One shows the giant mosasaur Tylosaurus grabbing a plesiosaur called Dolichorhynchops in a breach attack from below, similar to the way killer whales catch seals. A specimen of Tylosaurus was actually found with the skeleton of a “Dolly” inside.
Some of you at the Illustration Master Class in Amherst last summer watched me draw and paint the finished image. The instructors in that workshop actually brought their jobs (I sort of brought my whole studio) so the students could see the process. Paintings by Greg Manchess and Scott Fischer are pinned up in the background.
You can see why I like the traditional scrap file for photo reference. There are a bunch of photos of breaching humpback whales spread around the final oil painting on the drawing board.
Tomorrow I’ll show you how I did the sketches.
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Ranger Rick magazine
Illustration Master Class
Tylosaurus on Wikipedia
that's really wonderful.
ReplyDeleteOh joy... your first post after I stumbled on your blog. Loving your work space...wherever you my go...
ReplyDeleteAllways love making-ofs !
ReplyDeleteWOW! Ever since I was really young I always wanted to try my hand at painting dinosaurs but aside from a few grade school recess forays with crayons, I never tried. One of these days!
ReplyDeleteGod, the light is great on that one...your work never ceases to amaze me.
ReplyDeleteYou made your point regarding the reference photos, too. It gets kind of hard to keep so many at hand all at once when you rely on a monitor...
by the way, the word verification for this post is: "dedly"! :)
Beautiful painting, the light is glorious.
ReplyDeleteI am dying of curiosity why there is the lighter patch on the line between sea and land at left, and why there is the smooth tonal transition between the sky and mountain just to the left of the "Dolly". Are they to ease the eye's transition between focal points?
I'll keep thinking...
I've noticed similar lighter patches while plein air painting, so they're not just artistic devices, though I'd love to hear a scientific explanation of what's going on.
ReplyDeleteSean and Kevin, that's really observant of you to notice that. On the left side of the picture, I darkened the sky where it meets the mountain to suppress that edge and to draw the eye to the bright water below.
ReplyDeleteYou probably also noticed the way the hot light flares over the outstretched fin, which meant lightening those values a bit. All effects picked up from photo reference of whales.
I am really excited about this because I have a soft spot for tylosaurs and sea reptiles, and your painting is great!
ReplyDeleteThe pattern on the skin of the mosasaur is also reminiscent of (modern) killer whales, isn't it? I wonder if there are any clues about the color and texture of ancient sea reptiles.
ReplyDeleteFantastic picture James. Always a great lesson to see how it's painted and the color scheme and light used.
ReplyDeleteI adore the choice to color the Tylosaurus like an Orca. I am working on a project myself to paint a bit of a real life sea "monster"--an orca who has killed three people in captivity. I love to see what you have done in capturing this ancient sea monster and give him a familiar feel.
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