Hatzegopteryx was a large azhdarchid pterosaur that lived on Hațeg Island, a now non-existent sub-tropical island whose remains are located in Romania. Since most of its inhabitants were smaller than their land-based counterparts and there was a lack of large therapods, Hatzegopteryx was able to become an apex predator. Its wings could have stretched about 40 feet (12 meters) across, and its skull may have been around 10 feet in length (3 meters). This drawing is supposed to depict Hatzegopteryx on the shores of Hațeg Island. It's thought that Hatzegopteryx would have had a much thicker, shorter, and muscular neck than other azhdarchids (like Quetzalcoatlus). Therefore, I gave it a short, thick neck; also, like all pterosaurs, it's covered in pycnofibers. Apparently, azdarchids would have been terrestrial stalkers. They would have hunted by walking around on the ground and grabbing prey with their long beaks like a hornbill. I wanted the coloration to be realistic and unique, but not bland. I gave it a sleek, dark blackish red body with a cream underside and reddish orange highlights. The lighter underside is supposed to be countershading which would help it camouflage when viewed; countershading helps animals camouflage by breaking up its 3-dimensional form in the eyes of its prey/predator. Also, the white coloration probably blends in better with the bright sky than if it were all dark, so it can swoop down on unsuspecting prey better. Hatzegopteryx's coloration is also slightly based off of a stork's coloration because I'm a dingus, and I thought that a hornbill was a type of stork. Onto the actual drawing itself, I'm overall pretty happy with this. I don't do backgrounds a lot, but I think this background looks pretty good. The water's a little fake looking (I hate drawing water), but I think it works. I was going to make it more painterly, but then I chickened out and went with my usual style. I think the shading and lighting are good, but I do want to make my art more painterly from now on (with an exception to like doodles, non-serious stuff, and things that wouldn't work well being painterly, of course). I don't draw pterosaurs a lot, but I like them. I hope to make more paleoart in the future because this was really fun to make. Transition code by @dezland From https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/395220446/
Edit: whoops I made a mistake with the wing so I fixed it lmao Sources: https://eartharchives.org/articles/hatzegopteryx-transylvania-s-dinosaur-hunter/index.html https://peerj.com/articles/2908/ (skimmed over because this one mostly talks about its neck) https://www.lyellcollection.org/doi/abs/10.1144/GSL.SP.2003.217.01.09 https://macroevolution.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/geology-of-hateg/ Song: New Flesh by Current Joys (censored by me) (you'll probably hear this song in another project on mine later because I like it) Tags or something: pterosaur paleoart sunset
