The Downside of Improvement!

So having pretty much mastered my technique for colouring models as Mark 5s, there is just one problem. If I put any of my older Mark 2 style models with a new Mark 5 they look ridiculously cartoonish.

Having mastered and streamlined how I create Mark 5 shaders, it has not been too big a problem to revamp these old shaders. It just takes time!

Of all my old Mark 2 models, I haven't been prouder of any of them than Lillian. She is also one of my oldest models! I built here wayyyyyyy back in early 2008, which is like a whole different epoch in my 3Ding techniques!

Up until recently she has stood up incredibly well. However with the addition of the Mark 5 shaders her whole look changed, and not for the best! Despite not changing the baseline model, Lillian's head went from one of my most impressive to nearly farcical!

It appears that the black outlines of the Mark 2 shaders were drawing emphasis to the parts of her head I sculpted well. While in the Mark 5 doesn't emphasis anywhere. Leaving the many inaccuracies of my old model (from way before I started to really use references!) plain for all to see...

Now that I have entered the era of references it was time to get comparing. In this case to my childhood favourite picture of Albertosaurus by Gregory Paul (its depressing to think this "cutting edge" picture by Mr. Paul is over 20 years old!).

Superficially my old Lillian's skull matches, but if you pay attention to the details they are quite off.

Meaning it was time to finally retool Lillian... Which I suspect will be an ongoing trend this year!

So considering I reworked her skull with just eyeball referencing of this Paul drawing and some skeletal pictures I have from the Tyrrell, she has turned out incredibly well.

Though Lillian is not an exact match for the Paul drawing on all fronts, she is pretty close. I'm going to have to figure out how to get that slender snout look in 3D.

Though to be honest I want to know exactly which skull Paul was referencing for this drawing? All my photos of Albertosaur skulls (5 of them in total) show them to have have taller snouts than this one here. Don't get me wrong I like the slender look, but I'm not sure it is accurate...