Looks like Alfred has found something to chase. Continue reading
The best way to a dino’s heart is through his stomach, as they say… Continue reading
Terry always likes a snack, especially small morsels like snails, grubs, and worms she digs up. That sandwich looks quite tempting though, and she won’t turn her nose up at an opportunity to snatch it out of your hand, so keep an eye and a firm hold on it. 😀 Continue reading
Yes, Opie seems to think he’s a big lapdog, and he loves it when you stroke his feathers. Where is he off to now? It looks like he’s going to show you his favorite toy…Opie carries Teddy around everywhere. He’s gone through quite a few “surgeries” to poke the stuffing back in after Opie nibbled on him. Continue reading
Twig may be small, but he’s not nearly as teeny as most “educational” sources would have you believe. Continue reading
Terry always likes a snack, especially small morsels like snails, grubs, and worms she digs up. That sandwich looks quite tempting though, and she won’t turn her nose up at an opportunity to snatch it out of your hand, so keep an eye and a firm hold on it. 😀
She might not look it, but this little pterosaur (not dinosaur), is very good at walking and running around on the ground. She spends a lot of her time poking her sensitive snout in the dirt for all sorts of burrowing creepy crawlies. When she feels one, she nabs it with her tiny teeth and gulps it down. Yum! Continue reading
Rrr- just how do you pronounce that? I wasn’t 100% sure on that myself, so I looked it up on Youtube…
There, mystery solved. 🙂 I wonder if there’s one for all the really hard paleo-critter names out there. I may have to include something like this from now on until I figure out a better system.
Oh, and before you ask, yes, there is evidence that pterosaurs can swim. 🙂 Ron here seems to spend most of his time in water, which might be why we have so many perfect fossils of this little guy. 🙂
He’s fast though. It took a whole bucket of fish to entice him to come over for a quick chat.
And there he goes! Ah well, if you want to know more about these guys, I know a pretty awesome blog post written by the great pterosaur expert, Mark Witton. It has lots of pretty pictures too!
Making progress…
Drumroll please… Continue reading
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…
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. 🙂
Twig may be small, but he’s not nearly as teeny as most “educational” sources would have you believe. Almost all the dinosaur books I’ve come across claim this little guy as the smallest dinosaur. “As big as a chicken” is the phrase often used.
Twig would have you know he’s the size of a turkey, not a chicken (makes a big difference if you’re standing right next to it). All those other reports are actually based off a German fossil of a juvenile compy, not an adult. Another well-preserved fossil was discovered in France in the 1970’s, but paleontologists weren’t sure it was a compy until more recent years.
Twig doesn’t mind the confusion though. He’s not really bothered by much as long as he can snatch a lizard or two out of the bushes. 🙂
Just for fun, here’s a picture of Jurassic Park’s Compsognathus. This picture is from the Jurassic Park Wikia, but did not have any credit associated with it. It looks like it was cut from a screenshot of Jurassic Park: The Lost World. It’s really quite a nice little puppet, and the film makers were able to give it the very lifelike, birdy movements described in the first book of the series.
The model has a few glaring inaccuracies, but I really enjoyed watching it in the film anyway.
Making progress…
Got this done while the kids where happily playing with cars…well, they didn’t play with cars the whole time, but they were playing together, without fighting! It was a rare blissful morning I tell ya. 😀
Of course it still needs work, but I thought I’d share my progress with you as I work on this. I was hoping to have the eBook done by Christmas, but that was before I realized it’s almost impossible for me to not add detail.
See, I was going for a style like the size comparison critters in this chart.
What would you prefer? The simpler, cuter, faster to draw style, or the more detailed sketchiness I’m currently going with. It’ll take a bit longer, but I’ll keep you posted regularly on my progress!
Coming Next Week…
Why, oh why must everyone call her ugly? I really don’t know. She may not be winning any beauty contests, but she’s a real sweet heart with anyone she meets. 🙂
Share your guess in the comments! She’s one of the critters over on the critter page. 🙂
