Re: Conway's Velociraptor

[John Conway <john@pterus.net>]

On Tuesday, October 7, 2003, at 06:16  AM, Danvarner@aol.com wrote:

> Here's something I wish I would have drawn if I wasn't so waterlogged.
> I believe John is the first to really succeed in leaving the old 
> paradigms
> behind and envision feathered dinosaurs and the pterosaurs totally 
> devoid of the
> familiar imagery (read baggage) from years gone by.

Thanks Dan. You know, I thought that some of the more recent feathered 
theropod discoveries would bring about a major change in the way they 
are depicted, but I have been pretty disappointed. The sorts of 
restorations of old that looked like two-legged lizards now look like 
two-legged lizards with feathers glued on. Rather than continuing to 
patch old ideas (which inevitably leads to a befuddled mess), we should 
stop every few years and take the mental effort to build a new image 
from the ground up.

Not that I think I've really done that - having Noodles the myna bird 
trotting around on my desk as I draw certainly helps. Every 
palaeoartist should take the calculated risk of having a live bird on 
their desk or easel - the benefits will outweigh the  "accidents". :-)

Jim Cunningham's responsible for the revision of my pterosaurs, though 
I still make many mistakes:

On Tuesday, October 7, 2003, at 12:36  PM, James R. Cunningham wrote:

>  I like your positioning of the foot a bit better than
> John's, though I think you both are spreading the proximal tarsals too
> much.

! I'm so betrayed... ;-)

We'll get there someday Jim.



John Conway

"Science... never solves a problem without creating ten more." - George 
Bernard Shaw

http://users.tpg.com.au/adslkgts/