Kick off of the Month: First Artwork in Almost a Month.

First piece of artwork in almost a month, and what else to start with than my roots. As dinosaurs in general have a rather conserved body plan in each family, the fast biter (or Utahraptor in particular; they're both about the same size) was my main reference point. Ditching the toe claws and giving the hands four fingers, a more spinosaurid/gharial snout, and the crests, the next step came the frill. Now, a skin and bone frill isn't possible, but after looking at some artwork, particularly this

www.deviantart.com/teratophone…

Dilophosaurids, let alone any Ceratosaur relative, probably didn't have that elaborate display, but that's the miracle of palaeoartistry: guesswork. As you would expect, the superb bird of paradise is used in this regard with the secretary bird for the body color. It's creepy enough from the little guys alone, but imagine this on something big enough to look at you in the face.

Before they upchuck at you. Yes, you heard me right, they vomit. Poison or venom isn't at all probable with them, but as our living dinosaurs, birds, can regurgitate to feed their babies, and some can vomit in self defense, that's a more likely case. Besides, that's no doubt a more painful if the stomach contents, acid, bacteria, and enzymes hit you in the eye.

As famous as they are, I can imagine why they didn't appear in the franchise if they were to be based on popular material (Try animating a Triceratops' head). But still, with a little creativity (and a higher budget for a good studio), I'm certain they could make an appearance in a future sequel. For now, a puppet rig in Moho might do the trick.

Overall, I'm proud how this turned out despite my month-long lack of practice and the center picture is now my avatar. The crest will probably be a less saturated blue when I make a species chart in the future.