Diplocaulus

My completed reconstruction of the iconic boomerang-headed Permian amphibian, Diplocaulus magnicornis. I have always had a fascination with this animal and I was very excited to take this morphological oddity on. Because of its wide, flattened head and my addition of a somewhat speculative membrane anchored at the skull corners, this was compositionally a challenge as no one view can show all the facets of its anatomy. I chose three that give the viewer a general idea of its overall body shape - the main image depicts a Diplocaulus in action (swimming), just in the process of turning its head downward to investigate a potential food item. To the bottom left is the ventral aspect, showing the extent of the skin membrane and the positioning of the proportionally tiny limbs (see this view magnified here: www.deviantart.com/prehistoryb…). Finally the portrait at the top shows the flattened shape of the head, as well as the dorsal positioning of the eyes and a more detailed take on its skin texture. 
For the texture of the skin (and the resulting lighting), the coloration and overall appearance I researched extant amphibians, particularly newts and salamanders for their presumably similar ecologies. I am very happy with this as a whole, and am now less scared of tackling textures I haven't worked on before digitally (which I admit was worried about before starting this piece). 
Also just to note: If you're wondering what I changed from my first WIP (www.deviantart.com/prehistoryb…), I changed the lighting to look more even/spread out and overall brighter. I also thickened the tail so it looked less squirrel-like.