Illustrating Armoured Dinosaurs

At Everything Dinosaur, we enjoy receiving lots of letters, cards, emails and drawings from young (and not so young), fans of dinosaurs.  A few years ago, a budding young palaeoartist called Caldey sent into us her drawing of the armoured dinosaur Ankylosaurus.  It was a splendid drawing and Caldey’s mum explained that Caldey loved drawing prehistoric animals and one day, she might want to illustrate dinosaurs as a full-time job.

An Amazing Drawing of an Armoured Dinosaur

An illustration of an Ankylosaurus.
A drawing of the Rebor Ankylosaurus model “War Pig” – colour variant – “plain”.

Picture credit: Caldey

The Role of Scientific Illustration

When it comes to publishing scientific papers, particularly those that describe a long extinct creature that is new to science, an illustrator is often employed to work with the researchers to produce a scientifically accurate life reconstruction based on the known fossil material.  In May 2017, Everything Dinosaur team members reported upon the discovery of a new species of armoured dinosaur from Montana (United States), the new dinosaur named over 100 years after Ankylosaurus was first described, was called Zuul crurivastator, (pronounced Zoo-ul cruh-uh-vass-tate-or).

The renowned palaeoartist Danielle Dufault was commissioned to produce an illustration of this new Late Cretaceous armoured giant.

An Illustration of Zuul crurivastator

An ankylosaurid - Zuul crurivastator.
Life restoration of Zuul crurivastator (Danielle Dufault).

Picture credit: Danielle Dufault

The stunning life reconstruction of the heavily protected head of Z. crurivastator inspired young Caldey to have a go at reproducing an illustration of an ankylosaur.  We think she has done a rather splendid job.  Well done Caldey.

A Scale Drawing of the Recently Described Armoured Dinosaur Zuul crurivastator

Zuul scale drawing.
Everything Dinosaur’s scale drawing of the armoured dinosaur Zuul. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

As Caldey has got a little older, her drawing skills have matured.  Perhaps, she will one day be making a contribution to scientific illustration and palaeoart on behalf of a major museum or a prestigious university.  We wish all budding young artists every success – keep chasing your dreams.

A Model of the Recently Described Armoured Dinosaur Zuul crurivastator

Wild Safari Prehistoric World Zuul
The new Safari Ltd Zuul dinosaur model. A fantastic replica of a North American, Late Cretaceous ankylosaurid dinosaur.

The picture (above) shows the recently introduced Zuul dinosaur model by Safari Ltd.

To view this model range: Wild Safari Prehistoric World Figures.