Meet Bella. She’s big, she’s loud, and she’s really happy to see you! She’s happy to see anyone really, except Alfred, but can you blame her? There’s about a-bazillion years of conflict going on there…

There she is! She is the most accommodating of Pete’s very large camarasaurus herd- voted least likely to accidentally trample the equipment. They can be an excitable bunch, and don’t always pay attention to what they’re bumping into. I’ll just say that when Pete finally got her separated from the herd there was a tractor, some flags, an air horn, and a rubber chicken involved…

These Camaras are more closely related to the smaller wild species, C. lentus (there are 3 🙂 ), which are only about 49 feet long. But that’s still a lot of sauropod on the move, especially when you multiply it by 80!

Why so many?

Paleontologists may call Bella the ugliest sauropod, but they’re pretty popular for anyone with plenty of pasture. Their friendly and calm, cow-like attitude makes them an easier alternative to the larger giants like Elmer.

If only they weren’t so loud! But some may call Bella’s singing endearing. It’s lovely to hear their chorus far out to pasture.

Have the video play in the background while you look at Bella above, I can’t help laughing at the mental picture of 50 or 100 of these fat, happy sauropods calling to each other constantly. In a herd of such large animals, you don’t really need stealth. 😀

 

Making progress…

It looks like I may actually meet my deadline for the Critter Cam eBook!  It won’t be the full book to start with, just a taste test for 99 cents, but this might be the most exciting (and terrifying) 99 cents I ever make.  It’s a huge milestone for me.  I promise I’ll give you more details about it in the following weeks as I finish this one.

But enough chatter.  Here’s a preview!

 

So what’s exactly the progress here, you ask?  It looks a bit similar to the last progress post…

• The line work for the 3 page mini-comic is complete
• I’ve started on coloring (same basic color as on the chibi critters)

Here’s last week’s sketch, for comparison.

 

You’ll notice a lot of the detail’s been lost.  Why?  Because some day I’d like to animate these little stories and post them on Youtube.  Kinda how you have little 10-30 second clips on characters when a new Pixar or Disney movie comes out.

Detail is not friendly if you want to make it move. 🙂  So that means color will be simple too, with limited (if any) shadows and highlights.  I’m thinking along the lines of Caillou, Curious George, or some other kid’s TV show.

 

Coming Next Week…

These two love making new friends, especially if you have a treat…

Share your guess in the comments! They’re a couple of critters over on the critter page. 🙂