How (not) to Draw Feathered Dinosaurs by Osmatar on DeviantArt

This is what happens when you attempt to put together every bad paleoart meme still alive in the field of feathered dinosaur illustration. Behold and despair!

This little project was originally intended as a follow-up to Worst. Deinonychus. Ever. because I couldn't address feathers in that one. However I fell seriously ill before finishing it, leaving it lingering for two years. Thankfully in the meantime lots of people have made good scientifically accurate guides to feathered dinosaur anatomy so I don't have to feel so bad about releasing this abomination to the interwebs.

This non-inforgraphic is not intended as an actual guide. If you do want to use it somehow, just do the opposite of what the anti-guide advises you to do.

(Disclaimer: not all of the advice in this anti-guide is 100% bad all of the time. If you however can't tell the universally bad advice from the situationally bad, make sure to read up on dinosaur anatomy and taxonomy before you try illustrating one.)

MrProfGenius Featured By Owner May 27, 2018

Yeah it can't be helped Dinosaurs is a creature have similiarities with birds than reptile one. Agile movements, hot blooded, legs shaped especially for bipedal dinosaurs have much similiarities with birds than reptile, yeah we must accept the facts they are more like "Giant Emu". I also draw a Velociraptor based from this issue too : youtu.be/LqmcIvp6x1I

Khandle Featured By Owner Mar 8, 2018 Hobbyist Digital Artist

*sigh*
At least the people who draw them like this acknowledge feathers at all.

fandomedragon25 Featured By Owner Jan 28, 2018 Hobbyist General Artist

Uh how would it camouflage into its surroundings as a stealthy predator?

Evodolka Featured By Owner Jan 25, 2018 Hobbyist General Artist

aww man
clearly i have to redo my Utahraptor then, i did it completely wrong going off this

RaptorWings Featured By Owner Jan 23, 2018 Student General Artist

oh gosh its dying

Tello640 Featured By Owner Dec 29, 2017 Hobbyist Traditional Artist

Man, now I feel like a idiot for drawing my raptor a head-crest...

I hope it's not too bad outside of that.

TyrannosaurusLives00 Featured By Owner Nov 15, 2017 Hobbyist Artist

Cough-Ark-Cough

RaptorWings Featured By Owner Mar 9, 2018 Student General Artist

yes

Wasichuwitko Featured By Owner Oct 10, 2017

The naked face would work for scavengers. Any other naked parts would depend on the species' environments and behavior.

Otherwise: study real birds for an idea of what to do with dinos.

Osmatar Featured By Owner Oct 10, 2017 Professional General Artist

There is actually very little evidence to suggest that naked faces are directly related to scavenging. Not all (or probably even most) avians with naked faces scavenge and not all scavenging birds have naked faces. What naked facial skin seem to be is a thermoregulatory adaptation for animals that have to deal with a wide temperature gradient, and in some cases display (though the former probably came before the latter).

I really shoud find the time to do a serious helpful version of this, covering every detail and possibility.

Wasichuwitko Featured By Owner Oct 13, 2017

Given what scavengers often eat, naked faces could guard against disease caused by rotting bits and pieces caught in fur or feathers.

Too bad we can't know the feather distribution on the various species.

RiceLemons Featured By Owner Sep 11, 2017 Student Digital Artist

A scarlet-macaw rex?

:0

ArtKitt-Creations Featured By Owner Sep 11, 2017 Professional Digital Artist

That's pretty sad and true lol. I play a game where all the raptors while feathered, have that unnatural wrist shape like you drew.

WhiteKitsuneKnight Featured By Owner Jul 2, 2017 Student General Artist

This was actually pretty helpful! I'm designing a replica dinosaur and following the opposite of the advice given here has landed me a pretty cool looking dino!

Osmatar Featured By Owner Jul 2, 2017 Professional General Artist

Cool!

LadyTroodon Featured By Owner May 1, 2017 Hobbyist Writer

Ugh...it's so hideous it's funny

CelticQuailKnight Featured By Owner Apr 5, 2017 Hobbyist General Artist

This actually made me laugh. And cry a lot inside, too, don't get me wrong.

Osmatar Featured By Owner Jul 21, 2017 Professional General Artist

tarbano Featured By Owner Jan 21, 2017

Think I might know what started the mohawks gig. A popular arcade game called Primal Rage had dinosaur and dinosaur-like characters and one of them named "Talon" resembled a giant Deinonychus, granted what one was thought to look like at the time. It was the first time I recall seeing a dromaeosaurid given feathers and in this case, it was a mohawk.

Osmatar Featured By Owner Jan 21, 2017 Professional General Artist

I'm pretty sure they got it from an earlier source. There were certainly feather mohawks on deinonychosaurs already in the 1980s. The earliest one I can think of straight away is from G. S. Paul, but I used to draw one on my Deinonychuses in the 80s too, before I was even aware of Paul's work.

ElSqiubbonator Featured By Owner Jul 20, 2017

That brings up an interesting question: if Paul was in the habit of putting feathers on his raptors in the 80s, how come the raptors in Jurassic Park--which were based on Paul's sketches--don't have them?

Osmatar Featured By Owner Jul 21, 2017 Professional General Artist

I've heard (and I'm not sure how reliable this info is) that Horner did try to promote feathers for the raptors, but either Spielberg or Stan Winston shot the idea down. I don't know the reasoning behind it, but since it was the early days of CGI it could be they were simply worried they'd not be able to do realistic feathers.

ElSqiubbonator Featured By Owner Jul 21, 2017

If that's the case, then why didn't they simply add feathers in the later movies when CGI was up to the task?

Osmatar Featured By Owner Jul 21, 2017 Professional General Artist

I think that at that point the raptors had become iconic movie monsters, and they didn't want to fix something that was already working. It's not like they cared about the science anymore, at that point.

tarbano Featured By Owner Jan 22, 2017

Oh no doubt, Primal Rage is just the first instance I can remember it in popular culture which is why a lot of artists would use it.

SapaTheFox Featured By Owner Dec 13, 2016 Student General Artist

That sack holds the reproductive organs and is larger in females. It's kinda like today's birds. The female's hips are wider than the males

Osmatar Featured By Owner Dec 24, 2016 Professional General Artist

That was sarcasm, right? Please tell me that was sarcasm.

SapaTheFox Featured By Owner Dec 28, 2016 Student General Artist

?? Um..No??

PalaeoJoe Featured By Owner Feb 14, 2017

Most of this diagram is sarcastic in the first place. Oamtar is being ironic for comedic effect.

NightfallBlessing Featured By Owner Dec 1, 2016 Hobbyist Digital Artist

I think that "thing" is actually a part of the pelvis but I can be wrong. This was pretty funny to read through!

Good job!

Wyatt-Andrews-Art Featured By Owner Nov 5, 2016 Hobbyist General Artist

That thing, a butthole sack or something

tjlok Featured By Owner Jul 13, 2016 Hobbyist Traditional Artist

so true

DovahkiinHU3BR Featured By Owner Mar 7, 2016

Different dinosaurs had different coats of feathers (depending of the dinosaurs, it could even be completely scaly). Small dinosaurs surely had thicker coats on larger areas of the body than larger dinopsaurs (I mean, in hot climates).

TheDubstepAddict Featured By Owner Jun 5, 2016 Hobbyist Traditional Artist

O hey

DovahkiinHU3BR Featured By Owner Jun 6, 2016

Hey

TheDubstepAddict Featured By Owner Jun 6, 2016 Hobbyist Traditional Artist

Huy

DovahkiinHU3BR Featured By Owner Jun 6, 2016

TheDubstepAddict Featured By Owner Jun 6, 2016 Hobbyist Traditional Artist

PonchoFirewalker01 Featured By Owner Feb 11, 2016

The naked head could be an actual thing, considering the vulture, condor, and ostrich.

Osmatar Featured By Owner Feb 18, 2016 Professional General Artist

A Naked leathery head, possibly. Naked and scaly, not likely. (Ostriches have quite fluffy heads, BTW, not that it matters.)

PonchoFirewalker01 Featured By Owner Feb 18, 2016

Fair enough

ZeWqt Featured By Owner Jan 28, 2016 Hobbyist General Artist

I'm under the impression that the creature designer of Ark: Survival Evolved followed this helpful anti-guide.

Waldbeere7 Featured By Owner Feb 20, 2016 Hobbyist Writer

Probably, yeah.

lemurkat Featured By Owner Sep 24, 2015 Hobbyist Traditional Artist

I'm just drawing some feathered dinosaurs for an art card swap I'm hosting, and this is giving me doubts and anxieties!
This looks a bit like a raptor wearing a macaw skin though. And mohawks are cute (but the only one I gave it to was the huxleyi, which is always depicted with a crest).

Calibersoul2012 Featured By Owner Aug 2, 2015

I believe there was a dromaeosaur with evidence of supposedly having what appeared to be a mohawk, which is what sparked so man feathered dinosaur depictions with variations of mohawks.

However, it was likely just the result of the way the animal died that made the feathers appear to be a mohawk shape.