Cody asks: "Did you give your dinosaurs facial expressions?"
Answer: Yes, I tried that idea in Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara. I suspect dinosaurs didn't have very mobile faces, so instead of having them gurning, I did what I could with the tongue and the eyes.
Realistically, I assume dinosaur expressions would resemble those of birds, with most of the signaling carried by hackled feathers, eye dilation or "pinning," and body posture.
There's always a temptation to anthropomorphize dinosaurs, but I find it more interesting to make their expression of emotions appear more exotic and strange.
Funny, I just read that post about gurning while I was searching for posts about portraits. I agree, dinosaurs probably has faces and expressions more like birds. Though that dinosaur clearly has a lot of practice gurning.
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I know one of the ways people get in trouble with dogs is seeing human expressions when dogs are making dog expressions. It also reminds me of a conversation I just had about travel. The things that stand out to me as the most strange are the things that are off just a little. They remind you of home and that the people around you don't share the same history. I'm thinking about being served olives with the pits in on pizza or the garbled translations you sometimes see. I imagine perks who grew up on Dinotopia would be comfortable with dinosaurs and visitors would be constantly confronted with reactions that weren't quite familiar.
That video just reminds me of our dear friend Mr. Kooks the parakeet. :(
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