Author: Patricia Bujard

Critter of the Week: Juramaia

| Patricia Bujard

Meet Maya.  She’s a sweet little fuzzball who loves nothing more than to curl up in your pocket.  At least during the day.  When the sun goes down, that’s when the party starts!

 

Maya

 

Wait a second…what’s a squirrel doing in a dinosaur book?  Well I’m glad you asked.  So far, her kind is the first mammal discovered that nourishes her babies in utero with a placenta.  A placental mammal.  This is unique from marsupials like kangaroos, or egg laying monotremes like platypus.  🙂

My little girl keeps calling Maya a squirrel (she’s 2 🙂 ), but she’s a bit more like a tree shrew.  Little Maya has sharp little teeth that are great for just about anything she can get her paws on, but bugs are her favorite.  That slender nose helps her sniff them out in the dark.  She has long arms and sharp claws that make her completely at home in the tree tops.

When you’re the size of a squirrel it’s good to be out of reach of giant dinosaurs!

If you want to learn more, here’s a great news article with a picture of the beautiful fossil. It even has fur!

 

Making progress…

I now have five wonderful readers, yay!  Thank you!  I hope you’re having as much fun as I am.  Computer problems are no fun of course, but it’s looking like that’ll be fixed in no time, thanks to someone awesome I know.  🙂

While that gets sorted out, I’m having fun working with traditional media.  I’m learning a lot about watercolor.  Thank goodness for Youtube, amiright? 😛  No shame in watching Youtube videos to learn tips and tricks of the trade!  😀

I’m also liking posting twice a week instead of only once.  Since they’re different styles, it’s easy to keep up.  🙂  I’m terrible at consistency, so that’s the key thing I’m working on at this stage.

Coming Next Week…

He’s a celebrity of his time, and he’s the star of lots of dino documentaries.  This big guy has a huge appetite for anything his nose leads him to, and he loves a good game of tag.  Don’t worry too much if he catches you though.  He probably just wants to snuggle for good nap. 🙂

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

 

Who Cares About Dinosaurs?

| Patricia Bujard

A bull triceratops stands alone at the feet of a giant redwood tree.  He rubs two long, conical horns against the rough bark with quick, strong thrusts of his head.  His massive chest heaves as he grunts and snorts, toes digging into the dry earth.

 

A flash above, so bright that it cuts through the dappled shadows of the undergrowth.  Birds cry an alarm in the distance, and a rumble like thunder breaks through the drone of insects.  The bull tries to blink out the blindness as he swings his heavy head slowly, like a shield, snuffling the air.  Beaked mouth slack to taste the scents around him as he tenses his body, listening.

The rumble doesn’t go away.  It’s getting louder.

The triceratops turns away from the tree to face the crashing and rumbling.  He tilts his shielded head down and steps back, shaking all three horns against the coming roar.  The crash of trees, the shrieks of birds and other panicked creatures.  The rush of hot earth.  Dry ash.  flying debris…

 

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Critter of the Week: Ichthyosaurus

| Patricia Bujard

Meet Flipper.  He’s a happy-go-lucky critter who likes to play.  He’ll do just about anything to get you wet and in the pool, so be sure to wear your swim suit around him!  Bonus points if you happen to have a treat of fish. 😉

 

Flipper the Ichthyosaurus

 

I got quite a bit done around the site this week.  Mostly small tweaks that no one will ever see, but will help the site be more easily found.  That’s always a good thing.  No good having a website if I’m invisible. 🙂  I also got a few pictures up!  My dear Hubby and I had a lot of fun taking the pictures over the weekend.

I know I promised hopefully two critters this week, but I’ve had a couple of set backs.  So soon in the game, and already delays!  D:  ‘Tis the way of the things.  🙂

The computer I do most of my work on won’t turn on.  It’s the only one with Photoshop, the art program I use for my illustrations, so it’s definitely a set back.  No worries though!  That doesn’t mean I won’t update!  Dear Hubby is letting me use his laptop for these posts, and I’ll just have to do the illustrations the old-fashioned way.  🙂

So I have little Juramaia (I’ll call her Maya) ready and waiting for her que.  🙂  She’ll look different than the others so far.  I’m not sure I can get the same profile effect I have on the other profile pictures, but I’ll have her come out to meet you anyway.  Then I can fix her to look like the others (text, footprint, etc…) once I have my poor computer up and running again.  🙂

So little Maya will see you next week!  In the meantime, take a quick jog over to the about page and check out the new picture. 🙂

Setting up Expectations

| Patricia Bujard

 

Pete’s Paleo Petshop is set in a world where you can visit the shop to meet your very own prehistoric friend.  At the moment time has stopped in the Jurassic period, the “golden age” of the dinosaurs, but this is only the beginning.  Over time we’ll explore every period of Earth’s history, and meet all sorts of cool critters- even plants and bacteria are amazing if you take a closer look!

The first picture book will look through the eyes of 4-year-old Danny as he goes to the pet shop with his family.  They’re looking for a pet that’s small and quiet- hard to find in an age of giants!  But picture books are harder to make than you’d think, especially since I want to do it right.  So we’ll get to explore the world, meet the characters, and have other adventures (like short stories) while I work on writing and illustrating the book.  🙂

As a reader, I’ve always loved diving into the world.  I was (and still am) a huge fan of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter.  I was the sort of girl who memorized all the spells in Harry’s spell book, tried learning Elvish, and pinched my ears in the hopes they might get just a tiny bit more pointy on the ends.  😛 True story.

I fell in love with the worlds between the pages, and I wanted more of that.  I’d like to give you that same experience.  (Ok, I kinda wish I had my own pet dinosaur too.)

I have so many ideas for exploring the world!

  • Interviews with Pete & the critters
  • Adventures at the shop with Pete & the critters
  • Pamphlets and flyers from the shop to answer important questions on prehistoric animal care.  Just like in a real pet shop 🙂
  • Pete’s Postcards from the shop.  Get a peak into Pete’s mailbox and his weekly tips on handling your prehistoric pet.  This way you won’t miss any new posts, and you’ll get a look behind-the-scenes as I work on the book.
  • And more!  I have lots of ideas, but this list is a good start.  Of course, I’d love to know what you want.  🙂

 

It’s always great to learn something while we’re having a little fun.  So the blog will be a place we can chit chat a couple times a week about anything prehistoric or artistic.  But just so I don’t get too carried away, here’s the jist of what I’ll be sharing with you.

  • Learn about prehistoric critters, and why do they matter anyway?
  • Practice art techniques, especially as they relate to paleoart.
  • Cool stuff I find in my research.
  • Updates on my process and (hopefully) progress as I work to success!
  • Reviews on books or other things that I use and love.  They help inspire me and help me do what I do.  And if it’s something you would like too, then all the more reason to spread the love.  🙂

That about sums it up.  But really, I just want to create a little something that will brighten your day.  There’s plenty enough darkness and despair in the world, and life is too short and precious to dwell on it.  I’m not saying to ignore it entirely, but why not take joy in the beauty of life!

What do you like about dinosaurs and art?  What would you like to talk about?  Let me know in the comments!  I’d love to here from you.  🙂

Critter of the Week: Archaeopteryx

| Patricia Bujard

Hi there, and thank you so much for joining me here on my little corner of internet!  Last week I posted that my goal for the week was to add a profile to the critter page.  Here we have archaeopteryx! His name is Tango because he loves to dance and fluff out his feathers.  🙂

 

tango

 

I also took note of your advice, and I’ve added a quick word blurb on the home page.  Hopefully it’s more clear what the site is about.  I’m working on a better post or page that’ll explain it all properly (the long version).  But hopefully the quick blurb will do for now.  🙂

 

My goal for next week…

  • First official blog post!
  • one (hopefully two!) critter profile picture.  I’m thinking…something furry, and something with flippers.

Pete’s Paleo Petshop: Beta is Underway!

| Patricia Bujard

A lot’s been going on in the past few months.  I’ve been keeping things pretty quiet so far, but I can’t stand it any longer.  It’s about time we get out of the shell and hatch already!  Now the website is about as naked and ugly as a newly hatched parakeet, but everybody’s gotta start somewhere right?  So I’ll get right to the point and tell you what I’ve been up to around here.

 

  • Lots of critters on the critter page, with pictures!  I still have profiles to update and pictures to add, so come back once a week to see another critter (I’m planning Mondays or Fridays, not sure yet).
  • I have an about page!  I plan on tweaking this to be a “start here” sort of page as I write more blog posts.  How much do you want to know about me anyway?  😛
  • Home page. A peak into the shop.  This picture is a messy placeholder until I can polish it up with shading and all that good stuff.

 

This week’s goal…

  • add another critter profile picture.  I’m thinking something with feathers…can you guess which one it is? 😀

Bonus Question:

Any thoughts on the image above?  Maybe all it needs is some lighting to tie it all together, but what do you think?  I want to represent many critters from many time periods.  🙂

 

Thank you so much for visiting my little corner of the internet.  It really means a lot to me.  🙂

So What is This Anyway?

| Patricia Bujard

My dino pet would probably be stegosaurus

Imagine a world where our childhood dreams of owning a pet dinosaur could be real.  A place where any kid could go to the pet store and choose their very own brontosaurus or T-rex.

I am currently writing the first book of a series, which looks through the eyes of children as they go to the shop to see all the dinosaurs and other prehistoric critters available at the shop.  Which critter will they bring home today?  A long-necked giant?  A sharp-toothed guardian to scare away monsters in the closet?  The pet they bring home may surprise you.

If you could choose any dinosaur or other prehistoric critter as a pet, what would it be?  I would love to see your answer in the comments!  Me?  I think a stegosaurus like the picture up there would be awesome.  Steggy’s always been one of my favorites.

Under Construction

| Patricia Bujard

My first post on the new site!  Of course things are quite messy at the moment as I figure out how things work, but hopefully things will get ironed out soon.

Here is where I will be posting the latest development on the series, Pete’s Paleo Petshop.  Concept art, word blurbs from story drafts, cool research, it’ll all go here on the site.  So sit tight and settle down for an interesting ride.  Enjoy a messy trilobite.  🙂