Mary P Williams: Illustration & Paleo Art

Hey everyone, sorry for not posting much in the last week or two. I’m getting ready to head out on a week-long vacation, so my brain hasn’t been very motivated to get any work done. I’ll definitely have something up soon, but it might end up being after next week when I get back…

Thanks for being so patient. :)

Hello Everyone!!

Hello all of my beautiful new followers (I can’t believe there are SO many of you)! I’m so thrilled that you decided to start following me and I hope I don’t disappoint you with my posts (I can be a little slow when I’m working on a new project). I just wanted to say “hey” and introduce myself for a quick second before I get back to this Miocene turtle commission.

For those who are new, I’m a relatively recent grad of the Savannah College of Art and Design and I’m going to head on out to Cali come September to get certified in scientific illustration at Cal State Monterey Bay. :) 

I obviously love dinosaurs, but I also really like birds, reptiles, insects, plants (specifically orchids), and sea creatures that don’t have scales. I also sculpt, though I haven’t done any of that in a while, so there’s a chance some 3D stuff shows up on here as well, but try not to hold your breath over it.

I love to see questions and comments on my subject matter, media, or methods, so please, fill up my inbox! I will try my best to respond quickly. :)

I’m also going to be starting a “Commissions” tab (if I can figure that out, I’m not very savvy with formatting on Tumblr…) so if you’re interested in having me create a one-of-a-kind piece for you, you can see what it’s all about and email me at mary.persis.williams at gmail dot com.

I’m so glad all of you have enjoyed my Brachiosaurus Reconstruction so much! I hope that I can keep putting illustrations up here that are just as pleasing. :)

Thank you thank you thank you for following!!

<3 Mary

Anonymous asked: A long-necked dinosaur likely wouldn't have been able to hold its neck upright the way you have constructed it. It's also not a very good idea to base a reptile's musculature on a mammal's.

Hello! In general, I completely agree about the neck being held upright. A typical sauropod would have held it closer to horizontal for easier blood flow. When I started drawing the brachiosaurus, though, I was basing the skeleton off of museum displays and scientific illustrations of discovered specimens. While the way it’s been publicly depicted could definitely be wrong (I mean iguanadon had its thumb spike on its nose for the longest time) I was just going with the information that was accessable. As for relating the reptile’s musculature to a mammal’s, we all have roughly the same muscles. That being said, I don’t know of any extant reptile with a neck so disproportional to the rest of its body, so I would have been grasping at straws to create muscles that seemed to actually function in an animal like this if I were to compare it to, say, a crocodile. Also, sauropods (and many other dinosaurs) were believed to be endothermic/massothermic which our current reptiles are not, so I’m beginning to see more similarities to giraffes and other large mammals than any of our reptiles.

I would be wrong to make you think that I know any of this as fact. I’m an illustrator, not a scientist. I am simply trying to make associations with animals that to me show enough similar characteristics to make a valid argument. 

Thank you for your message! :)

Guys. I got into California State University, Monterey Bay! I AM SO FLIPPING EXCITED!!!!! :D