Meet Flipper. He’s a happy-go-lucky guy who’s only ambition in life is to cruise the water for a bite of squid. He loves to greet new friends with a friendly splash.
It’s a dolphin! It’s a shark! It’s a…dinosaur?
Flipper is part of a unique-snowflake group of animals called Ichthyosaurs (think Ick!-theosaurs).
Way back when his great-great-great-great-super-great grandaddy (some lizardy thing at the time) started spending a lot of time in water. So much time, that he got really good at it, so now Flipper is basically what a dolphin or fish would look like if reptiles started an aquatic lifestyle.
At least that’s the theory. No one’s found this hypothetical, reptilian, super-great grandaddy so far, and there’s a lot of discussion when it comes to figuring out Flipper’s closest relatives.
Flipper here doesn’t think too much about all that though. He’s just happy with the bucketful of squid Pete brings him.
Making Progress…
With the Holiday Season upon us, I’ve decided that I’ll be slowing down the weekly posts. After 6 months of developing the habit, it’s going to be tough to come up on Monday and not have a post up…but that doesn’t mean I’ll be slacking!
The time I would normally dedicate to a new post will be used to finish my mini-comic book. Once that is up on Amazon I’ll then be ready to set up the sign-up forms for Postcards from the Shop, and really get to work on the picture book itself.
It’s time to stop procrastinating in the research and build-up phase, and actually get it done!
I still plan on continuing with our Critter of the Week every Wednesday, but there won’t be any new pages for a while. At least not until I get the eBook up on Amazon.
You’ll see an Art & Science post every now and then too, since there are still things I don’t know much about, and definitely need more research on.
Here’s what I’ve been working on the last couple of days. Pretty cool what a few focused nap times can accomplish! 😀
Just for comparison…here I have the current home page, the update I showed you last week, and the most recent update…keep in mind It’s not complete, so there’s lots of places that still need work. 🙂
Here I’ve finished the drawing and I’ve started putting down some basic color. 🙂
Coming Next Week…
The oft-proclaimed smallest dinosaur in the world is!…not as small as you might think.
Share your guess in the comments! He’s one of the critters over on the critter page.
Pete's Paleo Petshop 
Such a cute dalphen lizard
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Looks awesome! I love the critters you’ve included, especially the funny turtle thing. 🙂
So he’s a reptile thing! Cool. 😀
I agree with Brownie, the colors are great, but some light and friendly “kiddie” colors would add a nice pop! Also, perhaps you would consider moving the dragonfly up? His pretty wings are hard to decipher in front of all the detail in the tank.
Anyway, it looks great! The progress you’ve made is amazing. :3
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Hi Misty, it’s great to see you here!
I’m glad you like all the critters. I really like that turtly reptile too. I forget what it’s called (not a Jurassic critter), all I know is that it’s a placodont, which is a group of armored reptiles before the dinosaurs. 🙂
I’ll definitely keep your advice on color in mind. I wasn’t quite happy with how dark everything is. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me! 😀
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Woah, colorful! In comparison to the old design. xD Which is certainly a good thing. However, while the colors in the old design were a little too light, I think the colors in the new design are just a bit too dark. If possible, I think it would be good if you lightened the hues, even if it’s for just a couple of the critters. 🙂
Also, I find that Pete’s right eye (from our perspective) looks a little too high. That’s just a tiny detail, of course, but I thought that you still might want to be aware of it.
But besides that, it looks skookum! :3 Really, I don’t think it looks all that busy or crowded.
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Hi Brownie, thank you for the critique! It’s very helpful. 🙂
Now that you mention it, his left eye does look a bit high. I didn’t notice that before, so thank you for pointing it out.
I’ll also keep the colors in mind. They’ll look different once I add light in there, this is just the basic color pattern underneath. But I think the big salamander thing could use some light tones in its pattern. Better for camouflage in a brackish water environment. 🙂
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