L.A. Underwater - Lincoln Heights Whale

date. 2021

medium. Zbrush 2021

client. Natural History Museum Los Angeles County

description. The Lincoln Heights Whale (Mixocetus elysius) is a cetothere, which is considered to be a completely extinct group of baleen whales, known mostly from a well preserved skull found in Lincoln Heights. Working with Associate Curator of Mammalogy for the NHM, Jorge Velez - Jurabe - I created conceptual art for what the whale could have looked like with the rest of the body reconstructed. Using the proportions of the skull, we estimated the overall size of the whale to be about 30'. Using Brydes and Minke whales as reference, the final model was created in Zbrush. This asset was rigged and animated for the exhibit by Kain Suwannaphin.