tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3653345901774701895.post8485793588141373814..comments2024-03-23T12:02:36.626-07:00Comments on Mark P. Witton's Blog: Hey Dreadnoughtus, not so closeMark Wittonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02524696111911168322noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3653345901774701895.post-31765368355426015742015-06-27T03:23:41.873-07:002015-06-27T03:23:41.873-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.jonkirckkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12371465848917817237noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3653345901774701895.post-28986337495720505302015-06-15T09:27:24.021-07:002015-06-15T09:27:24.021-07:00Nice to see the attractive post. I am very happy t...Nice to see the attractive post. I am very happy to see this post. It helped everybody at all.<br />The personal statement is a document that people often struggle mightily with, and this is coupled with a good deal of pressure considering how important it is to your success in getting a neurosurgery online residency.<br /><a href="http://www.neurosurgeryresidency.com/faqs-on-application-to-neurosurgery-residency-programs/" rel="nofollow">neurosurgery residency rankings</a>bakulkhankhetlalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09401264049239835838noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3653345901774701895.post-60615931630369696132014-09-12T17:02:09.368-07:002014-09-12T17:02:09.368-07:00"I'll leave you with my own take on Dread..."I'll leave you with my own take on Dreadnoughtus..."<br /><br />Oh that's bootiful.<br /><br />Excellent article, with a lot of artistic as well as palaeontological instruction. It felt like reading James Gurney's blog for a minute! Immediately brings to mind another recent example: visiting Brian Switek's blog, I didn't grasp the degree of Spinosaurus' new look until I scrolled past the art to the skeletal reconstruction:<br /><br />http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2014/09/11/the-new-spinosaurus/<br /><br />Also, chalk up another one getting a Jurassic Park vibe; but besides the initial brachiosaur reveal (which has it's own worm's-eye problems at times, IMO) I'm getting some of the much more pastoral scene in the in the other direction.<br /><br />http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/screenshots/jurassic_park_3d_26.png<br /><br />I think it's the abelisaurs standing in for the parasaurolophi...Warren JBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11743987856127631574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3653345901774701895.post-5660487355246350212014-09-08T20:27:05.129-07:002014-09-08T20:27:05.129-07:00Love the painting, evokes a sense of aloof grandeu...Love the painting, evokes a sense of aloof grandeur. Plus a "Welcome to Jurassic Park vibe"Deanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07530486881695238005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3653345901774701895.post-53788387956803497852014-09-07T17:14:02.261-07:002014-09-07T17:14:02.261-07:00Thanks, Mark. All good points and food for thought...Thanks, Mark. All good points and food for thought for further work. Ken Lacovarahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04227481988279156436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3653345901774701895.post-74894717023871430492014-09-07T15:11:00.290-07:002014-09-07T15:11:00.290-07:00Thanks for the comment, Ken, and congratulations o...Thanks for the comment, Ken, and congratulations on the success of the paper and coverage - all fully deserved. It's great to have a new animal land with such a data splash.<br /><br />Just to be clear, I hope this is taken in the spirit it's intended - that is, using the Dreadnoughtus art as a launching pad for a wider discussion, not an attack on the art itself (which, as I said in the article, is strong in many respects). I know all too well the constraints of time on PR artwork and the need to make the artwork tick as many boxes as possible - including some boxes which contradict others - and you guys did a good job with that, as evidenced by the success of the PR campaign. <br /><br />If I might make one response to your comment "As such, the subjects needed to be close up, clear, and ready to fit into a newspaper sidebar or television graphic. This necessitated filling the frame with a wrap around pose." I agree that having a straightforward, clear image is essential in any PR work, but (in my experience at least) providing a larger picture with easily cropped elements can be more effective than providing one 'animal dense' picture. Space is only really a concern for printed media, which is increasingly redundant in conveying news, so it needn't constrain the composition of a picture as much as it once did (good news for imagery of a 26 m long animal!). You'll still get a minority of outlets removing landscapes and accessory animals to show a condensed 'core image' which may loose something of what you're trying to convey (hopefully nothing important), but others - especially the online news sites - will make use of the whole thing, and you've not had to restrict your composition into something so 'print friendly'. Mark provided a great example of this sort of thing with his 2006 Castorocauda piece, where the animal could tightly cropped to simply show 'here it is', or floating in at the base of the painting in his wonderfully rendered water, where it's suddenly part of a bigger world. As mentioned above, there's certainly no right or wrong here, and both approaches have their merits: I just mention this as food for thought.<br /><br />Thanks for stopping by, and looking forward to hearing more about Dreadnoughtus in the future!Mark Wittonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02524696111911168322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3653345901774701895.post-60653351739550796372014-09-07T14:04:23.644-07:002014-09-07T14:04:23.644-07:00Two more examples of why the Hall illustration is ...Two more examples of why the Hall illustration is doing its job:<br />Wyoming: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xxquc7xwt999hjm/Dread%20front%20page%203.jpg?dl=0<br />Hawaii: https://www.dropbox.com/s/gcv7vqd6po8h4se/Dread%20front%20page%204.jpg?dl=0Ken Lacovarahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04227481988279156436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3653345901774701895.post-39647622056727924992014-09-07T11:51:42.799-07:002014-09-07T11:51:42.799-07:00Mark,
Thank you for your very kind remarks on th...Mark, <br /><br />Thank you for your very kind remarks on the paper and the additional data we provided. We’ve all experienced the frustration of needing a view not figured or a measurement not listed, so we tried to be as thorough as possible. No doubt we missed some things too, but we hope the format is a step in the right direction.<br /><br />I also appreciate your constructive criticisms regarding the two Dreadnoughtus reconstructions released with our study by Jennifer Hall and Mark Klingler. I think you make a number of good points. As you no doubt realize, however, the two reconstructions were not wholly artistic endeavors and were designed for specific purposes. Our main goal was to provide useful images to the media, not to create stand alone art. (That will come later.) As such, the subjects needed to be close up, clear, and ready to fit into a newspaper sidebar or television graphic. This necessitated filling the frame with a wrap around pose. And this is why we made versions of Jenn’s illustration available with and without the background. The sans background version proved very popular with the media because it satisfied their requirements. Here are a few examples that illustrate the functional and successful design of Jenn’s reconstruction:<br /><br />https://www.dropbox.com/s/618rh2ospbw6esg/Dread%20Brian%20Williams.jpg?dl=0<br /><br />https://www.dropbox.com/s/nkiqw3vcslhs8tr/Dread%20Front%20pages.jpg?dl=0<br /><br />https://www.dropbox.com/s/5kb89dl9c4z9q3g/Dread%20Front%20pages%202.jpg?dl=0<br /><br />So, I think it is appropriate to evaluate the reconstructions created by Jenn and Mark within this context. They were not commissioned to create stand-alone gallery art (although I would love that.) Additionally, they were constrained by input from the scientists and our desire to feature various parts of the anatomy of Dreadnoughtus. Certainly, this led the artists to make different choices than they otherwise would have. From our perspective, based on the wide dissemination of these illustrations, both were hugely successful. <br /><br />Thus, we are very grateful to the artists. Both completed their commissions on a tight schedule and both worked very hard over numerous iterations to incorporate input from all the scientists. Mark is an employee of the Carnegie Museum and squeezed us into his busy schedule, and Jenn graciously took time away from her myriad other endeavors to donate her immense talents to this project. I was particularly astounded by the thoughtful nuances in her reconstruction, which, to my eye, really helped bring this creature to life, for example, the wounds and scars on the legs, the moisture around the nares, the baleful gaze, the gnarly skin textures, the birds on Dread’s back for scale, and a sky fit for a naval epic (or metal album cover).<br /><br />It is certainly not easy to squeeze a titanic beast into a tiny frame, while providing appropriate clues for scale and representing subtle anatomical features. I suppose any portrayal of this animal will always be a compromise between perspective and detail. Given the specific function intended for these illustrations, we intentionally favored the latter. Both Jenn’s and Mark’s work have resonated tremendously with the public and we couldn’t have been happier to come out of the gate with such fine images illustrating our many years of work.<br /><br />I like what you’ve started in your own take on Dreadnoughtus. If you need additional information, please be in touch.<br /><br />Best regards,<br /><br />Ken LacovaraKen Lacovarahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04227481988279156436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3653345901774701895.post-30749833886660757292014-09-07T05:31:00.989-07:002014-09-07T05:31:00.989-07:00Good article; points all well made and, in my opin...Good article; points all well made and, in my opinion, quite true. Excellent pic of your version! Looks gigantic! Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3653345901774701895.post-39380934547224740692014-09-07T02:15:29.791-07:002014-09-07T02:15:29.791-07:00Interesting perspective. I didn't plan it to p...Interesting perspective. I didn't plan it to play out as you've interpreted it - it just seemed appropriate to the sauropod on a hill, because it elevates it further above everything else in the picture and the landscape helps draw your eyes to the colossus at it's apex. I can see what you mean however, and I'm sure - whether consciously or not - we process details like that help with conveying giant size.<br /><br />You're spot on with the colours, though. I figured the scene had to play out at distance, and thus with muted colours, to be seen in entirety. This is also why there's not much detail (well, that, and limited time).Mark Wittonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02524696111911168322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3653345901774701895.post-70941327449484016562014-09-07T02:07:01.515-07:002014-09-07T02:07:01.515-07:00You're not the first person to say that. The s...You're not the first person to say that. The similarities is unintentional, but I guess there are the same tricks at play - low point of view, sparse trees for scale, animal in the mid-far distance etc. - to make the animal look big. Mark Wittonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02524696111911168322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3653345901774701895.post-19375152413777459792014-09-07T00:53:35.090-07:002014-09-07T00:53:35.090-07:00Interesting how you curve the horizon... the trees...Interesting how you curve the horizon... the trees also fan out - even the angle of the weensy therapods, so it seems to really be curved and not a hill that buff guy is standing on... which of course makes the scale seem even more planetary. Intentional? <br />Very cool, very astute! (And refreshing to see so much color in a Witton! But hey, darker tones also convey closeness, so...) davidmaashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16696298300141402317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3653345901774701895.post-66755553656318071592014-09-06T23:18:34.499-07:002014-09-06T23:18:34.499-07:00Your painting of Dreadnoughtus reminds me of the r...Your painting of Dreadnoughtus reminds me of the reveal of "Brachiosaurus" from Jurassic Park.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05707893204106015370noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3653345901774701895.post-4731960122830900632014-09-06T17:48:38.380-07:002014-09-06T17:48:38.380-07:00There was just something about that brown Dreadnou...There was just something about that brown Dreadnoughtus that never felt right to me. Thanks for prettifying it up. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00682119714054103398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3653345901774701895.post-51582978137652042152014-09-06T17:27:11.969-07:002014-09-06T17:27:11.969-07:00Yes I too was underwhelmed. Yes I too was underwhelmed. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09630838114257894524noreply@blogger.com