Paleoartist David Krentz used advanced ZBrush digital sculpting and 3D printing to bring out staggering detail in this massive sculpt. This piece was released in Dan's Dinosaurs in 2022.
"This sculpture depicts a full grown male Triceratops horridus standing in a strong but simple pose. It is not based on any one fossil specimen but I looked at many very closely. I wanted a piece to go alongside my T.rex named Regina Mundi that would be a response to her menacing pose. Given how much horn length I gave this dinosaur (like Yoshi’s Trike) I thought the Triceratops really wouldn’t be all that intimidated. I thought a “go ahead… try it” pose and facial expression was the way to go. It took a lot of willpower NOT to give Uncle Beazley a dynamic pose, as that would have negated the confidence and indifference I was going for. As reference, I used actors like Walter Matthau (who always look unimpressed), and Johnathan Banks’ character Mike Ehrmantraut from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. He has the icy stare of an old vet that tells you he’s seen it all. For animal reference, I used a water buffalo, a hippo, and of course… a rhino. To add scale and a natural element, I thought adding the birds Cimolopteryx to his back and horn would do the trick.
While working on Uncle Beazley I was able to use the amazing fossilized skin of the “Lane” specimen as reference. I overlayed photos of the skin slabs on top of my model and tried the best I could to get the correct placement and size. It is still shocking how big some of the those scales are! I enjoy creating dinosaurs that have lots of wrinkles, muscles, and bones on the surface. My early version of the ZBrush model looked super muscular, yet when I put on the large scales, much of that detail disappeared. It took a while for me to get used to it but I guess that's just how it goes. Making tiny little wrinkles laying on top of big scales would not have looked great anyway.
There has been a bit of a debate over what kind of skin covered the face and frill of ceratopsians. Some paleontologists suggest that its whole face and frill may have been covered in a keratinous sheath, like some kind of bird beak gone wild. I originally did a version like that but rumors of scaly skin samples kept creeping up on me. I waited a while for science to happen and ran out of patience. I opted to do a scaly face and a sort of half-keratin, half-scaled frill, much like the head of a tortoise and many other reptiles. I thought it was a good compromise and time will tell if I did it right.
I believe that horn variation in ceratopsians in life would have been pretty diverse, just like modern horned animals. Since this is a full grown Triceratops the horns are angled far forward, and I added quite a bit of extra horn growth on the ends. I kept one horn curved up at the tip and straitened out the other to give him some character and asymmetry. For extra character I put some facial scars that are consistent with proposed intra-species combat pathologies found in ceratopsian skulls.
The name Uncle Beazley comes from Oliver Butterworth’s 1956 book The Enormous Egg. In the story, a farm boy named Nate finds a giant egg that hatches into a Triceratops. He thinks the baby dinosaur looks like his grouchy old Uncle Beazley so that what he decides to name it. The book is a classic of children’s literature and was required reading in schools. I myself worked on a movie adaptation of the Enormous Egg but it didn’t go anywhere. That’s show biz for ya. Regardless, I grew fond of the character and thought I'd keep the name alive!"
- David Krentz
14 piece roto-cast kit (includes optional Cimolopteryx)
Dimensions: 17" L x -" H
1:18 Scale
This model may require several weeks to cast. Like all resin kits, it ships disassembled and unpainted, and may be sent to a professional buildup artist upon request. International orders may require additional shipping payment after checkout. For bronze inquiries, please contact store manager.
Limit one per customer
Images of model base coming soon
Event Log:
06/01/2022 - Preorders begin processing
08/22/2022 - Preorders begin shipping
