Fewer questions this time, but as long as they don't screech to a halt I don't find that a bad thing. I don't want to be too overwhelmed.
-Have the characters fought any hippos?
-Would the characters rather receive fan mail or a crate of small rodents?
-What would Skull do if he succeeded in taking over the museum?
-Have the characters gotten visits from a certain Canadian alvarezsaurid?
-Do the characters like roast beef?
-Can Savape run on water while flapping?
-Ground up or trees down?
-What does Dinky think of Ostrom?
Ostrom and the Dinosaur Style Meme
Oh man, it's been years since I said I'd do this! That is probably for the better, as this meme is easier to fill out using digital art.
The original blank meme is by Pred-Adopts.
I went with Ostrom for this one. One of my self-imposed rules was that I'd base each style off the closest relative of Deinonychus I could find that was present in each work.
Personal - Not much to say here!
Jurassic Park - Considering that the Jurassic Park dromaeosaurids are based on Deinonychus, this was a no-brainer. If I haven't been amply convinced that Jurassic Park dromaeosaurids look hideous, drawing this certainly did it. (That's not intended as a slight on Jurassic Park as a movie, which I enjoy.)
Chibi - You want cute? I'll give you cute. This one was quick, as I wasn't bound to the style of a specific work.
Fantasia - This one is interesting. Fantasia came out long before dromaeosaurids had seeped into popular culture; in fact, Deinonychus had not even been discovered then. I wondered if I should base this one on the generic-looking small theropod present, but then I saw that there were a few shots of what is evidently intended to be a protobird in the short. As expected for the time, it's more lizard-like than dinosaur-like, but close enough.
The Flintstones - Found as many bird pictures from this show as I could and made the best of it. Cartoon bird ankles working like knees, ick. I referenced Dino for some of Ostrom's more stereotypically dinosaurian traits such as the long tail.
We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story - I wondered if I would have to use that goofy-looking tyrannosaurid, then I remembered all the talk about the crows in this film and it was all good.
Another DeviantArtist's style - This was hard. Most of the paleoartists on here who I look up to have styles that are too detailed for me to imitate well. Fortunately, there was a clear solution. I went with StygimolochSpinifer, the master of striking the balance between simplicity and accuracy, bar none. As a matter of fact, his newer works strike that balance so well that they were still nearly impossible for me to mimic; this one is based on his older stuff from Ask a Velociraptor. I haven't come close to doing justice to his style here, so go watch him if you haven't already.
Disney's Dinosaur - Whatever this movie's other faults, these are some of the least hideous scaly dromaeosaurids I've seen, at least. They could almost pass off as hypothetical real dinosaurs. Almost.
Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs - Based off the Archaeopteryx that has a quick scene, naturally. Lots of typical tropes from lack of understanding of protobirds, including a scaly face, wristwings, and sparkleraptor coloration.
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs - I was so relieved to see an Archaeopteryx on the poster for this game that I forgot to look up whether there were any dromaeosaurids in it. I can only stand drawing so many scaly dromaeosaurids, after all. Not that more typical protobird paleoart tropes aren't just marginally better.
The Land Before Time - I had to turn to one of the dreaded sequels for this one to find a eudromaeosaur. (I've read that another one of the sequels actually has a feathered dromaeosaurid, but it's a microraptorine so it's less closely related.) Rather hideous, all lumpy and rubbery-looking.
Another artist's style - I momentarily considered turning Ostrom into a My Little Maniraptor (though under my own rules I'd have had to base him on a bird from that show rather than a pony) for this one, but I remembered that I hadn't had the chance to use Archeops back when I did the avian style meme (which had a Pokémon slot), so I figured I'd fix that.
The original blank meme is by Pred-Adopts.
I went with Ostrom for this one. One of my self-imposed rules was that I'd base each style off the closest relative of Deinonychus I could find that was present in each work.
Personal - Not much to say here!
Jurassic Park - Considering that the Jurassic Park dromaeosaurids are based on Deinonychus, this was a no-brainer. If I haven't been amply convinced that Jurassic Park dromaeosaurids look hideous, drawing this certainly did it. (That's not intended as a slight on Jurassic Park as a movie, which I enjoy.)
Chibi - You want cute? I'll give you cute. This one was quick, as I wasn't bound to the style of a specific work.
Fantasia - This one is interesting. Fantasia came out long before dromaeosaurids had seeped into popular culture; in fact, Deinonychus had not even been discovered then. I wondered if I should base this one on the generic-looking small theropod present, but then I saw that there were a few shots of what is evidently intended to be a protobird in the short. As expected for the time, it's more lizard-like than dinosaur-like, but close enough.
The Flintstones - Found as many bird pictures from this show as I could and made the best of it. Cartoon bird ankles working like knees, ick. I referenced Dino for some of Ostrom's more stereotypically dinosaurian traits such as the long tail.
We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story - I wondered if I would have to use that goofy-looking tyrannosaurid, then I remembered all the talk about the crows in this film and it was all good.
Another DeviantArtist's style - This was hard. Most of the paleoartists on here who I look up to have styles that are too detailed for me to imitate well. Fortunately, there was a clear solution. I went with StygimolochSpinifer, the master of striking the balance between simplicity and accuracy, bar none. As a matter of fact, his newer works strike that balance so well that they were still nearly impossible for me to mimic; this one is based on his older stuff from Ask a Velociraptor. I haven't come close to doing justice to his style here, so go watch him if you haven't already.
Disney's Dinosaur - Whatever this movie's other faults, these are some of the least hideous scaly dromaeosaurids I've seen, at least. They could almost pass off as hypothetical real dinosaurs. Almost.
Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs - Based off the Archaeopteryx that has a quick scene, naturally. Lots of typical tropes from lack of understanding of protobirds, including a scaly face, wristwings, and sparkleraptor coloration.
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs - I was so relieved to see an Archaeopteryx on the poster for this game that I forgot to look up whether there were any dromaeosaurids in it. I can only stand drawing so many scaly dromaeosaurids, after all. Not that more typical protobird paleoart tropes aren't just marginally better.
The Land Before Time - I had to turn to one of the dreaded sequels for this one to find a eudromaeosaur. (I've read that another one of the sequels actually has a feathered dromaeosaurid, but it's a microraptorine so it's less closely related.) Rather hideous, all lumpy and rubbery-looking.
Another artist's style - I momentarily considered turning Ostrom into a My Little Maniraptor (though under my own rules I'd have had to base him on a bird from that show rather than a pony) for this one, but I remembered that I hadn't had the chance to use Archeops back when I did the avian style meme (which had a Pokémon slot), so I figured I'd fix that.
Tumblr Roundup 8/4/13
Thus far my experiment with Tumblr has been working fairly well. I've been receiving a steady trickle of questions without them being overwhelming. It remains to be seen whether I can keep this up when school starts again.
-How do the characters all get along?
-Does Skull think Edmontonia is cool?
-What does Skull think of tyrannosauroids?
-What would Skull think of a tyrant flycatcher acting like a tyrannosaurid?
-Why is Skull the only character that isn't a fleshed-out body?
-Have the characters encountered modern raptors (birds of prey)?
-Would having a full body help Skull in taking over the museum?
-Greeting Featheryraptor.
-Could Skull borrow the body of Linheraptor?
-How does Savape feel about the uncertain phylogenetic position of archaeopterygid-grade paravians?
-Should Skull get a Utahraptor model made to aid him in his quest?
-What does Zahavi think of Gigantoraptor?
-What does Remex think of the museum's Allosaurus?
-How does Remex keep himself sane with his knowledge of phylogenetics?
-Who is the "boss" among the characters?
-Have the characters seen a female Rahonavis named Rahona?
-Are there pterosaurs at the museum?
-How do the characters all get along?
-Does Skull think Edmontonia is cool?
-What does Skull think of tyrannosauroids?
-What would Skull think of a tyrant flycatcher acting like a tyrannosaurid?
-Why is Skull the only character that isn't a fleshed-out body?
-Have the characters encountered modern raptors (birds of prey)?
-Would having a full body help Skull in taking over the museum?
-Greeting Featheryraptor.
-Could Skull borrow the body of Linheraptor?
-How does Savape feel about the uncertain phylogenetic position of archaeopterygid-grade paravians?
-Should Skull get a Utahraptor model made to aid him in his quest?
-What does Zahavi think of Gigantoraptor?
-What does Remex think of the museum's Allosaurus?
-How does Remex keep himself sane with his knowledge of phylogenetics?
-Who is the "boss" among the characters?
-Have the characters seen a female Rahonavis named Rahona?
-Are there pterosaurs at the museum?
The Raptormaniacs Tumblr
In an effort to make myself do more with my web comic thing, I present my new extension of it, the Raptormaniacs Tumblr askblog, where readers can send in questions for the comic characters. This format has several benefits over my previous convention, such as the fact that I probably won't have to use as many panels most of the time. I don't plan on crossposting every individual Tumblr post I make to this blog, but I will post "Tumblr roundups" here once a given number of posts has been put up or a given amount of time passed.
I get fanart again!
The above is courtesy of John Turmelle, also known as classicalguy on DeviantArt, who, in addition to producing this artwork, said a lot of kind words about my comic/blog/thingamabob in his artist's comments. I love it. I love that Remex is holding Tet Zoo the book, I love Zahavi maniacally holding a mallet, I love Skull being Skull. Words cannot express how happy and astounded I am that there are people who like Raptormaniacs this much, so I'll just provide a .gif instead. (I'd link to a clip of that scene but I can't find one on YouTube.)
Oh yes, I hinted earlier that I'd be making another announcement about the comics soon. Fear not; it really is coming. I just need to get something else that I've been working on out of the way first.
Daily QiGong and Chinese Medicine Improves Health Says Alternative Medicine Pioneer
"The daily practice of QiGong and other Chinese Medicine techniques, according to Dr. Effie Chow during an interview on the Sharon Kleyne Hour Radio Show, can improve health and reduce the need for medication and surgery. Dr. Chow is a pioneer in Alternative Medicine who advocates the integration of some elements of traditional Chinese medicine into modern Western medical practices. Dr. Chow served on the commission that helped established the Institute for Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health.
In her San Francisco clinic, the East-West Academy of Healing Arts, Dr. Chow has witnessed dramatic improvement in diseases such as macular degeneration, cataracts, nearsightedness, diabetes, heart disease and cancer."
I use Qi Gong as part of LifeRcise daily to great effect sepecially the Ma'at pose for opening the spine and helping to minimize spinal stenousus..
'via Blog this'
Daily QiGong and Chinese Medicine Improves Health Says Alternative Medicine Pioneer:
In her San Francisco clinic, the East-West Academy of Healing Arts, Dr. Chow has witnessed dramatic improvement in diseases such as macular degeneration, cataracts, nearsightedness, diabetes, heart disease and cancer."
I use Qi Gong as part of LifeRcise daily to great effect sepecially the Ma'at pose for opening the spine and helping to minimize spinal stenousus..
'via Blog this'
Daily QiGong and Chinese Medicine Improves Health Says Alternative Medicine Pioneer:
Raptormaniacs Revamp (For Real)
At long last I have come around to revisit the original reason I started this blog to begin with: the Raptormaniacs web comic. It's been more than a year since I last drew a real comic for the blog and much has changed since then. I started dabbling in digital art, for one thing. For another, there have been new scientific discoveries that have made my character designs outdated. All that called for something of a makeover.
For the sake of trivia, have a quick list of the major changes I made.
-I've had readers tell me that they've had trouble differentiating between Savape and Zahavi. In hindsight it was extremely foolish of me to have two "archaeopterygid"-type main characters in the comic and for a long time I'd wanted to either put up a guide to distinguishing the two or have Zahavi transform into a larger troodont in-universe to eliminate the problem. (He has unlimited cartoon powers; he can do that kind of thing.) In the meantime though, paleontology came to the rescue. New analysis of Archaeopteryx feathers show that they had black leading edges. Although an earlier study already demonstrated that the original Archaeopteryx specimen, an isolated covert feather, was dark colored, I had been reluctant to include this in the comic for fear that it would quickly wear down my pencils. Switching to digital art removes the dilemma. Savape's new color patterns are not easy to see at the resolution of the new dramatis personae above, but with luck she should be less mistakable when she shows up in future comics. While we're at it, I gave Remex his tail bands too.
-Feathers extend down to the foot in all the characters (besides Skull and Dinky for obvious reasons) now, based on new Mesozoic avialan specimens showing the ubiquity of foot feathers in Mesozoic theropods. (There's something I wasn't kidding about!)
-Ebeff now has pennibrachiae (wings), based on new evidence of them being present in (adult) ornithomimosaurs, suggesting a wider phylogenetic bracket for them.
-A number of aesthetic choices, such as smoothing the body contours of most of the characters (based on the concept that "primitive"-looking body feathers on fossil dinosaur specimens may be taphonomic illusions) and making their hands and upper legs more obscured by feathers (because there's no reason to think they didn't work like living birds in that respect).
Can I guarantee that I'll post comics more frequently now? Simply put, no. However, I might do an experiment that may help me in doing so, to be revealed shortly.
Asahiyama Zoo
I really need to be better about keeping promises regarding posts I'm going to write... or stop making promises altogether. Have a bit of fresh material for now and maybe one day I'll get around to one of those reviews or months-ago trips I keep talking about.
Earlier this month I got to visit the Asahiyama Zoo, one of the most popular zoos in Japan. It is also the country's northernmost zoo, being situated in Hokkaido. While many of the exhibits were smaller than I'm used to seeing*, its animals looked healthy and were often provided with many sources of enrichment. In fact, the zoo is well known (at least within the country) for its exhibit designs that stimulate natural behaviors in its animals.
*As I once read someone joke, you could fit the entire Asahiyama Zoo into one exhibit at the San Diego Zoo.
Not all of the exhibit signs had English translations, but based on my limited knowledge of Japanese I think this is a black kite. (Thank goodness for my field guide to Japanese birds, which contained the Japanese names of the species it covered.) Black kites are common in Japan and I saw many wild individuals over the course of my vacation (including at the zoo), often mobbed by the even more ubiquitous jungle crows. While we're on the subject, jungle crows are the size of small common ravens and have even thicker bills; imagine those foraging in your neighborhood.
Capybaras lounging around. Capybaras always appear rather chill to me, but it was a hot day when I visited so they were probably trying to be especially so by cooling off in the water. It appears that these rodents are quite popular in Japan, for I saw plushie capybaras at many of the shops I visited.
Up above, spider monkeys clambered about on one of those enrichment structures I hinted at earlier.
Nearby were a series of enclosures for other monkeys (and ring-tailed lemurs). Note the presence of the primate keeper on this dramatis personae.
A eastern black-and-white colobus or mantled guereza.
A pair of De Brazza's monkeys.
A muntjac deer. Though among the smallest deer, the males have formidable-looking canines.
Some gibbons. They were sheltering in the shade when I initially arrived, but I did see them brachiating later on. I regret not taking more pictures of the enrichment structures, because some of them were rather elaborate. The nearby orangutans even had a veritable jungle gym that spanned a large wall as well as a suspended walkway that allowed them to venture beyond their main enclosures (similar to, though much smaller than, the O-Line at the National Zoo).
A wapiti.
A Japanese crane. It's hard to see here, but it'd just pulled a dead fish out of the pond in its exhibit and was adjusting it for ease of swallowing. I would see wild Japanese cranes (though protected by caging) later on during my vacation.
A local Japanese toad species in the reptile and amphibian house.
I don't know why these mice were being exhibited in the reptile house, though my personal suspicions are that they are fed to snakes. Speaking of the snakes, there was a sign at the building entrance warning visitors about snake droppings. Turns out they had a mesh tunnel overhead that allowed snakes to cross from one enclosure to another across the hallway.
An American alligator.
The next part of the zoo I went to exhibited local animals of Hokkaido. I often enjoy this sort of exhibition, for although they may contain species that locals find mundane, said species are often rare in foreign institutions. In this case, there were many owls on display, though the mesh cages made them hard to photograph. Here's an eagle owl.
This is some species of scops owl if I remember right.
A magnificent Steller's sea eagle. Though I said earlier that most of the enclosures at the Asahiyama Zoo were comparatively small, those of the large raptors were larger than what I've seen at many other zoos, which was nice. It's hard not to marvel at wild raptors and remember that captive individuals often have little room to fly even though flight is such a big part of their lifestyles in the wild. (Granted, in some instances the individuals have been rendered permanently flightless by injuries.)
A great spotted woodpecker. One of those species that's probably not too eyecatching to locals, but certainly new for a North American like me.
A Siberian chipmunk, the only chipmunk found outside of North America.
Raccoon dogs, unusual canids strongly featured in Japanese culture. (Yes, I did see statues of well-endowed raccoon dogs in front of Japanese shops on my trip.) How unusual are they? They hibernate and climb trees!
A red fox. Another species I would later see wild individuals of.
Elsewhere in the zoo, the polar bear enclosure, which surrounded a building with multiple viewing windows, including one designed so you can pretend to be a seal popping up from a breathing hole in what is presumably your final moments.
Unexpectedly, there were some fish exhibited in the polar bear building. They didn't come with English signs and my knowledge of fish is sketchy at best, but I think this is a clingfish.
Some lumpsuckers.
Uh... maybe a wolffish?
Some African crested porcupines.
A Blakiston's fish owl, one of Tet Zoo's ten most beautifully interesting birds. Like the sea eagles, it had a generously large exhibit with a small pond presumably for it to fish from.
Earlier this month I got to visit the Asahiyama Zoo, one of the most popular zoos in Japan. It is also the country's northernmost zoo, being situated in Hokkaido. While many of the exhibits were smaller than I'm used to seeing*, its animals looked healthy and were often provided with many sources of enrichment. In fact, the zoo is well known (at least within the country) for its exhibit designs that stimulate natural behaviors in its animals.
*As I once read someone joke, you could fit the entire Asahiyama Zoo into one exhibit at the San Diego Zoo.
Not all of the exhibit signs had English translations, but based on my limited knowledge of Japanese I think this is a black kite. (Thank goodness for my field guide to Japanese birds, which contained the Japanese names of the species it covered.) Black kites are common in Japan and I saw many wild individuals over the course of my vacation (including at the zoo), often mobbed by the even more ubiquitous jungle crows. While we're on the subject, jungle crows are the size of small common ravens and have even thicker bills; imagine those foraging in your neighborhood.
Capybaras lounging around. Capybaras always appear rather chill to me, but it was a hot day when I visited so they were probably trying to be especially so by cooling off in the water. It appears that these rodents are quite popular in Japan, for I saw plushie capybaras at many of the shops I visited.
Up above, spider monkeys clambered about on one of those enrichment structures I hinted at earlier.
Nearby were a series of enclosures for other monkeys (and ring-tailed lemurs). Note the presence of the primate keeper on this dramatis personae.
A eastern black-and-white colobus or mantled guereza.
A pair of De Brazza's monkeys.
A muntjac deer. Though among the smallest deer, the males have formidable-looking canines.
Some gibbons. They were sheltering in the shade when I initially arrived, but I did see them brachiating later on. I regret not taking more pictures of the enrichment structures, because some of them were rather elaborate. The nearby orangutans even had a veritable jungle gym that spanned a large wall as well as a suspended walkway that allowed them to venture beyond their main enclosures (similar to, though much smaller than, the O-Line at the National Zoo).
A wapiti.
A Japanese crane. It's hard to see here, but it'd just pulled a dead fish out of the pond in its exhibit and was adjusting it for ease of swallowing. I would see wild Japanese cranes (though protected by caging) later on during my vacation.
A local Japanese toad species in the reptile and amphibian house.
I don't know why these mice were being exhibited in the reptile house, though my personal suspicions are that they are fed to snakes. Speaking of the snakes, there was a sign at the building entrance warning visitors about snake droppings. Turns out they had a mesh tunnel overhead that allowed snakes to cross from one enclosure to another across the hallway.
An American alligator.
The next part of the zoo I went to exhibited local animals of Hokkaido. I often enjoy this sort of exhibition, for although they may contain species that locals find mundane, said species are often rare in foreign institutions. In this case, there were many owls on display, though the mesh cages made them hard to photograph. Here's an eagle owl.
This is some species of scops owl if I remember right.
A magnificent Steller's sea eagle. Though I said earlier that most of the enclosures at the Asahiyama Zoo were comparatively small, those of the large raptors were larger than what I've seen at many other zoos, which was nice. It's hard not to marvel at wild raptors and remember that captive individuals often have little room to fly even though flight is such a big part of their lifestyles in the wild. (Granted, in some instances the individuals have been rendered permanently flightless by injuries.)
A great spotted woodpecker. One of those species that's probably not too eyecatching to locals, but certainly new for a North American like me.
A Siberian chipmunk, the only chipmunk found outside of North America.
Raccoon dogs, unusual canids strongly featured in Japanese culture. (Yes, I did see statues of well-endowed raccoon dogs in front of Japanese shops on my trip.) How unusual are they? They hibernate and climb trees!
A red fox. Another species I would later see wild individuals of.
Elsewhere in the zoo, the polar bear enclosure, which surrounded a building with multiple viewing windows, including one designed so you can pretend to be a seal popping up from a breathing hole in what is presumably your final moments.
Unexpectedly, there were some fish exhibited in the polar bear building. They didn't come with English signs and my knowledge of fish is sketchy at best, but I think this is a clingfish.
Some lumpsuckers.
Uh... maybe a wolffish?
Some African crested porcupines.
A Blakiston's fish owl, one of Tet Zoo's ten most beautifully interesting birds. Like the sea eagles, it had a generously large exhibit with a small pond presumably for it to fish from.
Iphone is the Best Tool For the Blind
This is a remarkable disability community technology story as told by a blind person. Iphone VoiceOver" "A liberating experience.
I have a family member who has cerebral palsy, she is not blind but the Iphone has changed her life, reading the web was a challenge the Iphone made it a piece of cake like reading a book. The great Steve Job's invention has done a lot of visible revolutionary things for man kind. But I think it is the mostly invisible things it has done in the disability community that are the most revolutionary.
If the Iphone clone folks like droid want to copy something VoiceOver is something that might help balance their moral orientation if not their innovation. Windows 8 is not just a clone and they have always supported the disability community back in their hay day. I look forward to good things mobile Windows 8 as it starts up.
I have a family member who has cerebral palsy, she is not blind but the Iphone has changed her life, reading the web was a challenge the Iphone made it a piece of cake like reading a book. The great Steve Job's invention has done a lot of visible revolutionary things for man kind. But I think it is the mostly invisible things it has done in the disability community that are the most revolutionary.
If the Iphone clone folks like droid want to copy something VoiceOver is something that might help balance their moral orientation if not their innovation. Windows 8 is not just a clone and they have always supported the disability community back in their hay day. I look forward to good things mobile Windows 8 as it starts up.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)