Drawing Dinosaurs: Allosaurus fragilis

Hello, Steemians! I'm back again, and this time brace yourselves for a toothy onslaught of colossal proportions. Starting with this post and until mid-January next year, I'll be posting artworks of these fascinating creatures. They will be not just in graphite on paper form, but also perhaps in digitally sculpted 3D renditions too.

All of the previous dinosaur renders I've posted here involved the use of freebie rigged 3D models of those creatures made by a friend of mine. So, this time I will create my own and try to do at least five of these prehistoric beasts, and maybe more if time permits.

This effort is the result of my attempt to participate in the paleoartist community's Dinovember and Dinocember activities.

And, as their names imply, both are based on the popular Inktober craze. I thought I would be able to draw all creatures I made in the prompt (see image below), but my busy schedule got in the way again, as usual. So, here is my first artwork.

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The Reference, Prompt List, and Materials

The 3D dinousaur that I used to create the reference for this drawing is one my friend's creations. I posed the dinosaur, made a fully-textured render, and also an untextured greyscale version which we call clay render, for tonal study. And, as you can see here, my drawing is posed differently than the one in the render. That was my challenge to myself, and I like how it turned out.

Here is the prompt list I made back in October. My goal was to combine both November and December, and start and end with the 15th day of both months. However, my work has this nasty habit of getting in the way of my plans for personal activities, so my start was delayed.

Now, what I like about Dinovember and Dinocember is that you're not limited to drawings, but you can use any traditional or digital medium, like clay, or even 3D. I will not follow this prompt in sequence, but cherry pick the creatures I will work on. And, for this first artwork I started with the first one on the list.

I chose to put Allosaurus at the start of this list to remind people that it is the one that is truly from the Jurassic Period, not the T. rex, which happens to be a Late Cretaceous carnivorous theropod. They are not related, and both are from distant branches of the theropod family tree.

To draw this creature, I used the following:

• A blue Staedtler Noris Club pencil for the construction drawing
• B and 4B Staedtler Lumograph pencils for the outline and shading
• A Faber-Castell Goldfaber 1221 2B for shading
• A brush for eraser crumbs
• A Faber-Castell eraser
• And 120 gsm paper from a sketchpad
  

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Process Pictures

I always begin my drawings of any character or creature with a technique called construction drawing. If you are unfamiliar with it and want to know more about it, check out this blog I posted last year, in which I described it in detail.

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Clean-up, Detailing, and Shading

For this dino, my original plan was to just put some quick hatching on it, as a nod to my traditional animation past. But my overzealousness got the best of me, and I ended up going all over it with tight hatching. I like the way it turned out but I cannot promise you that the next ones will also be given the same treatment. We'll see, so keep your fingers crossed.

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Behold, Allosaurus, the real Jurassic Terror!

The eye direction tells you of your impending doom. You've been spotted, and will most likely end up in its belly. 😲 🤣

Showing its main tool for its deadly business.

And, its secondary weapons, the huge claws on its hands.

Here's the drawing converted to greyscale. It reminds me of the drawings in the various dinosaur books I have. Maybe I should try my hand at book illustration? I've always had this dream of working on one. Nah. It's a nice thought, though.

But I'm already working on my own story for an animated short film, and it will feature some of these creatures in their native habitat in the ancient continent of Laramidia, the western part of what would become the West Coast of the USA, millions of years later.

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So, this wraps up my first Dinocember post, and I look forward to working on the next ones. Thank you for reading, and I hope you found this post entertaining. God Bless you all, and may you all have a wonderful and happy Christmas day with your loved ones.

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All pictures are mine. This blog was created with eSteem Surfer and GIMP