Some days ago a friend asked me if he could use a drawing of Mesonychoteuthis I made many years ago, for a new edition of a book about animals discovered since 1900. Actually I was quite unhappy with that illustration, as it is not that well drawn and full of anatomical errors. So I decided to make a new depiction, what turned out to be much harder than I assumed, as it is really not easy to draw a lifelike animal, if your main references are photos of floppy carcasses. There are also only very few photos which show the actual shape, dimension and position of the eyes, as well as the exact lengths of the tentacles. Furthermore the 2007 specimen is quite confusing with its enormous balloon-like mantle, which looks very different from the earlier and smaller specimens. Now here you can see the result of my attempt to depict Mesonychoteuthis.
I know there are some little mistakes, for example the anterior attachment of the fins on the mantle is of slightly wrong shape... Sadly the pencil outlines are not as sharp as in the original drawing, as graphite seems to reflect too much light during the scanning process. I don´t draw that often, and I colourize my drawings nearly never, but perhaps you like the picture.
To illustrate the size of the squid, which is based on the 2007 specimen with 2,3 m mantle length, I also added a scale.
I know there are some little mistakes, for example the anterior attachment of the fins on the mantle is of slightly wrong shape... Sadly the pencil outlines are not as sharp as in the original drawing, as graphite seems to reflect too much light during the scanning process. I don´t draw that often, and I colourize my drawings nearly never, but perhaps you like the picture.
To illustrate the size of the squid, which is based on the 2007 specimen with 2,3 m mantle length, I also added a scale.