A sequel of sorts to the Raptor Tutorial. Again, this is as much for me as anyone else; my hope is that other people will be able to benefit from my rather nonsensical scribblings. I should be updating my comic tomorrow.
Theropods are pretty hard to nail down; saying you're going to draw them is like saying you're going to draw a canine or feline. There are a LOT of variations, and half the scientists in the world are debating who goes where. I focused on the clade that Acrocanthosaurus belongs to, because those are the ones I'm really studying. (They're the villains in mah book.) I did add T-Rex in, but mostly for the benefit of showing the pinnacle of specialization the guy was. That bulldog neck and battering ram skull more than make up for his dinky forepaws.
Theropods really were the ultimate predator. I don't care what you compare them to: sharks, orcas, tigers, bears, wolves. I have a wall chart that shows how big the various species in my book were in relation to each other, and seeing an Acro go after an Astrodon must've been like watching gods fight, let alone what a Giganotosaurus would have looked like going after an Argentinosaurus.
You just can't beat something that could run you down and eat you in a couple of bites.
Theropods are pretty hard to nail down; saying you're going to draw them is like saying you're going to draw a canine or feline. There are a LOT of variations, and half the scientists in the world are debating who goes where. I focused on the clade that Acrocanthosaurus belongs to, because those are the ones I'm really studying. (They're the villains in mah book.) I did add T-Rex in, but mostly for the benefit of showing the pinnacle of specialization the guy was. That bulldog neck and battering ram skull more than make up for his dinky forepaws.
Theropods really were the ultimate predator. I don't care what you compare them to: sharks, orcas, tigers, bears, wolves. I have a wall chart that shows how big the various species in my book were in relation to each other, and seeing an Acro go after an Astrodon must've been like watching gods fight, let alone what a Giganotosaurus would have looked like going after an Argentinosaurus.
You just can't beat something that could run you down and eat you in a couple of bites.
Theropods did not have five toes. That is a basal characteristic of reptilia, but in Theropods they have four digits, one of which (Digit 1 the innermost digit and the smallest) is vestigial and does not touch the ground. The 'fifth toe' is not actually a toe but a vestigial metatarsal. Now in basal theropods, such as Herrarasaurus, this fifth digit does have tarsals which make it a full toe, however in the more derived theropods (Maniraptorians, Tyrannosauridae, Charcarasauridae), this is vestigial and there is no evidence that it broke the skin.
Otherwise your tutorials are amazing!
However, why is there at least one person who starts a fight with you in your comments?
Hell, there's even people who start a war over the most trivial things...
Tyrannosaurus rex means dominant tyrant reptile. Not tyrant lizard king or whatever
Tyrannosaurus (/tᵻˌrænəˈsɔːrəs/ or /taɪˌrænəˈsɔːrəs/, meaning "tyrant lizard", from the Ancient Greek tyrannos (τύραννος), "tyrant", and sauros (σαῦρος), "lizard"[1]) is a genus of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur. The species Tyrannosaurus rex (rex meaning "king" in Latin), is one of the most well-represented of the large theropods.
But by all means, explain to me why "tyrannos" translates to "dominant" instead of tyrant, and how reptile and lizard are not synonymous.
(Pssst, if you're thinking of Indominus rex, that's not a real dinosaur!"
And for someone who speaks Greek, you seem woefully inept at being able to explain to me why "tyrannos" means "dominant" instead of "tyrant."
And every other source in existence says that's the translation, so at this point you're being willfully ignorant about your own stupidity. You even translated every word as "king, tyrant lizard/reptile" and then just magically change it to dominant because you think your ignorance is equal to my facts. Most languages don't change nouns to adjectives between translations, so I'm also calling bullshit on your ability to speak or comprehend Greek, let alone Latin. You're either lying or too stupid to explain properly, neither of which changes the translation. Ask any paleontologist in the world, and they'll tell you you're wrong. Yutyrannus doesn't mean "yu dominant". Eotyrannus doesn't mean "new dominant." Zhuchengtyrannus doesn't mean "Zhucheng dominant."
So unless you can show me a credible source that names T. rex's translated name as your version, you're full of it.
thanks for the written advice
...but spinosaurids (the quadrupedal rendition in specific) are a tough nut to crack, mainly because they are so different than other theropods (mainly because of quadrupedal stuff). I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong but when I draw spinosaurids it always looks... wrong.
I think because it's up for debate (and because the only intact skeleton was destroyed by WW2 bombings), you should just have fun with it. I personally prefer bipedal; I think Spinosaurus is entirely too close in physiology to Baryonx, which is the same type of predator: croc-faced fish catcher.
CollectA and Schliech make figures that would be worth studying. They at least attempt scientific accuracy, and I know for a fact they've released a quadruped version of Spino. Also, Shapeways.com has some great dinosaur models molded by 3D paleo enthusiasts; maybe there's a Spinosaurus there worth getting to practice drawing?
(I do this all the time. My dino collection is shameless.)
[link]
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"The first toe is separated from the rest of the foot and did not touch the ground. Three elongated toes (digits 2-4) bear the body’s weight. In most theropods, the number of phalanges (toe bones) on the five toes had the following formula: 2-3-4-5-0 (Weishampel, p. 212)"
1.-Carcharodontosaurid "primitive" status has nothing to do with some kind of inferior-superior thing when compared to Tyrannosaurus as you seem to imply(or at least that's what I get from your text), just that the later is more derived, interesting thing to note that the clade from which Carcharodontosauridae evolved from (Allosauroidea) has been producing giant sized theropods since the Jurassic, and all Carcharodontosaurs fall in the "giant" size range. On the other hand, Coelurosaurian theropods (like tyrannosaurs) didn't attain such sizes until the late Cretaceous.
2.- Allosaurus is not a Carcharodontosaurid.
Anyway, good work (:
NOW I CAN FINALLY SEND STUFF TO SMOSH
once I find their p.o. box
and a nearby post office
it's great!