Paleontologists have many different opinions as to the dinosaurs’ appearance and all are valid. This is where paleoart can be very creative. The two reasons for any animal’s markings are simple: camouflage and mating. Seeing that dinosaurs are the natural predecessors to birds, it is reasonable to imagine that they all had startling markings, crests and plumage like modern birds. While this is a tantalizing theory, one must also take into account that dinosaurs were not birds, and in fact filled many of the same environmental niches as today’s mega fauna and top predators such as lions and hippos. Though it would be ludicrous to imagine a cardinal red lion or a canary yellow rhinoceros, it’s not improbable to imagine colored horns or crests.
Massive sauropods were very much like today’s elephants and bison. Large herd animals do not usually develop camouflage because their sheer size and numbers protect them. The striping on zebras is unique in that it is not designed to camouflage the animal into its environment, rather it is to make the herd of animals blend together so that predators get confused, known as “dazzle camouflage.”
Alpha hunters usually retain a dull color to blend in with their surroundings, often with patterning to break up their silhouette. Balancing this with the fact that dinosaurs are the predecessors to birds, it is quite likely that even the largest of dinosaurs would adopt selected bright markings in the males of the species to entice mates during breeding. So the coloration question of dinosaurs most likely falls somewhere between the two extremes. Large sauropods and theropods probably resembled elephants and hippos in their local color with highlights in the face and neck like contemporary birds. Females and young were probably more muted and mottled in color to protect them during the vulnerable hatchling periods. Top predators may have evolved stripes or spots like leopards and tigers, but likely kept basic color schemes like lions or wolves.
Today dinosaur discoveries take place all over the world, and new revelations about these fossil reptiles evolve every year. Paleontologists, universities and museums continue to share information and our collective image of these animals grows. And it is with the help of artists like you and me using technology new and old that these dinosaurs are brought to life.
When drawing and painting dinosaurs, using reference is crucial. The Internet, books and sculptures are the main supply of reference I used in creating the images in this book as well as some extremely accurate toy dinosaurs for creating lighting effects and understanding anatomy. I recommend taking a trip to a natural history museum and botanical garden to get a better sense of scale of the plants and animals of the Mesozoic Era.