#the extinct

IT EVEN HAS ITS NOSE

SERIOUSLY THIS IS SO COOL

Copied from the article:

“Until now only the bones of cave bears have been discovered. 

The new finds are of ‘world importance’, according to one of Russia’s leading experts on extinct Ice Age species. 

Scientist Lena Grigorieva said of the island discovery of the adult beast: 'Today this is the first and only find of its kind - a whole bear carcass with soft tissues. 

'It is completely preserved, with all internal organs in place including even its nose. 

“Previously, only skulls and bones were found. This find is of great importance for the whole world.’

The remains were found by reindeer herders on the island and the remains will be analysed by scientists at the North-Eastern Federal University (NEFU) in Yakutsk, which is at the forefront of research into extinct woolly mammoths and rhinos. 

Russian and foreign colleagues will be invited to join the study. 

The cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) is a prehistoric species or subspecies that lived in Eurasia in the Middle and Late Pleistocene period and became extinct about 15,000 years ago.

According to the rough preliminary suggestions the bear could live in Karginsky interglacial (this was the period between 22,000 and 39,500 years).

'It is necessary to carry out radiocarbon analysis to determine the precise age of the bear,’ said senior researcher Maxim Cheprasov from the Mammoth Museum laboratory in Yakutsk.

The finder transferred the right to research to the scientists of NEFU, he said.

'A scientific programme for its comprehensive study will be prepared. We will have to study the carcass of a bear using all modern scientific research methods - molecular genetic, cellular, microbiological and others.

'The research is planned on as large a scale as in the study of the famous Malolyakhovsky mammoth,’ said Dr Grigorieva, leading researcher of the International Centre for Collective Use of Molecular Paleontology at the NEFU’s Institute of Applied Ecology of the North.

Recent years have seen major discoveries of mammoths, woolly rhinos, Ice Age foal, several puppies and Cave Lion cubs as the permafrost melts in Siberia.”

CATEGORY 2: THE EXTINCT

Having spent the past week researching into extinct and pre-historic creatures, it is apparent that artists will often try to produce the most accurate drawing as possible when drawing something that fits into this category. This cause is almost always linked to science, as science demands the most accurate living representations to accompany any findings and discoveries. Archaeologists and scientists provide the first wave or raw materials for artists to work from, usually in the form of fossils or other preserved remains. Drawing solely from fact and anatomy.

After researching into the work of artists such as Juan Calle. It is also apparent that when drawing the unknown in it’s extinct form, artists will tend to ‘borrow’ aspects of other drawings and interpretations that they have seen before. Essentially forming a substantial archive to work from. Juan Calle’s work also demonstrated the role of the artists will to choose imagination over fact when drawing something that no longer exists. Colour schemes are often altered drastically to become more saturated or vibrant. Whereas the original anatomy if often lost and/or replaced with newer traits, such as a pair of wings or larger claws and teeth for example.

Overall I have noticed a formula that occurs when drawing the extinct. Initially, accurate and life-like concepts are produced and constantly updated as scientific research advances. Fellow artists then utilise these concepts and work with them to create their own interpretations.

CATEGORY 2: THE EXTINCT (VIII)

A Comparison of Artists

Whilst researching into artist interpretations of extinct animals, most notably dinosaurs. I discovered two artists in particular whose work I find visually interesting. The images to the left have all been produced by Italian artist, Lukas Panzarin. The images to the left have all been produced by an artist that I have mentioned in this blog previously, Juan Calle.

The dinosaur profiles created by Panzarin are often influenced by fossil findings and often reflect a true-to-scale design of what the dinosaur may have looked like when it was alive. As I explained previously, the colourings of dinosaurs, including their patterns cannot by determined by the fossils of these giant lizards. Instead, it appears that Panzarin has chosen to incorporate earth based colours (greens, oranges and browns) into his designs to reflect a more natural approach to his depiction. Despite this however, the brightness of Panzarin’s dinosaurs, most notably the latter three appear almost luminous or reflective. Personally, I think that Panzarin may have emphasised these lighter colours in order to provide contrast between the different sections of the dinosaur’s face.

In opposition to Panzarin’s almost photo-realistic creations, Calle’s depictions of dinosaurs appear to reflect a loser interpretation. The first of Calle’s images appears to reflect the most accurate depiction of a stereotypical/generally-accepted dinosaur. It utilises lizard like attributes combined with an earthy colour scheme. The second image displays the aesthetic of a standard dinosaur, yet it’s colour scheme appears to be more adventurous in aesthetic. There is no concrete evidence to suggest that dinosaurs didn’t have vibrant coloured skin, such as the colour blue for example. But the colour blue does not camouflage well in natural environments above land, hence why it is unlikely that dinosaurs would have had this colour skin. As all those who probably did were no doubt eaten first and therefore made extinct! This unusual choice of colour scheming is also present in Calle’s third image. which appears to be more symbolic of a dragon than a dinosaur.

Comparing these image against one another, it is clear to see in the drawings themselves that Panzarin has worked from a reference in the form of fossils whereas Calle did not. Calle’s drawings appear more conceptualised and loosely based on previous interpretations of dinosaurs. As a result of this method of working, Panzarin's interpretations tend to follow a distinctive formula which the majority of the dinosaur profiles that he draws tend to follow. Calle’s drawings are therefore more imaginative and are based more on personal aesthetic choices rather than historical accuracy.

Image Sources:

https://newsdesk.nhmu.utah.edu/sites/default/files/Lythronax%20skull%20reconstruction%20by%20Lukas%20Panzarin.jpg

https://newsdesk.nhmu.utah.edu/sites/default/files/Lythronax%20skull%20reconstruction%20by%20Lukas%20Panzarin.jpg

https://newsdesk.nhmu.utah.edu/sites/default/files/Utahceratops-Reconstruction-on-Black-by-Lukas-Panzarin.jpg

http://i.livescience.com/images/i/000/054/862/original/nasutoceratops-illustration.jpg

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/files/2013/11/Lythronax-Lukas-Panzarin1.jpg

CATEGORY 2: THE EXTINCT (VII)

Neanderthals

The Neanderthals are an extinct species of human that are thought to have died out approximately 40,000 years ago. A number of bones believed to be the remains of Neanderthals have been discovered across much of Europe and central Asia, providing both scientists and artists with raw material to work from when developing ideas as to how neanderthals may have looked.

Due to the Neanderthals sharing similarities with modern-day humans in bone structure and defintion it is easier to reconstruct a possibly accurate face and body of a neanderthal when compared to that of a dinosaur or marine creature, for example.

The first image represents an 1888 conception of what a neanderthal male may have looked like. The facial construction of this neanderthal had been influence greatly by the representations of Neanderthals in popular culture. Neanderthals in popular culture are often described as being savage and primitive. Often being hairy and dirty, with a dark and weathered complexion. Subsequently research however has suggested that due to the lineage evolution in European latitude it is believed that the Neanderthals were in fact fair-skinned and had a similar amount of facial hair as the modern day man. Due to this hypothesis, many artist representations of Neanderthals in present years have depicted a more intelligent-looking figure that closely resembles the modern human.

The third image is a proposed image as to what a Neanderthal may have in fact looked like. Now it could be argued that this representation of a Neanderthal may bear reference to a more developed Neanderthal, or one whose ancestors may have interbred. Despite this however, this interpretation of a Neanderthal appears to be too clean shaven to form an exact representation. But nonetheless it does provided an interesting contrasting image to the stereotypical depiction.

Image Sources:

http://www.sciencebuzz.org/sites/default/files/images/neanderthal_illustration.jpg

http://i.istockimg.com/file_thumbview_approve/10435410/2/stock-photo-10435410-neanderthal-head-antique-scientific-illustrations.jpg

https://jl10ll.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/49416_man_cromag_lg.jpg

Website Sources:

CATEGORY 2: THE EXTINCT (VI)

The Jurassic Park/World Franchise

The Jurassic Park/World franchise is famed for its usage of dinosaurs across its four films, creating life-like dinosaurs from models and CGI to create an environment as authentic as possible.

The dinosaurs in the Jurassic Park/World franchise do not take a two-dimensional form like the other extinct creatures that I have been talking about previously due to their roles in a film. Therefore the dinosaurs are either created using CGI or created as a sculpture.

One of the most well known dinosaurs in the film, the Tyrannosaurus-Rex was created as an animatronic sculpture. The sculpture itself (the second image) draws reference from a classical interpretation of a T-Rex: the large head, small arms, a large body and strong legs.

Scientists have now suggested that it is likely that the T-Rex may have had feathers on some parts of it’s body due to the presence of feathers on related species of a similar size. A trait further supported as it is believed that some dinosaur linages still flourish in the forms of contemporary birds. This example can be seen in the third image with what appears to be a dinosaur/bird hybrid. This image is in fact an artist’s interpretation of a Tyrannosaurus Rex using phylogenetic bracketing, which infers the likelihood of unknown traits in organisms based on their position in a phylogenetic tree. A technique which once again relies on previous found traits and descriptions.

Image Sources:

www.jurassicworldmovie.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurassic_Park_(film)#Dinosaurs_on_screen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrannosaurus

Website Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurassic_Park_(film)#Dinosaurs_on_screen

CATEGORY 2: THE EXTINCT (V)

The First Dinosaur

Change in design is common. Characters, locations, animals, will all change in design when drawn by different people, but will nonetheless retain their identity. Hence keeping the recognition. Drawing the unknown is no exception to this rule. Albeit that the lines of confinement are looser and therefore open to more interpretation.

This readjustment in design is evident in the Megalosaurus, but before I begin to explain why this is important, here’s a VERY brief crash course on the Megalosaurus:

The Megalosaurus (derives from the Latin meaning: giant lizard) was the first dinosaur to be described scientifically, this genus first being named in 1824, by William Buckland. A British fossil hunter and clergyman, who discovered collected fossils.

Bearing this in mind, knowledge of the Megalosaurus and it’s previous existence has been circling for just under 200 years. In this time a number of artist interpretation’s of the dinosaur have emerged.

The two images above both represent the Megalosaurus. The first image represent a 19th century depiction of the dinosaur, whereas the second image represents a 21st century depiction supported by scientific explanation. The first thing that I noticed when comparing these two images was the drastic contrast between them. The images appear to showcase two completely different dinosaurs.

The first image appears to utilise features from a crocodile and a bear to form a lizard-like hybrid. The second image however appears to represent the common conception of a dinosaur, or more particularly those of the carnivorous demeanour. Sharing aesthetic traits with both the Tyrannosaurs-Rex and the Allosaurus.

The colour scheme used here is also important. Despite the first image being a black ink drawing it is still easy to notice the darker colouration of the Megalosaurus when compared to second image. This is interesting as it is likely that scientists still are not aware of the actual colouration of the Megalosaurus and thus choose colours that they think are more suitable. The majority of dinosaurs are often depicted with earthy colours for skin, such as greens, browns and greys that match present day lizards and amphibians. The Megalosaurus pair in the second image however have been coloured in a shade of orange with giraffe-like brown markings. I believe that this choice of colouration may be solely down the artist’s design and may have no reference to the dinosaur’s true colour, suggesting that when drawing the unknown it may also be common for the artist to completely make something up.

Image Sources:

http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/Palaeofiles/Frauds/megalosaurus%20early.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalosaurus

Website Sources:

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/dinofossils/First.shtml

CATEGORY 2: THE EXTINCT (IV)

Formulating a Design

The digital painting of an Ammonite above was produced by Colombian professional artist, Juan Calle. I stumbled across this image whilst researching into contemporary interpretations of fossilised creatures. Calle states that the reconstruction and design of the Ammonite was based primarily on “fossil materials and current trends in their morphology.” Suggesting that Calle’s illustration was partially influenced by previous illustrations and depictions of the Ammonite. This is interesting to note as this ties in with a point that I made previously when researching into drawing the unknown from a description. When tackling a problem, such as drawing something that you have never seen before with your own eyes. Calle relied on previous depictions and earlier observations on the Ammonites in it’s fossilised form in order to produce his drawing.

Image Source:

http://onikaizer.deviantart.com/art/Ammonite-49400061

More of Juan Calle’s work can be seen here: