Your Favorite Artwork(s) of Your Favorite Fossil Species

Recently, I've been thinking a lot about what my favorite artworks are for certain fossil species, especially my favorite dinos, & why (hence this thread).

For those who don't know, my favorite non-bird dinos are eudromaeosaurs in general b/c they're basically "terrestrial hawks" in terms of ecology/behavior (& thus, both the most awesome & the easiest to imagine as living animals: https://qilong.wordpress.com/2011/12/19/dromaeosaurs-are-terrestrial-hawks/ ) & Deinonychus in particular b/c of how much we know about it. Furthermore, my favorite reconstructions of Deinonychus ecology/behavior are Willoughby's "Deinonychus Prey Restraint" & Bonadonna's 10/2020 NatGeo cover. They go so well together that I feel like they could represent a hawk-like family group w/the smaller, more agile male hunting & the larger, stronger female brooding. I especially love how well the colors/patterns go together despite being by 2 different artists: 1st, the female has the same basic pattern as the male (I.e. Solid-colored back, barred wings), but "darker plumaged and more heavily barred" (which reminds me of goshawks & shikras: https://earthlife.net/grey-goshawks/ ); 2nd, the chick is similarly colored to the male (I.e. Dark brown & white), but w/"vertical[...]stippling and spotting down" its breast (which, again, reminds me of goshawks & shikras: https://roundglasssustain.com/species/hawks ). The more I look at them together, the more I love them together

Spoiler:

JD-man wrote:

For those who don't know, my favorite non-bird dinos are eudromaeosaurs in general b/c they're basically "terrestrial hawks" in terms of ecology/behavior (& thus, both the most awesome & the easiest to imagine as living animals: https://qilong.wordpress.com/2011/12/19/dromaeosaurs-are-terrestrial-hawks/ ) & Deinonychus in particular b/c of how much we know about it. Furthermore, my favorite reconstructions of Deinonychus ecology/behavior are Willoughby's "Deinonychus Prey Restraint" & Bonadonna's 10/2020 NatGeo cover.

The following reconstructions of Deinonychus ecology/behavior by Skrepnick & Brougham, respectively, deserve honorable mention: For 1, they're from 2 of my favorite non-NHD dino books (Bakker's Raptor Pack & Abramson et al.'s Inside Dinosaurs, respectively); For another, while shrink-wrapped by today's standards, I love Skrepnick's art style ( http://linesandcolors.com/2006/03/22/michael-skrepnick/ ); For yet another, while not as "clear, sharp and detailed" as Skrepnick's art style, I love how Audubon-esque Brougham's is (See "Good": https://www.deviantart.com/jd-man/journal/SD-Good-semi-good-and-bad-dino-sources-3-632615112 ).

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I had a lot of trouble narrowing down my favorite artworks of Velociraptor. The top 3 by Willoughby/Csotonyi/Chuang, respectively, are my favorites in terms of ecology/behavior (especially Csotonyi's, which reminds me of famous night paintings: https://drawpaintacademy.com/night-paintings/ ). The bottom 3 by Willoughby/Csotonyi/Chuang, respectively, are my favorites in terms of colors/patterns (especially Chuang's, which reminds me of living desert birds: http://www.in-the-desert.com/birds.html ).

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Spoiler:

JD-man wrote:

I had a lot of trouble narrowing down my favorite artworks of Velociraptor. The top 3 by Willoughby/Csotonyi/Chuang, respectively, are my favorites in terms of ecology/behavior (especially Csotonyi's, which reminds me of famous night paintings: https://drawpaintacademy.com/night-paintings/ ). The bottom 3 by Willoughby/Csotonyi/Chuang, respectively, are my favorites in terms of colors/patterns (especially Chuang's, which reminds me of living desert birds: http://www.in-the-desert.com/birds.html ).

For those who don't know, my hopes for PhP's Velociraptor have been high since the 1st teaser ( https://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=7869.msg316851#msg316851 ), & especially since the 1st trailer ( http://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=7869.msg317542#msg317542 ). After Ep3, I can confidently say that Una in particular (as nicknamed by Alteori) is the best, most beautiful Velociraptor I've ever seen (& thus, 1 of my favorite depictions of Velociraptor):

To add to Alteori's video, here's a quote from Dino Dad's PhP review ( https://dinodadreviews.com/2022/05/30/prehistoric-planet/ ):

Quote :

One easily forgets that we are not viewing living animals here; it often feels as though all of it was all simply shot on location as a traditional wildlife documentary. Velociraptor, for example, moves exactly like a large predatory ground bird, with all the little tics and quirks of movement that characterize the living animals, which does as much to convince viewers of its reality as the high resolution CGI models do.

JD-man wrote:

JD-man wrote:

I had a lot of trouble narrowing down my favorite artworks of Velociraptor. The top 3 by Willoughby/Csotonyi/Chuang, respectively, are my favorites in terms of ecology/behavior (especially Csotonyi's, which reminds me of famous night paintings: https://drawpaintacademy.com/night-paintings/ ). The bottom 3 by Willoughby/Csotonyi/Chuang, respectively, are my favorites in terms of colors/patterns (especially Chuang's, which reminds me of living desert birds: http://www.in-the-desert.com/birds.html ).

For those who don't know, my hopes for PhP's Velociraptor have been high since the 1st teaser ( https://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=7869.msg316851#msg316851 ), & especially since the 1st trailer ( http://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=7869.msg317542#msg317542 ). After Ep3, I can confidently say that Una in particular (as nicknamed by Alteori) is the best, most beautiful Velociraptor I've ever seen (& thus, 1 of my favorite depictions of Velociraptor):

The following depictions/artworks of Velociraptor deserve honorable mention.

These are by Rey & Witton, respectively. They're very similar scenes, but in very different styles, which I love for reasons discussed elsewhere (Rey: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3626737595 ) (Witton: https://www.deviantart.com/jd-man/journal/SD-Good-Semi-good-and-Bad-Dino-Sources-4-800236863 ).

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These are from NHM & AMNH, respectively. Furthermore, they illustrate both some of my favorite dino exhibitions ("Dino Jaws" & "Fighting Dinos", respectively) & some of my favorite dino books (NHM: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3474599046 ) (AMNH: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3496883878 ).

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For those who don't know, my favorite non-bird dinos are eudromaeosaurs in general b/c they're basically "terrestrial hawks" in terms of ecology/behavior (& thus, both the most awesome & the easiest to imagine as living animals: https://qilong.wordpress.com/2011/12/19/dromaeosaurs-are-terrestrial-hawks/ ) & Deinonychus in particular b/c of how much we know about it. Furthermore, my favorite reconstructions of Deinonychus ecology/behavior are Willoughby's "Deinonychus Prey Restraint" & Bonadonna's 10/2020 NatGeo cover.

The following reconstructions of Deinonychus ecology/behavior by Skrepnick & Brougham, respectively, deserve honorable mention: For 1, they're from 2 of my favorite non-NHD dino books (Bakker's Raptor Pack & Abramson et al.'s Inside Dinosaurs, respectively); For another, while shrink-wrapped by today's standards, I love Skrepnick's art style ( http://linesandcolors.com/2006/03/22/michael-skrepnick/ ); For yet another, while not as "clear, sharp and detailed" as Skrepnick's art style, I love how Audubon-esque Brougham's is (See "Good": https://www.deviantart.com/jd-man/journal/SD-Good-semi-good-and-bad-dino-sources-3-632615112 ).

There are 2 more honorable mentions, this 1 from the same issue of NatGeo (The cover won out for being easier to compare to Willoughby's reconstruction, but I still love this 1; In fact, this is basically my Happy Place whenever I'm reminded of how bad Blue & Beta look, especially in the snow )...:

Spoiler:

...& this 1 from "Retro vs Modern #21: Deinonychus antirrhopus" ( https://nixillustration.com/science-illustration/2022/retro-vs-modern-21-deinonychus/ ), which reminds me of Bonadonna's Deinonychus panel, but even more informative & w/an even hawkier reconstruction ( http://www.davidebonadonna.it/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/09-Deinonychus-panel.jpg ):

Spoiler:

"SD: My favorite artworks of Deinonychus": https://www.deviantart.com/jd-man/journal/SD-My-favorite-artworks-of-Deinonychus-948529444

Spoiler:

JD-man wrote:

"SD: My favorite artworks of Deinonychus": https://www.deviantart.com/jd-man/journal/SD-My-favorite-artworks-of-Deinonychus-948529444

I belated happy 95th birthday to John Ostrom!: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ostrom

JD-man wrote:

"SD: My favorite artworks of Deinonychus": https://www.deviantart.com/jd-man/journal/SD-My-favorite-artworks-of-Deinonychus-948529444

Happy Deinonychus Day!: https://twitter.com/skeletaldrawing/status/1497356642719092742

"SD: My favorite artworks of Velociraptor": https://www.deviantart.com/jd-man/journal/SD-My-favorite-artworks-of-Velociraptor-956554734

JD-man wrote:

"SD: My favorite artworks of Velociraptor": https://www.deviantart.com/jd-man/journal/SD-My-favorite-artworks-of-Velociraptor-956554734

Happy Velociraptor Awareness Day!: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/48R3Ol

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