PNSO

After visiting the Shanxi Natural History Museum to learn more about dinosaur fossils, ZHAO Chuang, the scientific artist from PNSO, will lead you to restore the important dinosaurs discovered in Shanxi, bringing these mysterious creatures to life on paper!

Yunganglong datongensis came from the superfamily Hadrosauroidea, and its head was quite distinctive. How do we restore its head only based on the incomplete fossil elements? Join ZHAO Chuang in the video to draw a Yunganglong together!
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Fossils of basal hadrosauroid dinosaurs from the early Late Cretaceous are rarely found worldwide. However, researchers have discovered two genera of hadrosauroids in Zuoyun County, Datong City, Shanxi Province, China. One of them has been named Yunganglong datongensis, which significantly adds to our knowledge of the origins of hadrosauroids.

In today’s video, Dr. JIA Lei, the dinosaur expert from Shanxi Natural History Museum, and ZHAO Chuang, the scientific artist from PNSO, will take you into Shanxi Natural History Museum to reveal the discovery and research stories of the Yunganglong datongensis fossils. Please check the video to find more.
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Hi, everyone. Let’s get to know dinosaurs with ZHAO Chuang. Stegosaurus is a well-known herbivorous dinosaur. When it comes to herbivorous dinosaurs, people often recall these images: long-necked sauropods, horned ceratopsians, duck-billed hadrosaurs, and stegosaurians. Stegosaurians are pretty representative and featured by the bony plates standing along their backs, which has never been found in any other animal. This is the most fantastic part of this animal. In this video, Mr. ZHAO will talk about some details about Biber and Rook the Stegosaurus and the scientific basis we adopted in their restorations. Check the video to find more.
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Although many skin fossils of Stegosaurus have been unearthed, there is still no conclusive research on its specific skin color. Therefore, to comply with the descriptions of this dinosaur, we will use gray or greenish-gray to represent its overall appearance. Additionally, its bony plates were shelled with a layer of keratin. In many modern animals, keratin structures tend to be in relatively bright colors, such as the beaks of birds and the carapaces of turtles. So, we can apply bright colors, like a red-and-yellow pattern, for the bony plates to create a contrast with the body. To make the whole picture more coordinated and unified, we can color the ground and dust under its feet with a gray close to its body color to allow its dorsal bony plates to stand out more. Check the video to find more.
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We will depict a half-side view of a Stegosaurus walking forward to show all the body structures. When drawing a walking Stegosaurus, pay attention to the gait of this animal. In addition, pay attention to its body proportions. Current research suggests that the neck of Stegosaurus was slightly longer than previously estimated. Its pelvis was very broad, so we should draw its torso to be more robust and round. Finally, we should note the arrangement of its bony plates. The bony plates on its back were distributed staggered, with those on the front half of the body being smaller and those on the pelvis being huge. Towards the tail, the bony plates gradually merged into a single row. Its tail spikes spread horizontally to the sides. Check the video to find more.
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In this video, we will focus on depicting several dorsal bony plates in a huge pentagonal shape near the waist, which are Stegosaurus's most iconic bony plates. When drawing, we should first note the Stegosaurus’s bony plates were arranged staggered. Therefore, we should present the proper spatial and overlapping relationship by including shading in the sketch. Second, we should note the bony plates of Stegosaurus were very smooth, with delicate ridged lines on the surface. These arc lines ran longitudinally and grew along the bony plate’s shape. When drawing, be sure to emphasize this feature. Check the video to find more.
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We have acknowledged the head of Stegosaurus was shaped like a rectangle when drawing its skull. When drawing the head, pay attention to the fact that it was plumper than the skull, especially the underside of its throat. One critical feature of Stegosaurus is its gular armor, a series of structures located at the throat consisting of countless small polygonal osteoderms. In addition, when drawing the eyes, note the size difference between its eyeballs and eye sockets. Its eyes were much smaller than the sockets due to the existence of the sclerotic ring in the middle. Check the video to find more.
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When drawing the skull of the Stegosaurus, we should first note its overall slender, rectangular shape. Then, pay close attention to the proportions of its lower jaw and upper jaw. The upper part of its entire skull was sometimes narrower than the lower jaw. Despite the rectangular overall appearance, its temporal fenestra was prominently taller, resembling a large triangle. Its eyes and the rear part together formed a trapezoid or triangular shape. When drawing the mandible of Stegosaurus, note that it had a beak-like structure at the front end, while the corresponding part in the upper jaw was less pronounced. Check the video to find more.
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