The Emperor Flesh Crocodile and His Subjects

The Elrhaz Formation, Niger, 121-112 million B.C.E.

After having had so much fun doing group drawings of the fish of the Niobrara Formation and the residents of Hațeg Island, I couldn't resist doing a third one: This time, the Elrhaz Formation, home to some of the strangest dinosaurs, as well as the terrifying, 40-foot-long Sarcosuchus, nicknamed SuperCroc by The National Geographic when covering the discovery of its complete remains in the late 1990s. Unfortunately, I think this drawing also highlighted an occasional criticism I've heard about my work: I draw too small. And while I'm quite happy with my color choices for most of these creatures, there are two glaring exceptions.

1) Suchomimus tenerensis
2) Eocarcharia dinops
3) Kryptops palaios
4) Ouranosaurus nigeriensis
5) Lurdusaurus arenatus
6) Nigersaurus taqueti
7) Elrhazosaurus nigeriensis
8) Sarcosuchus imperator

The spinosaurs, the carcharodontosaurs, and the abelisaurs were the southern continents' three dominant meat-eating dinosaurs during the Cretaceous, and a species from each family is present in the Elrhaz Formation. Suchomimus was named and described by Paul Sereno in 1998, while Eocarcharia and Kryptops debuted a decade later. Though they probably specialized in hunting different animals, they undoubted competed for food occasionally. To reflect this, I gave my Suchomimus a shark to dangle over its smaller rivals heads. 

I based my color choices for most of these dinosaurs on hues I gave to their relatives in earlier drawings: Since I was so pleased with my decision to give Spinosaurus an anaconda's colors and markings in a previous drawing, my Suchomimus gpt the skin of another spotted serpent, the harlequin snake. While I had drawn three carcharodontosaurs in detail prior to this drawing (see "Giganotosaurus vs. Mapusaurus" and "Hunchback of Las Hoyas" posts), I decided to give Eocarcharia a similarly stark crest but different hues, choosing green and yellow over red, orange, and black. What compelled me to make Kryptops magenta, however, I can't tell you. If I had colored it more lightly, it may have worked well with the yellow and light blue, but as it stands, I think it's something of an eye-sore.

The Elrhaz Formation's herbivores were just as weird: They included Ouranosaurus, a sail-backed iguanodont; Lurdusaurus, a long-necked iguanodont; Nigersaurus, a duck-billed sauropod; and Elrhazosaurus, a late dryosaur. 

I based the two iguanodonts' colors on the prehistoric dragon from Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real (an imaginative but goofy Discovery Channel mockumentary) and a striped lizard, and was very pleased with both choices. To highlight Nigersaurus' strangeness, I decided to experiment with purple, a color I using avoid in dinosaur drawings unless I'm using it for a head crest. Again, however, I faltered with the smallest animal in the group, Elrhazosaurus. Since I had given Dryosaurus a red head and spotted body in several drawings, I elected to give its African cousin a white head and a striped body. Had I looked more closely at a creature with one of these patterns (say, a quagga) and colored the dinosaur in lightly, the result may have been better. Again, however, heavy coloring hurt the final product.

Prehistoric crocodiles and crocodile relatives are always a trial to draw: You need to have the patience to recreate their armor plate-by-plate, and because they have a living point of reference in modern crocodilians, you can't make them as colorful as dinosaurs. I saved Sarcosuchus for last, and after I finished its scales, I opted to use an unobtrusive brown for most of its hide, with some spectacled caiman markings added in to make it more distinctive.

In summation, I enjoyed doing this drawing, and hope you can enjoy parts of it. In the future, I need to draw bigger, clearer, and with a more consistent use of light and heavy coloring.