Before We look deeper into Dinosaurs Eyes, let’s get up to speed with Jadon. He had just received a Gold Rush Metallic & Black Night Metallic Body finish. Jadon’s Claws have been masked and painted Hammered Brown. Apple Red Metallic provided a nice top stripe for Jadon, which will be blended with the Black Night Metallic later. His tongue has been painted Apple Red Metallic too. Gloss White makes the teeth pop and Marigold Gloss brightens his Eyes. The Tongue, Teeth & Eyes were painted by spraying small amounts of paint into the caps of the cans and using artist brushes to apply the paint.
What do Dinosaur Eyes really look like? Probably very much like Bird’s Eyes. From the study of their fossils T-Rex had very good binocular vision. The Movies suggest that if you remained still T-Rex could not see You. You would only be more difficult to see but not invisible. What they forget to mention is T-Rex had an extremely keen since of smell. Therefore, remaining still would only make you a quick snack!
There are a number of movies that provide Cool & Scary looking eyes for various Dinosaurs. Walt Disney’s “Dinosaur” in 2000 and Universals “Jurassic Park & World” movies 1993 – (let’s hope they don’t stop making them) provide great concepts. For more examples You can search online or check out your Local Library or Natural History Museum in person! Most Prehistoric Animals are presented with Round Pupils. The Slit Pupils seem to be for Raptors or when they wish to make a Dinosaur Really Scary!
Some of the Dinosaurs at the Park have Plastic Eyes with a unique Pupil that gives the appearance of following You. I Know, it’s Pretty Scary! The downside is the Plastic Eyes can fad or become cloudy with constant exposure to the Sun. Note: Pamela the Pachycephalosaurus green eyes in the third and fourth pictures (below). As a result, I am seeking suppliers of this type of eye for replacements. I found www.Glasseyesonline.com has many other interesting choices for plastic eyes. I’m hoping they will produce this unique pupil design in the future. The rest of the Prehistoric Pals have Metal Eyes that I have painted.
The Metal Eyes with a slit opening for the pupil, I didn’t add black accents. I’m rethinking that now. Through experimenting the larger the round pupil, the more friendly looking the dinosaur. The vertical pointed oval pupils have a similar effect for scary levels. In addition, the color accents around the eyes can assist with the intensity of the look you want to achieve.
After reviewing designs by various Paleoartists I’m inspired to practice more drawing & painting to obtain as realistic look for the Eyes as possible. Check with Your Library for books and courses to assist with Your learning. The Great Courses www.thegreatcourses.com has an excellent “How to Draw” course 6 DVD’s with 36 lessons and a 212-page course guidebook.
Dinosaur Eyes are Watching You! They See Your Ever Move. They are Watching You, Watching You, Watching You, Watching You! I’m sure that’s a Song?
If You want to Watch some Dinosaurs visit the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles for the “Antarctic Dinosaur” exhibit and their New 3D Movie “Titanosaur”.
“Antarctic Dinosaurs”
are waiting to Chill You at
The Natural History Museum in Los Angeles
This Special Exhibit ends January 5th!
“Encouraging the Appreciation of Art and Education through the Inspiration of Dinosaurs”
Paul & Prehistoric Pals
Your feedback is appreciated, Thank you
I was really excited when I saw this post! Thank you for sharing a little more about how you do the eyes! I should have checked this sooner but I just read your response to my comment back in July. I was surprised to see that you took a stop over at my blog, thanks! I looked at all those past posts you made mention of and those are all good ideas. I love the idea of the night up-lighting and the other post you made in the past about eyes was very helpful! Mine are all metal. P.S I know all about the song bette davis eyes, nice tie-in by the way. This week I got my 8th Dinosaur I name him Rhett the Raptor ( I made a post on my blog ) I re-painted the eyes and added my first alteration to the coloring ( outside of eyes ) by adding a stripe to the back, I’m going into it slow because I don’t have much of an artistic talent when it comes to painting, but I have to admit your postings make it want to try some coloring outside of the eyes, it just makes it so much better! Rhett unlike all my others has a rather large diamond shaped stand as well that is difficult to hide. As for your plant recommendations, its funny being active horticulture industry one of the garden centers you visit made a post to a national garden center group I’m in mentioning you and your passion and I instantly recognized the blog and photos as yours and promptly responded with photos of my own showing how you were not alone. Anyway you should consider talking more with a local garden center because your climate is much different then mine here in Iowa but a few recommendations I can tell you are the bigger and leafier the better. Looks like you live in a somewhat arid-dry climate so big-leafy plants may need alot of watering in your setting so maybe instead Succulents/Cactus My favorite is any kind of Aloes or Yuccas. Rusty the T-Rex I have lives in a prairie garden with lots of grasses he can “hide” in. I also really like to add plants species Dinosaurs may have actually co-existed with, there is not many but it’s funny you mentioned Magnolias and that is one of those plants. I also have Ginko in the garden for the same reason and they are know as “Dino trees” There is even cultivars of plants that are Dinosaur themes like Hosta ‘T Rex’ which I had to order immediately. Anyway, thanks for answering my comment over the summer and for making a new post about eyes.
Thanks Derek,
I appreciate the feedback. When it comes to painting – Experiment! You can always paint over something You don’t like. I often find it helps to live with what you have done for a little while. That often forces me to think about what I like & what I don’t. This can lead to inspiration for correction or a whole new design. Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder! So if You love it that’s what’s important. Regarding the stand your Raptor is attached, you can always paint it to match the ground or hide it with plants. Thanks for Your suggestions! You might leave the plants in their pots to prevent them from crowding your sculpture. This would also make it easy to switch them depending on the season. I look forward to hearing about Your other 6 Dinosaurs.
Have Fun with Your Prehistoric Pals,
Paul