Aulopiforms anew (Patreon)

I've been meaning for ages to revise various of the aulopiforms produced for the actinopterygian section of The Big Book, and I've now made a start on that. Most of these illustrations were added here back in - I don't recall - maybe 2016 or something. The giant Cretaceous taxon Stratodus is a new addition. It was tough to draw, in part because I needed it to look big (some Stratodus species are several metres long), but also because its armour plates make it a tedious and technically difficult subject. Anyway, it's the big fish labelled 5 here.

I've long wanted to re-do my Long-snouted lancetfish (Alepisaurus ferox) (number 7 here): the original illustration is one of the first actinopterygians I did for this project and is really weak, plus it doesn't do a good job of portraying how amazing this fish looks in life (I based the original illustration on artwork in a book and hadn't been paying attention to the good photos that now exist of this animal). The new illustration is a major improvement and was based on photos of the animal in life. Look at the old and new versions compared...

I know I said I'd do more snakes next. I lied. More soon!