It's funny how I spent years trying to improve the realism of my illustrations. For a while, I also moved away from dinosaurs. When I returned to them in digital format, I only did these two illustrations and got overwhelmed with the details of realism. Now I'm trying a new style.
If you recall one of my previous posts, I mentioned wanting to create a faction of intelligent herbivorous dinosaurs to contrast with the carnivore faction. Well, I've already chosen and designed the species that will be members of this faction, and now I'm working on the role of each one within it: mage, paladin, thief, fighter, etc.
Imagine something like Granny Goodness wanting to conquer Themyscira to brainwash the Amazons and have a whole army of Furies, perhaps to please Darkseid or for her own plans.
Recuerdo haber encontrado esta primera imagen de un artista de Instagram, y parecía encajar a la perfección en este nuevo universo. Esperaba que el Absolute Cheetah oficial solo se pareciera vagamente. Pensaba que no había nada más absoluto que eso, pero me equivoqué; realmente llevaron las cosas a otro nivel.
Credits to Luisbajocollados https://www.instagram.com/luisbajocollados?igsh=cGxhYmUwcnkwd3Z3
Since you liked my before-and-after pictures of how I draw the Dilophosaurus shaman, I dug around and found another drawing of the assassin velociraptor, from when I was still striving for realism. Truly abandoning realism was a step forward in the search for my own style.
For the next season, I'd like to see how Earth changes Viltrumites like Lucan, Kregg, and the others. I don't just mean seeing them meet their respective partners, but seeing them explore society and discover new and better ways of life and philosophies that don't involve constant violence.
I think I mentioned in the past that I used to try to make things realistic, even in contexts that weren't realistic, and honestly, that stressed me out, so I switched to a more cartoonish style and aesthetic. It was a good decision.
Now we have the Leaellynasaura, or Leaellynasaurus, polar dinosaurs with long tails. This illustration was very experimental for me; I not only drew two creatures on the same canvas, but I also intertwined them and designed their sexual dimorphism, which, in the case of the male, was inspired by penguins. I decided to lengthen its tail and make it more flexible because I have something planned for them later.
Have you ever imagined a World of Warcraft or a D&D game starring dinosaurs? Let's just say that was one of the basic ideas behind these drawings, along with some inspiration from C. M. Kosemen's Dinosauroids. The idea is a carnivore faction (an equivalent to the Horde) and a herbivore faction (which would be the Alliance), and for now, each will have four member races. I'm still working on the herbivore faction. And to avoid any misunderstandings, I want to clarify that I'm not working on any game or audiovisual product; these are just drawings.
The species/races that make up this "carnivorous horde"/"partysaur" would be: Velociraptor (Assassin), Dilophosaurus (chamán/druid), Troodon (craftsman/trapper), and Herrerasaurus (barbarian). I don't rule out adding new members in the future.
The last two films may leave something to be desired, and the first film is constantly accused of being simplistic and unoriginal, but what sets them apart from many other popular fantasy or science fiction stories is that they draw more inspiration from native and tribal peoples (perhaps American, perhaps African; the Metkayima are basically blue Bajau, etc.) who have been the target of abuse and contempt from great powers for many years in our world. A recent post commented on the fact that some people take the "superior humans, inferior Na'vi" role very seriously.
The films may be very profitable due to their visual spectacle, but does the audience truly empathize, or even try to empathize, with a fictional people who bear a striking resemblance to other real peoples who live or have lived through similar struggles?
Perhaps I think these things because I live in South America and I'm not really that far removed from the reality that the film allegorizes.
The Jurassic World saga seems determined to continue, but I think there are interesting aspects of the past to explore, specifically regarding the creation of the new park and the unanswered questions surrounding it. Here are some ideas I would implement if I were to write a series on that topic. It's not that I think I'm better than a professional director or showrunner; I'm simply the kind of fan who likes to create my own stories or alternate versions in my head.
To begin with, I would ignore much of what was seen in Fallen Kingdom, Dominion, and Rebirth, as well as the animated series.
It would be good to contextualize what happened on Nublar and Sorna during all these years. For starters, we would discover that John Hammond was wrong to a certain extent. As much as they wanted to leave the dinosaurs alone on Sorna, it was inevitable that they would need external intervention to maintain a balanced and sustainable environment, something that Timmy and Alex, now high-ranking officials at InGen, would take care of. And it would be revealed that, despite everything, InGen continued to profit from Site B, offering aerial safaris and the like, but with the utmost caution and mainly due to pressure from investors and executives seeking to recoup some of their investment in the project.
Nublar, on the other hand, being smaller and with a much smaller variety of species, would have resulted in an ecological disaster, and by the time Masrani bought it, the number of species and individuals had been drastically reduced.
Delving a little deeper into Simon Masrani, we would see a more amoral and deceitful side of the character, hidden behind his persona as a friendly and eccentric philanthropist. For example, John Hammond's supposed will to rebuild the park would actually be a distortion of the delusions of a Hammond suffering from senility or Alzheimer's. However, he would ensure that Hammond didn't take human life lightly, to give greater weight to the moment when he sees the lives his recklessness cost him in 2015 with the Indominus escape.
Obviously, the first step would be to create a base and recapture some dinosaurs. It is then that he would begin to bring back some elements from Jurassic World: The Game, starting with Nima Cruz, a mercenary hired by Masrani who secretly plans to sabotage his schemes, since she was a former native of Nublar displaced by InGen's acquisition and, moreover, had witnessed years earlier how her newborn son was killed in his crib by a Compsognathus introduced by InGen (a reference to the book).
The mercenaries hired to capture specimens encountered an unexpected danger: the Troodons. Smaller than Velociraptors, but more intelligent, terrifying, and dangerous; So intelligent were they that they could light a fire with the remains of a campfire and feign docility, waiting for their victims to lower their guard before attacking. Masrani contacted Dr. Laura Sorkin (creator of the creatures) seeking answers, and lost her life trying to approach the Troodons, believing they were intelligent enough to recognize her, which they did, but they didn't care.
In the end, they opted to exterminate all the Troodons on the island, but their intelligence sparked the idea of creating a squad of raptors trained to perform tricks and entertain people, although the idea would evolve into something more.
We would see Rexy/Roberta again, her recapture, and her resignation to her new confinement, but also how, during her time at large, she had been building nests and laying eggs that proved unviable. This opens the door to another idea I have about a better ending for the character than the one we saw in Dominion.
Henry Wu would return to creating dinosaurs, primarily driven by a desire for recognition and to work on a high-profile project again, as he had been relegated to creating new breeds of livestock and crops after the original incident.
We consider the creation of the mosasaur a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as a mosquito would have bitten a stranded specimen before it fell into amber, and its encasement in the amber would significantly alter its structure, including the addition of a saltwater lake connected to the ocean by a long underground pipe.
The creation of the Indominus was more due to the fact that it was easier to create a hybrid using the DNA of existing species than to constantly search for new DNA (a lengthy, complex, and expensive process) only to find species that fail to impress an increasingly demanding public.
Obviously, there are many more details to think about and take into account, plus it would have to cover more than one season, but, well, these are just ideas in my head that nobody is obligated to take seriously.
The name Tsireya sounds very similar to the Spanish word "sirena," which means "mermaid," and I don't know if this similarity was intentional, but I thought it was a nice touch for a character associated with water and the sea.
I recently proposed the theory that the evil Wally from the mirror dimension would escape and become the absolute Reverse Flash, but now that issue #15 has been released, the possibility arises that he could be Black Flash. This would also connect with Wally's vision of the future in issue #2, where he supposedly sees two possible futures. But what if it's actually the same future, and what he sees is himself and his distorted and deformed copy from escaping the mirror dimension?
In the Spanish-speaking fandom, there's a very strong tendency to pretend that Uprising isn't just non-canon, but doesn't even exist. Every time it's mentioned, people are quick to ask, "What sequel are you talking about?" "There's only one Pacific Rim movie," and things like that. The contempt goes that far, and I wanted to ask: is it the same or similar with you? Do you also prefer to feign ignorance when Uprising is mentioned?
I created this meme as a response to Spanish-speaking haters who always repeat the argument that "Avatar is Pocahontas with aliens," and it's a very repetitive and annoying argument. I made the original meme in Spanish, and this is actually a translation.
For more context, Gonzalo Guerrero was a Spanish sailor who was shipwrecked in Yucatán, Mexico, was captured by Mayan groups, adapted to their culture, married a native woman, had children, refused to return to Hernán Cortez's side, and fought against the invading Spaniards.
Siempre me pareció que después de Jurassic World no sabían muy bien qué hacer con este personaje. Casi siento que en Fallen Kingdom su papel se limitó a rugir y posar. En Dominion, después de esforzarse por darle algo importante que hacer, necesitaban darle un cierre, y lo único que se les ocurrió fue mostrarla encontrándose con los T-Rex Buck y Doe de El Mundo Perdido, y esto no me gusta por dos razones.
Primero, son superdepredadores, probablemente muy territoriales, y pretenden que asumamos que cuando se encuentren se llevarán bien y se harán compañía amistosamente, porque Rexy necesitaba amigos y un final feliz, ¿no?
Segunda pregunta: ¿cómo llegaron allí? "No importa, la serie animada de cuatro temporadas encontrará una excusa y nos lo explicará". Esa debió ser la respuesta del director o los guionistas durante el proceso de escritura del guion.
Además, creo que podrían haber creado algo más significativo y quizás incluso emotivo, pero casi parece una adición de último momento con lo primero que se les ocurrió para no dejar cabos sueltos.
Picture a dromaeosaur dinosaur, smaller than a velociraptor but far more intelligent—intelligent enough to start fires with the remains of a campfire—also more discreet and stealthy, a trait amplified by its nocturnal habits, and with a paralyzing venomous bite that leaves you unconscious while it rips open your stomach. Something like that would bring back the terror factor that a certain group of fans is asking for.