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EWilloughby — Sinornithosaurus
Published: 2009-06-26 04:47:24 +0000 UTC; Views: 17181; Favourites: 483; Downloads: 1138
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Description
This is the fifth in my series of feathered dinosaur illustrations for mine and ~Agahnim 's upcoming book on evolution, Sinornithosaurus millenii. If you haven't seen them already, please take a look at the previous four: Jinfengopteryx , Microraptor , Archaeopteryx , and Velociraptor .This animal was a feathered dromaeosaurid from the early Cretaceous of China. It is very similar to Velociraptor, though of around half its size, and is known from two fossils, both of which preserve a full covering of feather impressions.
It is perhaps most famous to the general public through the NGMC-91 specimen , a juvenile dubbed "Dave", which is exquisitely preserved. However, in recent years it has been determined that "Dave" is probably more likely to represent an animal more similar phylogenetically to Microraptor.
Thanks again to ~Agahnim and the Gondolendians for their anatomy critiques and discussion.
Oil on canvas.
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Comments: 35
I wanted to look at the fossil, but "file not found" =/
Once again,. I have to repeat myself in saying how much i love your work, the result is, of course, basolutely fantastic. The compostion and execution ar beyond belief. I really enjoy the atmosphere of this picture!
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Thanks for pointing that out! Though in recent years, it's been established that the NGMC-91 "Dave" is probably not Sinornithosaurus after all, but probably represents a creature phylogenetically more similar to Microraptor. In any case, here is the fossil I was originally trying to link to: [link]
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wow thanks! I think I've seen that photo somewhere a few months ago.
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Nice. i like the way you created the light reflecting off the water.
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This is definitely your best one from the Evolution Book, the water is just amazingly done and the Sinornithosaurus looks very pretty and bird-like, let's get to the point: Your Paleo-Art looks way better than mine, keep it up my friend !
+ Fav.
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Thank you, I appreciate that! This is one of my favorite of my recent works, too. Oil paint is a bitch to work in, though - I prefer digital. xD
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If i have to be honest, i don't like digital art that much as Traditional, if i like a digital art, than it should be very good !
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Haha
I'm planning to do acryl soon !
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They figured out the coloration for this dino too. The pics and info are on National Geographic.com
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The painting seems to have pretty low temperature, since the background itself is a cool forest. You even catch every last details of the background, especially the dinosaur's feathers.
Keep up the great work!
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Is this a form of raptor? I've never seen it before. I really like the composition in this, you have excellent anatomy skills.
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Thanks!
Yes, Sinornithosaurus is in the dromaeosaur (raptor) family. It's very similar morphologically to Velociraptor, only it's about half its size. Here's the Wikipedia article on Sinornithosaurus: [link]
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Sounds sweet! I'll go educate myself with that link, thanks so much!
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Very wonderfull. If I'm not mistaken, you showed me this long ago, before you added the animal.
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very beautiful!Love this bird-like dinosaur and the dreamlike lake!
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Very impressive detail, especialyl with regard to the animal's muscles and the ripple effect from the water. beautifully done
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Wow, very beautiful! The environment looks so real, I almost thought it was a photograph. Very well done!
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Simply amazing. I love your attention to detail. Very stunning, it almost looks like you could go on a hike somewhere and see this little guy hopping around the water's edge. As always, I love how you've done the feathers. ^-^
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It is very similar to Velociraptor, though of around half its size For first look I thought it is a Velociraptor. Half of size...you mean a few inches? So it is as small as a chicken 
Curiousome question: if all we know about dinosaurs comes only from fossils, how we know about their colors?
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Velociraptor was around two meters (six feet) long, though a large portion of that length is due to its long counterbalancing tail. Sinornithosaurus was in turn around a meter (three feet) long, so not a mere few inches, though its body size (without the tail adding to its length) is about the size of a big chicken.
It is impossible for us to know what colors dinosaurs had just from their fossils. Most paleoartists make assumptions of their colors and patterns based on their ecological niche: that's why very small, birdlike dinosaurs are often given bright colors like modern songbirds, and larger predatory theropods are often given muted colors due to the nature of most large predators to need a certain amount of camouflage when hunting.
However, due to the preserved melanin in some fossils, it is possible for us to glean a small amount of knowledge of their patterning. Such is the case with the dinosaur Sinosauropteryx prima, the fossils of which have been found to have a banding of light and dark areas of melanin on its tail. [link] Owing to such banding, the animal may have looked something like this in real life: [link]
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Thank you! I'm still learning about the nuances of oil paint, but it is fun.
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haha that's awesome, love the feathers on the tail and 'wings', nice work, background too
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wow, i can't believe this is a painting! Awesome job!
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Very nice.
Oh, feathered dinos. reminds me:
have you seen this guy? [link]
Feathered Ornithischian. Thing.
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This is very impressive! Your art has improved!
Pretty water!
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