The new dinosaur comic

There is a new episode of my Dinosaur comic in my other blog.

Funny looking dinosaurs in vintage comics Part 1

When one stumbles upon dinosaurs in old comic books it's impossible not to wonder how little did those authors know about the anatomy and life styles of prehistoric animals. It is true, that in the 40's, until the 80's little was known and published. However, still some excellent paleo artists were around, like Zdenek Burian and Charles Knight, to name just the most prominent two.

A classic comic book theme: Time travelling to go to hunt dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals

Here is how  Burne Hogarth depicts Tyrannosaurus (I presume that is what this is supposed to be).

 Burne Hogarth (December 25, 1911 – January 28, 1996) was an American cartoonist, illustrator, educator, author and theoretician... (Wiki)

The anatomy is all wrong: the neck too long; the head a tad too small; the arms too long; one finger too many on each arm; looks bloated; legs weak and plantigrade (should be digtigrade like in birds); tail too short, too thin and too flexible...

...on the other hand his elephant is not exactly correct either...

... when I look at it better, even the lion has some strange features...

 Don't get me wrong. I loved his final product: Tarzan comics.

Even in some more recent comics (from 90's) the dinosaurs are outdated. Pteranodon is not quite correct either.

Nathan Never is a black-and-white, science fiction Italian comic book, published monthly in Italy since 1991 by Sergio Bonelli Editore (Wiki)
Ankylosaur in the right lower corner is borrowed from Burian's Gorgosaurus vs. Scolosaurus painting. Pteranodon from another Burian's painting was also used as a reference. However, it is a pity, that these restorations were already outdated.

 

Paleoart (repost)

I did mention in my previous post that I had been doing the paleo art - a popular unofficial term for the kind of illustration, sculpture and animation in which the extinct animals are reconstructed and/or restored. I must have drawn my first prehistoric animals when I was 5. Unfortunately, I haven't kept any of those early works.
My first inspiration most certainly came from the Karl Zeman's film "Cesta do praveku" (Journey to the Beginning of Time) (1954). Of course, the whole movie was inspired by the work of the great Czech illustrator and paleoartist ZDENĚK BURIAN (1905 - 1981) who was also involved in the film production.

I think the next inspiration was the fantastic Rudolph F. Zallinger’s The Age of Reptiles mural which is displayed at the full length of the east wall of the Yale Peabody Museum’s Great Hall.
Many years later, I have visited the Museum and saw the mural while staying at my friend and also a paleoartist Brian Franczak's home in Connecticut. It is funny that my old (1987) illustration of Torosaurus chasing a varanid Palaeosaniwa, who had stolen one of it's eggs, has been displayed at the Yale Peabody Museum for about a decade now.
Trivia: "The Age of Reptiles mural at the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University was completed by Rudolph F. Zallinger, a graduate of the Yale School of Fine Arts, in 1947 after 4 1/2 years study, preparation and painting."(quote from the Yale site)
It is interesting that I have painted my gouache Torosaurus painting exactly 40 years later.