Re: For the artists: RIP

[jrc <jrccea@bellsouth.net>]

I think we got a couple of revisions in on the Pterodactylus emulation on 
the cover and pages 68-69 (it wasn't really a Pterodactylus, but none of us 
had casts or exact dimensions of the original materials to work with). 
The artist(s) are a delight to advise, very responsive, but they under a 
great deal of time pressure, and there just isn't time enough to get it all 
done.

Note that when advising on this sort of stuff, I often don't personally buy 
into the planform (or various other features) being illustrated, but I do 
attempt to describe how that chosen planform or feature would function in 
the given circumstance, as best I can.  I try to avoid forcing my own biases 
upon the artist and the magazine, though I'm not sure how successful I am at 
that.  And, as Colin says, there will often be more than one advisor helping 
with any given creature, so some compromise will be necessary anyway.

All the best,
Jim

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Neal Romanek" <nromanek@earthlink.net>
To: <john.a.conway@gmail.com>
Cc: "DML" <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Friday, December 16, 2005 10:25 PM
Subject: Re: For the artists: RIP


> > Well, I was used (briefly) along with Jim Cunningham as a  consultant on 
> > the _Pterodactylus_ in the cover image. The problem  was that the 
> > turnaround time was slow, and there just wasn't time  for more than a 
> > single revision.