Maiasaura Doodle
This doodle makes me happy.
I’m not typically happy with my quick sketches of dinosaurs for both aesthetic and scientific reasons, which is why most of what I am willing to share on the web are detailed pencil renders drawn with careful attention to whatever images of skeletal material I can get my hands on. ^This is an exception. I was just doodling, and this came out, which is satisfying because it’s a pretty good sign that I’m finally developing an instinctive sense of reasonably accurate proportion and posture for ornithopod dinosaurs.
Speaking of proportion and posture, this Maiasaura just spotted a predator and is falling into a bipedal run from an upright “lookout” posture. The funny horn on it’s head is my own interpretation of some small bony extensions on the skull of Maiasaura. Typically this projection is not enlarged in reconstructions, but I think it is entirely plausible, if not likely, that small (presumably) ornamental structures seen in the skeletons of dinosaurs supported much more elaborate soft tissue or horn structures when the animal was alive. If you take a look at the skulls of birds or reptiles with casques or horns or crests, there is a pretty substantial amount of horn and soft tissue attached to the bone. Also, I think it looks cool!
