sketch: brontosaurus

sketch: triceratops

This dinosaur is on alert. Is there a T-Rex on the prowl?

illustration: plesiosaur vs dunkleosteus

The quick and nimble Plesiosaurus encounters the megashark, Dunkleosteus. Both creatures were deep sea dinosaurs from the prehistoric seas of early Earth. Check out my illustration which is available at my store now.

There can only be one alpha predator. Who do you think will win this battle?

illustration: dinosaur footprints

I did this illustration in watercolour medium. It was fun to do because of all the sandy texture that had to go into it. I wanted to capture the footprints as if they were made recently, hence the sharp nail marks and defined foot pads.

These track imprints in the sand belong to an Allosaurus, or a bipedal theropod, from the Late Jurassic age. The Allosaurus is a carnivorous dinosaur much like its cousin the Tyrannosaurus Rex. All theropods had bird-like clawed feet although their legs were very strong and muscular to chase prey down.

illustration: trilobite race

Trilobites were early arthropods that existed over 500 million years ago during the paleozoic era, even before the dinosaur age. They ranged in size from under an inch to as big as two feet long. Their body composed of hard-shelled body segments which we can find today in fossil form. Unfortunately, their legs and antennae were much too brittle to be preserved during fossilization.

In my watercolor painting, the trilobites are full of life, scurrying and anxious to find food among the ocean floor.

sketch: mosasaurus

I am ecstatic to see that the Jurassic World movie is featuring the massive underwater dinosaur, the Mosasaurus. The Mosasaurus was the alpha predator in the late Cretacious age and it makes today’s great white sharks look like teddy bears in comparison. This is my drawing of a Mosasaurus. I hope to make it look more menacing, next time.

illustration: ichthyosaur

Ichthyosaurs first appeared in the Triassic age, then flourished during the Jurassic up to the Cretaceous. Ichthyosaurs are an early relative of today’s dolphins – built for speed and equipped with razor sharp teeth. In my artwork, it is a prehistoric “dinner for two” as I display them in hot pursuit for a school of fish.

drawing: prehistoric fish

drawing: ceolacanth

The Ceolacanth is a true river monster that existed 65 million years ago. Thought to be extinct, the fish was found in 1935 while someone was deep sea fishing near Madagascar.

Perhaps it shouldn’t be too much of a suprise to find this living fossil. After all, Madagascar is known for the strangest creatures on earth. It is like Mysterious Island, remote and far away from human contact.

I didn’t have access to a real ceolacanth to do this sketch, but I went to the next best place that has these specimens… at the Museum of Natural History (in New York City).

Have a nice Memorial Day weekend! Maybe you’ll have time to go to a museum near you.

painting: three trilobites

Trilobites were prehistoric anthropods that existed in the waters during early the Cambrian age (525 million years ago) to the Permian age (250 million years ago). Mainly, bottom-feeders, their diet consisted of plankton.

My watercolor painting illustrates three trilobites passing each other in the shallow ocean floor. Naturally, the only evidence of their activity appears in fossil form, but I wanted to depict them as alive. After all, the trilobite species reigned on the Earth for hundreds of millions of years.