At left is the first idea for a breaching Tylosaurus, obviously based on a humpback photo.
Another sketch at top center arranges the scene with the Tylo’s flipper on the left.
The assignment included scenarios for other illustrations, including a Kronosaurus and an Elasmosaurus. After researching online and in books and videos, I came up with lots of sketches, each one about the size of a business card.
Once the editors had narrowed down the images to the final three ideas, I tried additional sketch variations to see if I could improve the color and design. These are painted in oil, about 4 x 5 each.
For example, which is better? The front-lit Tylo with blue water, or the backlit version with the warm tonality? The final painting incorporates aspects of both.
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Ranger Rick magazine's current October issue has the final illustration
See the finished painting in Sea Monster, Part 1
