Meet Picasso.  This quiet softie loves spending time with his special person.  Snuggling under the tree to hear a good story?  That sounds like a lovely way to spend a warm afternoon. 🙂

Picasso looks very happy to see you, and he wonders very much if you like his red crest.  He’s very proud of it, you see, and he’s been strutting around the field like a very large rooster.

He marches up and down the fence line with his chest puffed out and his neck arched like a stallion.  He watches over his patch of yard like the duke of the land, and if something doesn’t look quite right, he’ll stand as tall as he can and show off those blue feathers- just so you know he has things under control.

Oh yes, feathers!  Now we don’t know for sure if this critter had feathers or not, and the whole subject of feathered dinos deserves it’s own series of posts, but there’s a definite possibility. 🙂

If you want to find out more about dinosaurs and feathers, here’s a post on what makes a feather, and here’s a post on figuring out which dinos might’ve had them. 🙂

I’ve given Picasso a coat of feathers similar in texture to an emu’s, which gives him the furry look.  His fingers and feet are feathered too, like a snowy owl, but they have pads on them for walking and grabbing.

If you’ve watched a lot of Jurassic Park, take note that Picasso has awesome grabby hands that are good for hugs.  Not dangly zombie bunny arms.  What good are those for? 😛

Read on for picture book progress!

Making progress…

Working along at a steady pace with colored sketches for a “dummy” book now…things are coming along so nicely I’ve made a handy dandy little chart, so we can see it. 😀

 

Basically, everything that’s still black and white is the very very rough storyboard.  No reference, not really trying to make things look good…just an idea on which pictures go where so I can figure out how to best tell the story. 🙂

All the little thumbnails in color are the ones I’ve updated for the “dummy” book.

What does that mean?

It means I’m experimenting with color, and experimenting with different layouts or details based on research, but still no real reference.  This is all about getting the ideas in my head out on paper so that I know what needs more research, what sort of reference pictures I’ll need to take, and see how the colors effect the overall mood.

Once all of the spreads have lovely colored updates, then I’ll print them all out into a “dummy” book I can hold. 😀  Things always look different in print, and this way I can test it out on family and friends. 🙂

Here’s a closer look at the updated cover.

Quite an improvement to my first cover idea, which demonstrates why it’s so important to thumbnail ideas.  And why it’s important to keep experimenting and not get too attached to one idea. 🙂  Just a reminder…here’s that other cover.

 

I’ll explore more about covers, and why this one doesn’t fit next week. 🙂

See you then!

 

Coming Next Week…

This big guy is always ready to flash a big, toothy smile, especially at mealtime.

Share your guess in the comments! He’ll be one of the critters over on the critter page. 🙂