The Slenderdactyl

"The Slenderdactyl"

Quetzalcoatlus northropi, Ankylosaurus magniventris. An acrylic painting I did recently of a Quetzalcoatlus stalking a baby Ankylosaurus. 

I discovered a few years ago I have a bit of a knack of painting spooky looking forests, so I decided to revisit the idea again. This time I wanted to depict an azdarchid pterosaur, namely because of the pterosaur exhibit currently being shown at the California Academy of Sciences. My first spooky forest painting I did a couple of years ago did consist of a Quetzalcoatlus stalking a baby Triceratops.

I choose a Quetzalcoatlus because of its long, spindly limbs, which are generally creepy, but I did not think of a reason at first to justify it living in such a dense forest. The reason I came up with later was that he had suffered extensive damage to his wing membranes, leaving him grounded and vulnerable to large tyrannosaurs. That is why I added all those huge tears in his wings.

The title was inspired by a joke by a commenter on that previously mentioned painting, equating Quetzalcoatlus to the Slenderman. I actually played some of Markiplier’s Slenderman videos in the background while painting this.

Completed in early July 2017.

Done using acrylics, color pencils and Photoshop CC.