan by Gabriel Lio

Sauroposeidon by Heather Kyoht Luterman

TITANOSAURS AND SALTASAURIDS

Agustinia by El Noasaurus

Argentinosaurus huenculensis Chased by Pack of Giganotosaurus carolinii by Todd Marshall

Argentinosaurus by Raul Martin

Paralititan by Todd Marshall

Neuquensaurus by Pablo Lara Herrera

Titanosaurus colberti by Mineo Shiraishi

Saltasaurus by Alain Beneteau

That completes a general overview of sauropod genera recreations. Stay tuned for a continuation post, where I'll review early attempts at restoring sauropods, from Knight to Zallinger (Hey! That means you, Mr. Draggy-tail!)