dinosaur

The World’s Toughest Jigsaw Puzzle

| Patricia Bujard

A six-year-old walks down the hall, eyes wide as he stares open mouthed at the skeletons towering high above him.  Dagger teeth, gleaming claws, curving necks and long, sweeping tails…It’s almost surreal how the bones are suspended in the air, as if the skin around them was just invisible.

Of course, now I know about the armature of steel.  How each bone has it’s own pocket to nestle in.  If one bone needs cleaning or repairs, then there’s no need to take down the whole skeleton.  But how do we know what the skeletons looked like?

In the last post, we talked about how unlikely it is to find a complete skeleton, or even a mostly complete skeleton.  If you haven’t read it yet, then check it out, because it’s pretty amazing what happens between dead dinosaur and museum. 🙂

But kid’s books and movies always show the whole dinosaur under some random hill.  It’s gotten downright ridiculous, so that Bob the Builder and his team can dig into a hill, find a complete skeleton of a brontosaurus “standing” in the dirt, and then simply leave it there to be the entrance to their dinosaur themed amusement park.

Convenient.

articulated brachiosaur color copy.png
Every paleontologist’s dream.  Please excuse the ugly sloppiness.  I was practicing speed. 🙂

Truth is, building the complete skeleton is only the first part of figuring out just what these critters looked like.

It’s like the world’s toughest jigsaw puzzle, with a few minor complications…

  • No box with the picture to get a clue on what you’re building
  • No idea how many pieces there are supposed to be, just that there should be at least oh, 2,000 or so…right?  Just how many bones does your average dino have anyway?
  • After a summer spent combing the hills, maybe this is what you end up with…

fossil bits color.png

So what do you do?

Luckily, bones can tell you a lot, especially teeth.  An expert can tell you these are sauropod bones.  Even better, an expert can tell you these belong in the family brachiosauridae .

 

Now here comes the fun part…putting the puzzle together.

You look at all the other fossils in the family.  Maybe there are more of the same “genus”, brachiosaurus.  Maybe these bones are enough to tell which species of brachiosaurus you’re looking at, and you can look at those for reference.  And so on and so forth until you and your colleagues have determined what a complete skeleton of your brachiosaur might look like.

Of course, the whole process is a long, drawn out, very complicated business.  This is just my humble rundown. 🙂

Long story short- except in very few cases where paleontologists discover an articulated skeleton, like the lovely dilophosaurus here- then most skeletal reconstructions have at least a few missing parts, which are then filled in by educated guesses based on closely related animals.

wikipedia commons.

Now that you have all the pieces, how do they fit together?

Knowing where all the pieces go relies on reference to other skeletons, research, and a great deal of know-how on the bones themselves.

Bones can tell us a lot, because the soft and squishy bits that hold them together leave scars.  Knowing how to interpret these scars is where dry bones get interesting, because this is the beginning of figuring out how the animal looked in life.

Next post we’ll talk about muscles, tendons, and all the soft stuff under the skin that we don’t usually see in the museum.

Quick Question: Did you like to see fossil exhibits as a kid?  What impressed you the most about them?  I’d love to hear your answer in the comments! 🙂

 

Fleshing out the Bones Series:

Critter of the Week: Dilophosaurus

| Patricia Bujard

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

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 tail high, standing as tall as he can.  Anytime any of the ladies give notice he crows like a peacock, and shows off those lovely blue feathers on his arms.  It looks like he’s going to give the lady a big hug. 🙂

Oh yes, feathers!  Now we don’t 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. 🙂

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? 😛

 

Making progress…

I made some changes to the about page. 🙂 Check it out!

I think this one does a much better job explaining what the whole site is about.  Much more clear. 🙂 Of course, if there’s something I’m missing or is not as clear as I might think it is, then I’d love to hear your feedback. 🙂

Goal for next week.  Really work on getting a buffer.  I have a tiny buffer, but it’d be great to work on getting a month’s worth.  This means I can breathe a little easier (because being prepared is awesome), and I can focus a little more time on the picture book!

It’s also great to have a buffer when the week doesn’t work so smoothly.  Can’t always count on nap time working in my favor, and there’s been more than a few posts written in a rush before the deadline.  I know there are a few “mom-preneurs” out there who wake up at 5 am to get stuff done, but I don’t work that way.

My 20 minute power nap is essential to the quality of my posts (and the sanity of everyone within a 5 mile radius of me)!

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. 🙂

The Miracle of Fossilization

| Patricia Bujard

Life is full of everyday miracles.  The sort of things that are so unlikely to happen, it’s amazing they happen at all.

 

Take fossils for example.  Let’s start with something big- a sauropod, or long-necked dinosaur.  Should be easy to fossilize right?

Unfortunately we need a dead one for our fossil, so let’s skip the sad story.

Let’s just say an old brachiosaurus (Let’s call him old Mr. B) came to the riverbank for one last drink of water…Now we have a very large feast for scavengers all up and down the riverbank.  They won’t have to worry about hunting for months!  Well, maybe weeks, depending on how many critters are joining the buffet.

Mr. B is not going to stay in one piece.  A leg over here…head gone…a chunk of tail in the belly of another…By the time the scavengers are done picking the bones clean, bits and pieces are going to be scattered and broken all over the riverbank.

That pile of bones bleaches in the sun for a few more months.  The bones dry out and turn brittle.  Insects and small, nocturnal mammals with ever-growing teeth gnaw on them.

The skies turn dark, storm clouds gather, and a week of constant rain raises the river.  More rain from the north rushes in, and in a few short hours, flood waters pour in strong enough to uproot trees and toss huge rocks as easily as pebbles.

The rush of water and debris lifts the heavy bones and carries them downriver.  A few ribs catch on the roots of a thick, strong tree, but the other bones are torn free and get carried on.  A leg bone settles in a small undercurrent and sinks into a deeper spot in the river.  The rest of the bones get carried on…

On and on, the skeleton is fragmented by the force of the water.

Silt- dirt and debris carried by the current- covers the bones.

Over time, enough layers of silt build up and are flattened by the layers above them.  Water, pressure, and time cement the layers of silt into sedimentary rock like sandstone and mudstone.

Water seeps down through the rock.  Bone is porous, and so water can seep through it.  The water leaves mineral deposits behind, like the hard water deposits that build up in the dishwasher.

Like a sponge drenched in salt water and left to dry in the sun, the bones slowly harden like solid rock.

But that’s not all.  It’s not enough to be fossilized.  The rock needs to stay intact.

The earth is constantly moving.  Rocks that hold fossils can be pushed down and melted in Earth’s liquid mantle.  Or pushed up into mountains, only to be erased by wind and rain.

As if that wasn’t enough, we have to find these fossils.  Exposed fossil bone erodes quickly in the face of wind, rain, and sun.  Scientists usually have good ideas where to find fossils based on previous discoveries, but many times it’s the kid playing by the bluff who finds them.  Or the hiker who sees that spot in the rock that doesn’t look like the rest…

Even when the fossil is found, it can be lost, destroyed, or stolen.

archaeopteryx fossil

My point here is, it’s amazing we have any fossils at all!  More amazing still, the exquisite beauty of fossils like the Lagerstatten of Germany and places like it.  Just look at the archaeopteryx at the top of the paragraph here (those feathers are so perfect, they look better than my chickens’ feathers!).

I am truly humbled to think about the beauty of the world around us, of humanity, of life.  That it’s possible to see remnants of creatures gone for millions of years.  That we can even dream of what they might have looked like.

I look at a fossil like this, and I see a miracle.  And then I look at the world today, see the people in my life…or even just take a moment to watch my hands and the way they move as I type these words…the complexity behind the mechanics of their movement.

An everyday miracle. 🙂

Fleshing Out the Bones Series: 

All American Dinos

| Patricia Bujard

Happy 4th of July everyone!  I hope you are enjoying the hotdogs, fireworks, family time, and the all around patriotic spirit of the day. 🙂

I really love my country, and everything the founding fathers worked so hard to cultivate in the early years.  So here we have some American dinosaurs to help us celebrate.

From left to right…

That’s all for now!  Thank you for dropping by, and I hope your day is fun and safe. 🙂

 

Behind the Scenes: From Thumbnail to Draft Sketch

| Patricia Bujard

It’s time for a behind-the-scenes sneak peak on the first installment in the series of Pete’s Paleo Petshop, where anyone can go to find a prehistoric friend to take home.  Time has stopped in the Jurassic Period, the “golden age” of dinosaurs, and Danny and his family have come to the shop to find a quiet, little dinosaur.  Hard to find in an age of giants!

 

Now here we have a few thumbnails.  Thumbnails are small, quick sketches that are used to give the artist an idea for the composition of an image.  In this case, thumbnails are useful for getting an idea for the layout of the illustrations.  Which characters to use, where words might go, how the picture will help the words tell the story…it all starts gelling together in the thumbnail.  Keeping thumbnails small helps force you to leave out detail, which helps to focus on the basic shapes.

flyers thumbnailssauropod thumbnailssteggy thumbnails

Once I figured out which thumbnail I liked best I made it larger and cleaned it up a little.  These drawings are mostly to figure out exactly what I need to find references for.

flyers page

For example.  I looked at a couple of pictures of flying birds to help me with Tango and his buddy on the left here (learn more about him here).  It’s not known if these dinosaurs could actually fly or just glide, so this is speculation on my part.  Short, broad wings are great for maneuvering thick forest, and you don’t need a lot of muscle for short bursts of flight. 🙂

In this case, I needed pictures to get ideas for poses!  And for Terry and her friends on the right…well I needed a few reference pictures to have a clue what I was drawing.  These critters are tough if you don’t draw the classic “silhouette from above/below” pose. 😛

Which makes a great example of what happens in the sketch stage.

In the thumbnail, I had one pterosaur (teh-roh-saw-r) flying past the corner of the page.  An overhead flying view is so overdone I decided to have them perch on the branch instead.  I also changed the species to pterodactylus (teh-roh-dak-tih-lus) since they worked out better for what I needed.  Bonus that these guys are the poster children of the pterosaur group. 🙂

sauropods page

Here we have three famous giants of the Jurassic.

  • Ajax the Apatosaurus (ah-pat-oh-saw-rus)
  • Dippy the Diplodocus (dip-loh-dok-us)
  • Elmer the Brachiosaurus (brak-ee-oh-saw-rus).  Yep, his head is the right shape.  The critter in Jurassic Park is actually a Giraffatitan (giraffe-ah-ty-tan).  I’ll write a post on that at some point.  For now, let’s just say that the Jurassic Park variety is the African breed, and this is the American breed.  They’re completely different species, and have lots of things that make them unique, not just head shape. 🙂

I’ve been doing lots of research on the necks for these guys, so that awesome snakey neck is not random.  And yes, it is an awesome python neck (though this is about the limit of its bendiness.)

Also, can I just say how awesome it is to use a toy as a reference?  Yes, you heard me.  I went out and got a few toys (as accurate as possible) and I’m using those for pose reference.  I don’t have the dippy, but for that one I got pictures of the toy online. 😛

Steggy page

Here we have Steggy the Stegosaurus (steg-oh-saw-rus).  Original name, I know 😛

I used a toy I have for reference here too, but this one isn’t the best model, so I’ll be doing research to make sure I correct those inaccuracies.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this sneak preview!  I’m starting to get an idea of what things will actually look like, and that’s pretty exciting after it’s been stuck in my head for so long!  The words need a lot of work (they kinda suck at the moment), but the gist of the story is there.

I’ll never be fooled into thinking a picture book is easy again! 😀

Now my question for you is…Do you have any questions?  Anything you want to know about what happens behind the scenes? Let me know in the comments!  I’d love to hear from you! 🙂

Critter of the Week: Diplodocus

| Patricia Bujard

Meet Dippy!  A giant with a heart of gold, life is never boring when this big guy is around.  Nothing is out of reach!  He’ll stick his nose into everything until every mystery is solved.

 

Dippy.jpg

 

 

Looks like he’s found a very, very big ball to play with.  That ball is pretty much indestructible, and something that comes in handy when you have curious giants like Dippy around.  He loves food just as much as your average sauropod, but Dippy is…how shall I say?  Easily distracted. 😛

Dippy here loves investigating anything new.  He’s not the sharpest rock around, but when you’re this big, brains aren’t a requirement.  I wonder what he plans to do with that ball?  Pete found his old one flattened out in the pasture a couple weeks ago, so we’ll see how long this one lasts.

What’s that you say?  An accident?  Oh no, I’m sure the ball was squished on purpose.  These guys have an amazing sense of touch.  Dippy doesn’t like stepping on certain things, and he’s very careful where he puts his feet (elephants are like this too).

Dippy seems to like the smooth bounciness.  But who doesn’t like to play every now and again? 🙂

 

Making progress…

Hmm, not a whole lot to say this time around.  Just putting one foot in front of the other.  One step at a time.

Moving forward is the most difficult part.  I can’t even begin to say how frightening this is, leaping out into the unknown.  And if I start to think about it for even a moment, the overwhelming list of things I still need to do threaten to bury me.  It’s suffocating actually.

The fear of my family reading this is worse than if you’re a stranger.  I’m not sure why.  Maybe because that position is particularly vulnerable.

Anyway, I’m not saying this to mope, because I hate mopey.  But I’m no Pollyanna either.  Life has both ups and downs, and you’ve got to roll with the punches right? 🙂 Perhaps someday I’ll read this and remember how scared I was at the beginning.  Perhaps I’ll realize then that I’m still just as scared, and still take one step at a time.

Even more important, I hope that this will encourage you.  If you are thinking of leaping out into something unknown.  You’re not alone.

Listening to experts who truly know their stuff is very encouraging.  So I’m just going to share a lovely piece of advice from T. Harv Eker, who I was listening to this morning.  (I don’t get anything for this, BTW, it’s just awesome advice I hope you’ll find as helpful to you as it is for me)

“Fear is the anticipation of pain.  Act in spite of fear.”

 

And another awesome quote I’ve been hearing a lot lately…

 

“Just do it.”

 

 

Coming Next Week…

A real sweetie who’ll tolerate just about anything, even dress up.  Just be careful not to spook her.

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

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.  🙂

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.