#stegronox

A.T.O.M. Stop Motion Models: Pachydon and Stegronox

Yeah that’s right, two more kaiju files today.  That bring’s today’s total to FOUR. FOUR WHOPPING KAIJU.

Above we have Pachydon, the token duck-bill.  And below we have:

...Stegronox, the token spike/club tail.  These two just feel like they go together.

I've been kinda tense this week, and it sort of came to a head last night when I almost - almost - broke my cardinal rule about not arguing with people on the internet.  My better side won out as I turned off my computer for an hour, watched a movie, and finally picked up some scraps from my sketchbook and turned them into inked and colored drawings.  I probably should have done something Halloweeny, but instead I was drawn to some of my retrosaur characters instead.  They're still monsters so it's kind of seasonal.

Tricerak's sketch was the one that made me say, "Yeah, we have to do these ones."  I was inspired to give Tricerak lips after seeing this picture.  It turns out the dragon-ish beak look REALLY works for the old brute, as it really gives him a fierce look that the beak undercut.

From there I drew the other herbivorous retrosaur kaiju in my story.  Pachydon (formerly Trachylophus) got some Red King style armor, while Stegronox was elongated to make her a bit more distinct from Tricerak.  I finally streamlined Bronton to make his armor visually distinct without being a pain in the ass, and his proportions are closer to what I want them to be as well.  He's probably benefited the most from the infinite canvas my tablet provides.

Then I dabbled with a couple of my carnivorous retrosaur kaiju, starting with the two that were the weirdest/least dinosaur-ish of the lot.  I was happy to see that Burodon fit in pretty well despite having anatomy that was basically pulled right out of my butt.  Spinonyx/Sobekroc stole some things from my 30 Day Kaiju Challenge entry, Krocogon - specifically his armor, in addition to having an even more crocodilian body (since his last was a bit too similar to what we now think Spinosaurus looks like for my comfort).  I think he might take Krocogon's name, too - it's got a better ring than either of this dude's earlier monikers.  Spinonyx and Sobekroc always felt a little forced.

After all of this I wondered whether Tyrantis was as distinct from real dinosaurs as his peers are.  So I drew my flagship kaiju first, then drew a Scientifically Perfected Tyrannosaurus Rex for comparison - even basing its color scheme off of this movie that paleontology fans creamed themselves over a while back.  I feel confident that Tyrantis is just as distinct from his real life counterparts as his brethren are.