Forest Monarch
Painting showing a solitary male Triceratops prorsus in a forest clearing in the Hell Creek formation, with unspecified enanthiornithine birds flying by in the foreground. Ferns and flowering plants cover the ground, showing the latter’s relatively fast spread over the world and into various ecosystems by the Late Cretaceous.
Final painting
Initial sketch- for this painting I wanted a more candid composition and was exploring some dramatic framing with natural elements like the roots of a fallen log.
Process shot about halfway before lighting was applied- used a digital art friendly process involving a lot of opaque brushes, masks, and clipping layers to paint in the graphic silhouette of elements first before adding textures and additional details.