504 Documentary #3 Research; Carnotaurus Design and Visual Development

 After building up the pool of dinosaurs to draw from for the ecology, I moved on to modern inspirations for the look of the Carnotaurus itself.

The single Carnotaurus holotype is exceptionally well preserved, and included skin impressions showing it was either mostly or entirely covered in scales around 5mm in size with osteroderm armour. Some areas, however are theorised to be locations for feather (or proro-feather filament) coverage if it had any, including the back of the forearms, along the spine or tip of back, and the end of the tail. There is also a theory that the horns of the Carnotaurus were used for display rather than fighting (since the neck vertebrae suggest it didn't headbutt, it more likely would use them for shoving if it was for fighting), so I noted them being coloured a little more brightly.

The first place I started collecting ideas from were birds of prey. They have more muted, natural colours to assist in camouflage and areas of display tend to be either easily hidden (as with the Harpy eagle) or out of sight of prey (as with the Secretary bird).

I then moved to tropical birds and birds-of-paradise. They have much brighter colours used for display, bright reds and blues seem most prominent with greens and yellows appearing frequently. Some tropical birds will also have white and black markings on the face.

I also got a few images of Iguana and Crocodilian skin to show the distribution and patterns of osteroderms.

I also have 'The Paleoartist's Handbook' by Mark Witton, which has a section at the end crediting several artists in the field. Using that, I found four artists to use for visual development.

Dr Mark Witton, the author of the book, is a paleobiologist and paleoartist currently teaching in the University of Portsmouth. He has a very realistic style and likes to paint non-action scenes, especially avoiding fight scenes as he's noted that the idea of dinosaurs being big scary monsters is a massive misconception, they were simply animals, and animals conserve as much energy as they can.

Emily Willoughby is a biologist and paleoartist who usually focuses on microraptors and uses a realistic style with soft light and focus on feathered subjects.

Johan Egerkrans is a Swedish concept artist who has a much more cartoony and expressive style, which is more immediately useful to us as animation is obviously far easier with expression and simpler lining and colours.

Raven Amos is a paleoartist in Alaska who uses bold lineart and simple, block colours rather than intricate shading. She also imitates some cultural styles for her work, like the swimming Spinosaurus, inspired by ancient Japanese art styles.