01: Spinosaurus
I recreate a Jurassic-era Apex Predator in Pencil, Pen & Ink, and Watercolor.
Introduction:
Some boys, never grow out of dinosaurs. Some find ways to continuously incorporate dinosaurs into everyday life.
Such as an art project like this.
The Videos below will show the project from beginning to end and consist of 3 parts:
Pencil drawing
Pen Drawing in stipple
Watercolor painting over the inking.
Part 1: Pencil:
The pencil drawing is a rough approximation of the position and illustration from Instagram that I found from Babisu Kourtis. I loved the position and pose, and wanted to put down my take of the illustration.
Finished Pencil Drawing:
The pencil drawing is not as refined as that of a Comic Book Artist, but the intent is to move further past the drawing and start inking and ultimately watercolor, as seen further below.
Part 2: Pen
Finished Pen Drawing:
The Pen drawing is with a Stipple style of utilizing spaced dots to outline the Spinosaurus and Sawfish, and also provide texture and shadow.
Part 3: Watercolor
Final Watercolor:
This is the most complicated watercolor painting I have done yet. Trying to imitate the complexities of water depths and shadows was fun and interesting, and I plan on doing it again soon with a possible inclusion of either plesiosaurs, pliosaurs, or mosasaurs in a future portrait.
Background of the Subject:
The Spinosaurus was an Apex Predator found in North Africa roughly 100 to 94 million years ago (Jurassic Period). Its name means “Spined Reptile” and was characterized by its sail-shaped back created by vertebral spines.
Spinosaurus is characterized by a long narrow skull resembling that of a crocodile, with nostrils near its eyes rather than at the tip of the snout. Unlike other predatory dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus Rex, which had curved, serrated teeth, Spinosaurus had straight and conical shaped teeth. This has led paleontologists to believe that Spinosaurus was a piscivore, or an animal that ate primarily fish.
With a skull of 6 feet, an overall length between 46-59 feet, and an estimated weight between 13-22 tons. Spinosaurus was longer and heavier than Tyrannosaurus Rex, and is the largest currently known carnivorous dinosaur.
Art Technique:
I was inspired by this particular pencil drawing I found online by Babisu Kourtis:
The pen and ink drawing was amazing, so I decided to try and duplicate the posing and taking the drawing into Pen & Ink Stipple and Watercolor
Mediums:
Pencil (drawing), Pen (Stippling), Watercolors
I wanted to pencil in my drawing first to get an idea of where to place the lining and stippling of the permanent pen medium. Once the pen was done I would then move onto watercolors.
Inspiration for colors:
Collared Lizard:
This particular Spinosaurus illustration.
