pervocracy:

nyctopterus:

Avimimus portentosus was a small maniraptoran theropod from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia.

This is a substantial photoshop reworking of an oil painting from 2001 or so. I think it might be my first successful paint-over job, which is always harder than in seems.

Why I love John Conway’s paleoart:

1. Dinosaurs with feathers! Not just a little bit of feathers-on-a-lizard.  Full-on feathers!  With varied and birdlike coloration!

2. Dinosaurs I never heard of!  Not just Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops. (Apparently I am a dinosaur hipster.  …I was into dinosaurs back when they were underground.)

3. Dinosaurs with closed mouths!  They’re not going “raaarrr” and showing off big spiky teeth and fighting each other all the time!  I mean, I deeply love “raaarrr”, but the small part of me that isn’t a ten-year-old appreciates a more nuanced depiction.

4. Dinosaurs that look and behave like real, natural animals, not like monsters or dragons.  Conway’s paintings make me feel like I went for a hike and instead of seeing a deer or a turkey I happened to see a dinosaur.  And that’s pretty damn cool.

Tags:

#dinosaur #bird #art #awesome