It took some time but here’s the next of the scenes for the colouring book. Hopefully it’s obvious how complex this scene is and how long it took to put it all together. At the bottom of the text you’re reading now is a description of what the illustration shows (I intend those bits of text to appear alongside the images in the book) but… how did I make this scene?
I started by finding a few vegetation-heavy scenes I liked (from my own photos); I then sketched them and positioned the sorts of dinosaurs I imagined being in this habitat....
Which - on this occasion - were North American Campanian dinosaurs like lambeosaurine hadrosaurs and ankylosaurids. I knew that it would be difficult to get the dinosaurs ‘behind’ the many plants I wanted to include, so I decided to draw numerous elements separately and then composite them together, piece by piece. This means that each element has to be cut out, tidied and then composited (which involves copious tinkering as you place it in front of certain elements and behind others). I do all of this in CorelDraw, an invaluable piece of software I obtained THANKS TO PATRONS HERE AT PATREON :) Among the separate elements here, I especially like the rocky hillside (with cave) and the fallen log, plus I think the animals are pretty good too.
Once everything was in place and I was happy with it, I had to draw in the remaining texture on the ground (there’s meant to be lots of leaf litter, debris and so on) and correct various problems created by the overlapping of the elements. The final result: a scene that has quite a lot of things that need colouring, and that’s the aim.
So… that’s three of these scenes do so far. I draw these when I feel I need a break from writing but – frankly – I have so much writing to do that the time for drawing things is few and far between. As always, huge thanks for your support!
Late Cretaceous Canada
We’re in southern Alberta, Canada, in the Campanian age (so, about 76 million years ago), and in a zone where a dense, conifer-dominated woodland gives way to a hilly, rocky area fringed with bogs and marshes. Cypresses, sequoias and podocarps form the forest while ferns, cycads, herbs and conifer saplings form the understorey. In the background, two Gorgosaurus libratus are loitering close to a rocky hillside which has proved a rich foraging ground. Their shaggy pelts give them a furry appearance, except on their faces, legs and hands. A cave in the hillside is used as shelter by these dinosaurs during harsh weather and a resting spot on hot days.
At left, we see the tube-crested lambeosaurine hadrosaur Parasaurolophus walkeri. This is an especially robust, muscular hadrosaur of forested environments. The individual here is raising his head as he performs a nodding intimidation display to the dinosaur standing in his way: the gigantic, club-tailed ankylosaurid Euoplocephalus tutus. The ankylosaurid is objecting to the hadrosaur’s proximity (that raised tail is a warning signal). The broad body, spikes, plates, broad head and massive tail club of Euoplocephalus are obvious, and the hadrosaur is in danger of being barged with the side of the body or smacked with the tail.
Numerous other dinosaurs lived in this region at the same time, and the forest in the background would have been home to herds of several hadrosaur and ceratopsian species, to numerous ankylosaurs in addition to Euoplocephalus, to pachycephalosaurs of several species, and to abundant maniraptorans and other theropods. In fact the Campanian was the ‘golden age’ for several of these groups.
Some Suggestions
This is another scene where you’ll need to use as many greens as possible! The different sorts of ferns and herbs, the reeds and shrubs in the middle distance, the trees on the horizon and the plants blanketing the rocky hillside will all need different colours. Bare rock is visible on the hillside and there are fallen boulder around the hill’s base and around the cave. Elsewhere, leaf litter mostly covers the ground but deep shade would be present among the undergrowth. When it comes to the animals, Parasaurolophus might be imagined as being similar to okapis, bongos and other big, forest-dwelling modern herbivores. Its neck and crest should be boldly patterned and perhaps brightly coloured. The ankylosaurid could be earth-toned or green for camouflage, and the gorgosaurs might be cryptically coloured to help them hunt by stealth in wooded places.