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namu-the-orca β Tips for drawing young (Bottlenose) dolphins
Published: 2014-08-05 08:44:04 +0000 UTC; Views: 8290; Favourites: 252; Downloads: 0
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Description
Species depicted: Common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)Time taken: unrecorded
References used:Β manymanymany
Tools of the trade: Photoshop CS5
It's been more than three years since I last uploaded a real tutorial - I've had lots of idea over the years but time/motivation never allowed for anything to be really made. That is, until kurisutaru came with a request and idea for a tutorial that was so cool I couldn't help but start immediately: a tutorial to show the anatomical difference between adult dolphins and calves, with both shown at the same size for better comparison. Now, I elaborated on that idea a little by adding newborns and juveniles, as well as info on changing colouration. The end result: a bit pile of info and tips on young dolphins, going from brith to adulthood. I'm personally very pleased with this, and I hope it'll be helpful to lots of cetacean artists out there. If this has inspired/helped with any paintings, I'd love to see! Happy drawing
A great big thank you to RobindV for helping out with what ages belonged to the different categories!
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
All submissions in this gallery, be it photos, paintings or drawings, are copyrighted to me, Namu-the-orca. No one has the right to alter, distribute, copy or use my art without my written permission unless stated otherwise. My submissions are NOT stock
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Comments: 63
Hey, thanks very much - and you're welcome, I'm glad this can still be of help to people! Young animals of all species often have such specific looks and details that simply can't be grasped in a single rule of thumb. References are good stuff!
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When I thought over my last comment , I realized that the special look of the newborn dolphin reminded me of my newborn babies. Of course, they look different, LOL! But the typical traits about newborns of every mammal are, that they are thin (with a little bit fat that makes the form less edgy and then there isΒ a very round bellyΒ to the opposition) .
Later, when the babies gain more weight and body fat they become round all over the body. Like in your beautiful dolphin picture.
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Yeah you're right! Haha probably for the best your babies don't exactly look like that, or something strange would be going on lol. But it is interesting that most newborns are skinny, only to fatten up later. Maybe there's not enough room for fat babies inside the womb? Of course they have no need for fat anyway, because the nutrient supply is constant they need no reserves.
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The facial upturn (tio of rostrum at least) i feel is more or less depending on the individual dolphins face , some adults in some areas (pics ive seen from some areas and islands off japan) have little "lower lip upturn" on the tip of their rostrum, others have it really exaggerated! I get a nerdy looking at all the variations, its literally like drawing a unique humqqn fqce! But like human face theres basics and this is reall helpful on the basic level though to cal forth the notice of such features in different ages, thanks for this!
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If you're talking about the lower jaw tip, then you're certainly right about its shape coming down to individual variation. The gape as it's called can vary greatly between individual bottlenoses, going from them having an equally long top- and bottom jaw, to big underbites. They definitely all have individual faces!
However, what I was pointing to in the tutorial thing was the upper jaw tip/rostrum. I'm honestly not even sure if it's an actual general rule, but it seemed to me that juvenile dolphins had rather more slender beak tips, with both the lower and upper jaw tips tapering to a blunt point. Whereas on some adult dolphins it seemed the upper jaw especially became bigger and more stumpy at the tip, which in turn made it look a little 'turned up' instead of sloping down as with the juveniles.
Thanks to you too, I'm glad that you found this helpful!
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It seems you really love these animals <3 Do you study them or work with them?
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I certainly do! I do not currently work with, or study them - though through my illustration work etc I do do my own little 'research' concerning their looks and differences between populations, and I've had the chance to do some volunteering in a place where they also have dolphins
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I love how you did this! So detailed and life-like. Amazing!
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Thank you forΒ the useful information
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You're welcome, and thank you for the kind comment
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THANK YOU THANK YOU
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Very well done, your attention to detail is spot on. Great pointers!
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Thank you very much!
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Thank you too! I'm very happy to hear that
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This is so awesome, makes me want to try painting some dolphins
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Thanks! If you do, I'd love to see
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Very useful. Thank you for taking the time to making this.
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You're very welcome, glad to know it's useful
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Thank you very much
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Definitely - I was stoked to see that all those differences in facial structure between the age were really there, and not just me imagining things after all those years of looking at dolphin photos haha
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Nice, very good job, one really sees that you put a lot of effort into it. I imagine this will be of help to many.
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Thanks a lot, I sure hope so!
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Thank you very much, I'm glad to hear that!
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yw
also what a adorable avatar
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Yeah, cute huh? ebony drew it for me
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Guilty as charged concerning sizing down an adult to make a baby dolphin...
This is an amazing tutorial! Thanks for sharing!
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Haha, I think we've all been there at one point or another 
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Definitely!
Your very welcome!
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Yey this an awesome tutorial! I've been wanting to start drawing dolphins and need a lot of practice. This'll help so much <3
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Yayy, awesome to hear that! I hope it'll help you lots
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Absolutely amazing and soo so correct i love it! its perfect!
You're soo extremly talented! its a joy to watch your pieces!
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Thank you so much, I'm flattered
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Detailed. Great job. Good you did this as this kind of thing bugs me with other animals.Β Most younger animals are stubbier, rounder and have bigger eyes. This all gives them that cute factor.Β In Bethesda video games they just downsize creatures and objects which irks me to no end.Β A professional company should know better and I think they do but it's easier to "smallify" than make a new render.Β Still no excuse.Β One example was a bus full of skeletons that were supposed to be dead children but they were just shrunk adult skeletons. I could see that right away.Β Not impressed.
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Thank you very much
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Reminds me in Ecco DOTF where all the baby dolphins were just scaled down and horridly squished adult models, to the point they looked (and often were) distorted. That, along with tapering the tail to nearly nothing at the flukes erked me most about the over all look of the game.
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Oh I'm glad I'm not the only one.Β I'm a bird lover and I notice these kinds of mistakes with birds.Β I'm glad you understand where I'm coming from. hehe.Β Yeah that sounds pretty bad.
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Oh my thank you! I would still like to see a version for orcas, but for now this is everything I could have dreamed of! I have struggled with this for years, everywhere I go looking for aid all I ever really saw where adults scaled down, and when it comes to my story I wish to start on soon, having a calf that can be IDed as a calf was vital .
sta.sh/023jlj6z1svg
As is, not sure I pulled it off.
Striped/Bottlenose Hybrid, wont ever have the 'stripe'. but makes a cute combo anyho.
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