Re: Tiktaalik roseae - new tetrapod-like vertebrate (Nature)

[Michael Skrepnick <palaeopaint@dinosaursinart.com>]

The sculpts were done by Tyler Keillor, who is one of the most technically 
proficient paleo artists working today.  He work's at Paul Sereno's lab at 
the University of Chicago where he molds and casts specimens and has been 
expanding his talents into life reconstructions. Prior to this assignment 
Tyler was the principle 3d artist who reconstructed the skull of Jane ( the 
juvenile Tyrannosaurus at the Burpee Museum ) and subsequently produced a 
life-sized bust of the fleshed out head, complete with saliva on teeth and 
flaking skin patches.  In addition to anatomical study, he spends a 
substantial amount of time investigating the issues of integument and 
decorative ornamentation in dinosaurs.  We have been having ongoing 
discussion in regards to theropod lips over the last couple of years and he 
makes some very compelling arguments in favor of the "pro lips" alternative, 
which he masterfully incorporated into his model of Jane's head.  He has 
created other busts including Rugops and has other work in progress that I 
expect will be released soon.

Regarding photos of Tiktaalik, Tyler communicated to me yesterday that time 
constraints in finishing the work led to his having to ship the sculptures 
to their respective institutional homes ( there are 5 versions currently ) 
before being able to have adequate photography done on them.  I'm sure other 
paleo artist's on this list can relate to impending deadlines!

Mike Skrepnick







----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Christopher Collinson" <thats_mr_annoying_to_you@yahoo.com>
To: <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Thursday, April 06, 2006 12:45 AM
Subject: Re: Tiktaalik roseae - new tetrapod-like vertebrate (Nature)


> http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-040506fossil_lat,0,6819224.story?coll=la-home-headlines
>
> The models made for this discovery are so beyond
> awesome, they look like real fish! Does any one know
> the artist and if there are more pictures of it
> somehwere out in the netverse?
>
> Cheers,
> Christopher