Traditional Art: Pterodactylus Kochi

I have always liked prehistoric creatures, ever since I was a kid playing with plastic dinosaurs. The one creature I seemed to like above all was the pterodactyl. For many a year, I had in my procession a toy pterodactyl from the Jurrasic Park toyline that I literally loved to pieces. When I graduated high school, many of my old toys, the dinosaurs and the ponies included, where given away to other people. As a designer, I have now looked for dinosaur toys on Amazon to once again fill my shelves.

A few months ago, I decided to purchase a dinosaur book in order to get drawing on some dinosaur anthros. I wanted to draw some, since I hadn't drawn a lot beforehand, and it was an interesting challenge for one. For a while, I tried doing perliminary sketches of the dinosaurs beforehand. I had a busy summer, with internships and what not, so I wasn't entirely free to do much art inbetween learning poser and other stuff.

The idea for doing a pterodactyl anthro came when I was going through a section on pterodactyl species. The words "pterodactylus kochi" came up, and for some reason I decided that this species of pterodactyl was the one I would draw. However, unlike a majority of other anthros I had drawn before, I wanted to do something different with my pterosaur. I would give her wings for arms.

The actual design process for my Pterodactylus Kochi came through that a) it would be female, b) it would have some markings, and c) it was to have clothing that would not impede her ability to fly. The body design was to create a body that wasn't too heavy or too thin, more like an athele. The idea came to mind that she was a aerial acrobat, flying through the clouds, only coming to ground to rest and recharge. The character idea came through that she would need clothing that wouldn't be too cumbersome or fly up when she was flying. So I decided that she would wear a strap top, something that was like a halter top but would also free her arms so she could fly. I came up with the design, after a consideration. The clothing itself is made from animal skin, with bone and rawhide string to keep it together.

The entire picture was assembled in parts, from a sketch to an inked line art to finished marker art. The materials used for this includes copic markers, white gel pen, and Aquabee manga marker paper, which was possibly the best paper I have used with markers ever.

Well, that's the story of how this piece came to be. Thanks and I'll be back before the end of this month with a few more pieces in store.