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Description
Melanorosaurus readi, in the moonlight.

Melanorosaurus is known from South Africa during the late Triassic.

When I illustrated this I somewhat arbitrarily decided on a coastal setting. Looking at various reconstructions of the earth during the Mesozoic, it's not clear if South Africa, as we know it, was either land locked near the bottom of Pangea or near a shallow sea.

Based on Scott Hartman's Skeletal.

shartman.deviantart.com/art/Me…

Many thanks to Scott Hartman for his advice and knowledge during the making of this image. (Not to mention doing the skeletal reconstruction in the first place!)

Created in Photoshop.
The majority is painted, except for the ground and vegetation which are a blend of painting and photo manipulation and CG for the plants. Out of all the things to paint, I find flat ground like that quite difficult, it always looks a bit rubbish whenever I try and paint it normally.
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Update History: for a slightly more detailed update history please see the file history at the Wikimedia Commons. commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil…

6/4/2009: I have removed a rock formation on the left of the image. I liked the way I painted it but I felt it messed with the composition. The rock formation followed the line of the neck too closely and I felt was distracting.

24/8/2009: I re-posed the neck to be less U-curve and more S-curve like Melanorosaurus neck more naturally articulates in. It probably could pose its neck in a more U-curve position, but it probably would have spent less time in such a pose. The S-curve also looks less stiff.

5/12/2016: Adjusted head angle to be less horizontal.

20/08/2017: Just realised after nearly 10 years that the moon in the picture didn't make any sense! In earlier versions the moon was angled so the shadow as near verticle. That would imply the picture was located near the poles and the rest of the picture should be in day light! OOPS! I have now angled the moon at an angle that makes more sense for the bottom of Pangea, at night, during the late Triassic.

Description
Melanorosaurus readi, in the moonlight.

Melanorosaurus is known from South Africa during the late Triassic.

When I illustrated this I somewhat arbitrarily decided on a coastal setting. Looking at various reconstructions of the earth during the Mesozoic, it's not clear if South Africa, as we know it, was either land locked near the bottom of Pangea or near a shallow sea.

Based on Scott Hartman's Skeletal.

shartman.deviantart.com/art/Me…

Many thanks to Scott Hartman for his advice and knowledge during the making of this image. (Not to mention doing the skeletal reconstruction in the first place!)

Created in Photoshop.
The majority is painted, except for the ground and vegetation which are a blend of painting and photo manipulation and CG for the plants. Out of all the things to paint, I find flat ground like that quite difficult, it always looks a bit rubbish whenever I try and paint it normally.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Update History: for a slightly more detailed update history please see the file history at the Wikimedia Commons. commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil…

6/4/2009: I have removed a rock formation on the left of the image. I liked the way I painted it but I felt it messed with the composition. The rock formation followed the line of the neck too closely and I felt was distracting.

24/8/2009: I re-posed the neck to be less U-curve and more S-curve like Melanorosaurus neck more naturally articulates in. It probably could pose its neck in a more U-curve position, but it probably would have spent less time in such a pose. The S-curve also looks less stiff.

5/12/2016: Adjusted head angle to be less horizontal.

20/08/2017: Just realised after nearly 10 years that the moon in the picture didn't make any sense! In earlier versions the moon was angled so the shadow as near verticle. That would imply the picture was located near the poles and the rest of the picture should be in day light! OOPS! I have now angled the moon at an angle that makes more sense for the bottom of Pangea, at night, during the late Triassic.