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nwfonseca — Rex
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Published: 2017-06-19 15:02:22 +0000 UTC; Views: 2028; Favourites: 82; Downloads: 0
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Well, in light of recent developments in the scientific literature I felt compelled to make some adjustments to the Tyrannosaurus. With much trepidation I have commenced removing the feather work that I put so many hours into. It might seem crazy, but I realized that my sculpture would be more flexible if I do naked skin first. If the scientific literature swings back in favor of feathers it will be much easier to add feathers to the naked body. I have no intention of adding spikes or other crazy dragon like structures. As of now there is no evidence supporting such structures. I am not planning on getting into a debate over the veracity of the new paper that is for other places. But have no fear my fine feathered friends, I have a feeling feathers on Tyrannosaurids will make a comeback.Related content
Comments: 22
I know the feeling, i spent hours sculpting eyes in a recent piece, then i found better eyes and had to pry off all that cured Apoxie Sculpt ..ugh
I do think this will go over better though and as you said, modifying it later will be easier.
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Ugh, reworking Apoxie Sculpt is a bitch.
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nah you just need a good chisel..maybe some dynamite...
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Great sculpture! Don't worry about the confusion in paleontology, people can't get a PhD thesis approved just agreeing with the current dogma. Give it a month or two and it will change. I remember back when they said the T-Rex's tail dragged on the ground...
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dude the feather thing hasn't changed the impressions were only mm in size and in places that we knew were already scaly
nice sculpt anyway
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I read the paper and supplementary material. I think between what is preserved in the Tyrannosaurus specimen combined with the other Tyrannosaurids there is evidence of Tyrannosaurus being naked. I am not 100% confident that there were no feathers present but I am going to hedge my bets a bit. Also, it is easier to add to a finished sculpture rather than trying to go back. This way I can have the best of both worlds.
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still it wouldn't mean that trex didn't have feather's since humpback whales still have hairs on their snout and their completly different from their ancestors so we can't say if trex didnt have feathers just because of a few imprints on places we already knew were scaly
trey the explainer explained it better than i can
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I've seen Trey's video. I am not 100% sure who Trey is or what his credentials are so I can only assume he is an informed lay person like the rest of us. That said, I don't 100% discount feathers in T. Rex but there are places we know feathers aren't. We know hairs poke out of bare skin on Elephants but there is no evidence yet of naked skin in Tyrannosaurus" that doesn't mean there wasn't any". If we expect feathers to grow out of bare skin we should expect bare skin in the locations where we expect feathers to be. We know feathers sometimes grow out between the scutes in some individual birds but we know that there is a gene mutation where forelimb genes are present in the hind limb which causes this. (unews.utah.edu/pigeon-foot-fea… ). I don't think there is sufficient evidence that points to the entire Tyrannosaurid line having a genetic mutation that allows feathers to grow in the midst of scales. Generally speaking, if feathers were present on the body "which is still possible" they probably wouldn't be growing out of the scaled areas. That doesn't mean there weren't zones of feathers near the scales. Nor does it mean the feathers if sufficiently long didn't overhang areas with scales. For instance, if Tyrannosaurus had filaments comparable to that of Yutyrannus in the neighborhood of 20cm the said filaments could overhang the scales in that area by close to the length of the filament. It is obvious that feathers and scales can exist on the same animal but it is special pleading when we keep shifting our feather locations to assuage our own cognitive dissonance. We have to accept some level of cognitive dissonance with regards to paleobiology. Science is always in a constant state of flux and we have to be prepared to confront our own discomfort when change happens. When feathers first started to be known in many dinosaur lineages people freaked out. I think the same is happening here with regards to the skin of Tyrannosaurus. I know everyone wants to be right but it doesn't matter, We have to follow the evidence. Also that doesn't mean I wont explore feathers at a later date, on the same sculpture. I will have maximum flexibility to do that with this approach.
I don't want to shut down discussions of science but there are better places where actual experts can chime in. I'm just a reasonably well informed artist not a biologist. I can comment more confidently on gross anatomy and the artistic side of things.
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alright ill respect your opinion paleontology is a extremely hard subject to get your head around
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You have my upmost respect for your devotion to accuracy! I can see how long you must have spent sculpting all those beautifully shaped feathers, it took real guts to decide to remove all that work and start over. Hopefully there won't be any new scientific theories published before you have the chance to finish this fantastic sculpt!
Good luck and I'll be looking forward to more updates.
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Thanks. Haha, yes let us not have anything too significant. The way I figure it, if I proceed in this way I will have more options going forward. It was pretty painful ripping it all of though, but c'est la vie.
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Well, I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what direction this sculpt takes next!
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Incredible talent - wow. 2D is hard enough but in 3D space? This much detail? wow.
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