We're One Third the Way There!

Hey, I managed to change the #ArchosaursAndAutomata thumbnail on YouTube! Maybe I should have started out with this, but I was pretty busy when I uploaded it.

Our crowdfunding campaign has just passed the one third mark! There's still two weeks left to contribute to the printing and travel costs (because we live so far from the venue).

Right. Back to painting now.

The Archosauria: _Euparkeria_!

Parker’s Good Animal: Euparkeria capensis



It may seem strange to admit an animal into an art show called The Archosauria that isn’t an archosaur, but under the definition chosen for the show (the Archosauria being comprised of the most recent common ancestor of birds and crocodiles and all of their descendants), Euparkeria is not actually a member of this group.

It is, however, very closely related to archosaurs -- belonging to a sister group to the Archosauria. Because it is so basal, Euparkeria can be regarded as a transitional form linking archosaurs to broader, more inclusive diapsid groups. In that sense, Euparkeria is so close to the genesis of a nearly quarter billion year long dynasty of reptiles that encompasses crocodiles and birds and everything else that evolved between them that it would seem foolish not to include it.

Those beginnings were certainly humble enough: Euparkeria is a small, lightly armored animal, no bigger than a housecat, which lived in Gondwanaland in the Early Triassic (about 248-245 million years ago, in what would become southern Africa). Euparkeria may have eaten insects or dined on smaller vertebrates while evading larger predators.



Media & Commentary:

Many, many pencil sketches went into this, and I think it's safe to say almost none of them are ever coming back out. Many ideas were thought of and then discarded, due to time constraints/difficulty. As such, I'm still sort of wistful whenever I think of it. Still, in spite of the disappointments, this is the strongest piece I produced for our little show.

Oils on canvas. Sorry some of the paint is still a bit shiny (possibly I could have photographed it a bit better as well). At one point I think I was working on three pieces (oils) at once, and things are still somewhat not-dry on any of them.

See also:
Raven's Triceratops, Tupandactylus, and Raven!
Effigia!
Stomatosuchus!
Simosuchus!
The Pterosauria!
The Dinosauria!
Gavials!
Desmatosuchus!

Portrait of the Underpainting

I actually painted this a few weeks ago, but got all caught up in moving (also in progress).

Euparkeria goes in the middle.

My final word on _Euparkeria_

Next: a suitable nest, a suitable synapsid, suitable vegetation, and suiting up for painting.

_Euparkeria_ Head Study

Why only a head? It's virtually the only portion of this drawing which I can use.



The body isn't wrong, but I am deeply dissatisfied with it. Back to the sketchbook...

She-Tirts

I think this is pretty close to what we're going with:




It's simple, which I feel it needs to be, but accurate enough without being overly cumbersome.

_Archosauria_ Show Logotype

Alternate:

Photographic Texture Studies for an Early Triassic Archosauromorph

Courtesy of Zach, I was able to shoot photos of his geckos (which were largely cooperative).

I'm posting the images here for general reference. The images were shot with the same Nikon D50 I use for animation; 60 mm Macro lens, fully manual.

_Euparkeria_ study: 2

So how is the first member of the upcoming show coming?

Source material for Euparkeria is rather thin on the ground; my primary source of anatomic information comes from Robert L. Carroll's book, Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution (1997). And it does feature some nice views of Euparkeria's skull (p 270).

Only...

The views presented are only in plan and elevation views. A section view of the skull is missing, so I derived this from the two existing views:



Note that it is orthographically rendered, and I have no idea if the eyes pointed quite that far forward. But from the three drawings I was able to sketch this pretty quickly:



Hang on, I think this would make a fine logo for the show! It just needs a bit of tweaking. Watch this blog for further updates.

Carroll, R. L. 1997. Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. 7th printing. WH Freeman and Company, New York. p 270 and 264.

_Euparkeria_ study

And not a particularly satisfying one, either. It's been suggested that I look at turtles and tortoises for skin ideas. This croc stuff may not be the best route to go.