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Description
…Or is it a Rajidaustro? Concept for this creature was a pterodaustro-like filter-feeding pterosaur that’s adopted a flightless, aquatic lifestyle and is converging on a ray-like body design. The pink coloration is from shellfish dyes, just like a flamingo. I was thinking that the elongated hind toe may have evolved into a venomous spur, like that of a platypus, thus providing an analog to a stringray’s barb. The rings on the tail might then be a warning to predators.

I could see this one falling into the “directed panspermia” category--perhaps a World o’ Pterosaurs, where only the flying reptiles were transplated from Earth to see how they would radiate into the different environmental niches over the following millions of years…Kind of like Dougal Dixon’s “Islands of Batavia” on a planetary scale. I like the idea of humans migrating out into space and encountering these odd “alternate Earths” scattered across the galaxy, hundreds or thousands of years from now.

Notes on the art: yes, he’s in the water, not flying over it; I just didn’t want to sacrifice image clarity for a more realistic water effect. I tried that with the Elasmomorph and it didn’t work anyway. : P I don’t use colored pencils very often, but I pictured these guys retaining a fur-like integument (at least at this stage in their evolution), and I felt the pencils would provide that “soft” texture I was going for. I’m not sure if it succeeded, but I think I prefer this effect to what I’d generally get with watercolors.

And just because I have a sinking feeling I’m going to get comments about it, this guy is looking over his shoulder. No, dorsal views aren’t my strong suit. : P

Description
…Or is it a Rajidaustro? Concept for this creature was a pterodaustro-like filter-feeding pterosaur that’s adopted a flightless, aquatic lifestyle and is converging on a ray-like body design. The pink coloration is from shellfish dyes, just like a flamingo. I was thinking that the elongated hind toe may have evolved into a venomous spur, like that of a platypus, thus providing an analog to a stringray’s barb. The rings on the tail might then be a warning to predators.

I could see this one falling into the “directed panspermia” category--perhaps a World o’ Pterosaurs, where only the flying reptiles were transplated from Earth to see how they would radiate into the different environmental niches over the following millions of years…Kind of like Dougal Dixon’s “Islands of Batavia” on a planetary scale. I like the idea of humans migrating out into space and encountering these odd “alternate Earths” scattered across the galaxy, hundreds or thousands of years from now.

Notes on the art: yes, he’s in the water, not flying over it; I just didn’t want to sacrifice image clarity for a more realistic water effect. I tried that with the Elasmomorph and it didn’t work anyway. : P I don’t use colored pencils very often, but I pictured these guys retaining a fur-like integument (at least at this stage in their evolution), and I felt the pencils would provide that “soft” texture I was going for. I’m not sure if it succeeded, but I think I prefer this effect to what I’d generally get with watercolors.

And just because I have a sinking feeling I’m going to get comments about it, this guy is looking over his shoulder. No, dorsal views aren’t my strong suit. : P