Meet Nessie. This curious undersea critter is always looking for an opportunity to nab a treat. You’ll never see her coming! Her favorite game is hide-&-seek. 🙂
Look at that smile, I think she wants you to chase her!
Nessie loves a good game of hide & seek. She’ll find a good spot in the sand, bury herself with those powerful flippers, and wait until an unsuspecting fish or squid comes by…
Snap! Up comes her head, and the squid is lunch before it knows what’s happening.
Other times Nessie likes to be the seeker instead, and come up to a school of squid. It’s hard to tell exactly how close she is…the squid are easily tricked into thinking that she’s further away than she really is, so that long neck of hers can dart in for a quick bite.
Her neck is actually quite stiff, more like a fishing pole for extra leverage than the swan-like curviness you usually see on the Loch Ness monster. But Nessie can put that leverage to good use.
There were more squid and squid-relatives than fish in Jurassic oceans, and one of those relatives are ammonites. If you’ve never heard of an ammonite (am-oh-night) before, then you can think of them as squid with snail shells.
The big difference (aside from not being related to snails)… Continue reading →
Meet Tigger. This big guy is always ready to flash a big, toothy smile, especially at mealtime.
Look at that giant, toothy grin. He’s sure happy to see you! He’s looking for a treat or two (or ten), so that’s what this stinky bucket of slimy deliciousness is for. Tigger has a huge appetite, and he’ll eat anything that fits in that giant mouth of his. Even dinosaurs if one of them decides to go for a swim. (you heard right, dinos can swim, we have tracks to prove it)
Now when I say dinosaurs, I don’t mean swimming critters like Tigger. If you want the nitty gritty on what a dinosaur is or isn’t, you can quiz yourself on “Which One is the Dinosaur?”. 🙂 But even though Tigger wouldn’t mind a dino snack on occasion, it wasn’t usually on the menu, since he has plenty of turtles, squid, ammonites (think squid with a snail shell), fish, and marine reptiles to chomp on.
I say marine reptiles, because that’s what this big guy is. Tigger isn’t a dinosaur at all, but a pliosaur. In fact, his species, Pliosaurus, named his whole group!
The other marine reptiles swimming around here are ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs. My little girl calls them “icky-saurs” and “pleasy-saurs”. 😛
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. 🙂
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…
Happy New Year! I hope you’ve been having a good holiday season.
I have big plans for the new year…Here’s a basic list, kinda in the order I want to accomplish it.
officially set up Mailchimp so that I can launch Pete’s Postcards from the Shop.
Finish Dippy vs. Ball so I can publish my first book (ever.)
Earn my first 99 cents from said book. 😀
Prep Dippy vs. Ball to make a print version available.
Create more Critter Cam episodes until I have enough for the anthology, which will also be available in print.
And…
Publish “Little, Quiet Dinosaur” (working title) by my birthday this year! We’ll see how realistic a goal that is later, but I’ll try my best to have it at least finished (if not ready to publish on Amazon).
I have a strategy in mind, to make sure this happens. Once Dippy vs. Ball is published, I’ll then work on an illustration for the picture book.
With an illustration complete, I’ll prep Dippy vs. Ball so that it can be available in print as well.
Then another illustration for the picture book…then I’ll start a second Critter Cam episode…you get the picture. 🙂
This way I hope to have more books out there (and therefore more easily seen, so future readers know I exist) while still making progress on the picture book. 🙂
P.S. – In case you didn’t notice, Picasso got an update!
He looks more like most of the other critters now, style-wise
He’s more balanced over his hips now, and doesn’t look like he’s about to fall on his face
His head crest is shorter, and more like the latest skeletal drawings
His body is leaner, since I gave his feathers a slightly shorter, more fur like look.
Here’s the older picture for comparison. 🙂
Coming Next Week…
This big guy is always ready to flash a big, toothy smile, especially at mealtime.
Meet Opie. He’s a happy little fella who loves to curl up in your lap, so it’s a good thing he’s about the size of a big dog!
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.
Oh! That’s Miss Kitty peaking around the corner. She’s a little shy after Opie tried playing a game of snatch with her. He’s just a big softie though, and he only wants to play. He’ll get a little droopy when Miss Kitty doesn’t understand. So he’ll curl up in his bed to snuggle with Teddy, and he’ll chirp happy chirps when he snuggles. He sounds a lot like this…
Speaking of soft and cuddly, those feathers are rather like those on an emu or kiwi. Looks a lot like fur, doesn’t it? 🙂
Emu feathers. Photo courtesy of Amanda Slater (2009)
Making progress…
Getting along spiffily (is that a word?) on my little storybook, Dippy vs. Ball. Here’s what I have so far on one of the spreads. A handy little map so we can take a little stroll around Dippy’s hometown to meet the neighbors.
Meet Rosie. She’s a bit shy, and might need a little encouragement to come closer. A few treats should do the trick. Before you know it she’ll be perfectly content to snuggle close and put her head on your lap. 🙂
Meet Copper & Daisy. These gentle giants are always happy to meet new friends. They love being part of the group.
Copper is a strapping young bull, and never leaves the side of his lovely lady. He’s very much the gentleman with her, and any friend who joins the herd. Just keep a close eye on your pockets if you have treats!
You can’t hear him, since it’s a picture of course, but Copper is chirping to Daisy. He’s found a good patch of something tasty, and he’s telling her to follow him. Many dinos could probably make a lot of noise without ever opening their mouths, like the gurgly hum Copper is making here. But you can see his lovely red throat all blown up like a bullfrog. 🙂
I imagine him sounding a lot like this…
Making progress…
I’m making progress like a ninja tortoise on my little project. If you want to see what that looks like, here’s a surprisingly fast tortoise I found on Youtube. 😛 (I love how everyone in the clip makes such a huge deal on how fast this tortoise is)
So here’s what I’ve got…
line work for the comic is complete. (though it needs a couple of updates, I found a paper describing the soft spines on Dippy’s back, and I’ve been drawing them wrong.)
first page color nearly complete.
thumbnails for front and back cover, and a few other pages are done, so I just need to finish the line work there.
Here’s a quick look at the first page. I’m going for a simpler style that’s animation friendly later on, so aside from a few tweaks on the background, this is just about done. Do you prefer the simpler, more suggestive backgrounds, or a little more detail?
Personally, I’m thinking of very minimal background, similar to the Wall-e and Big Hero 6 shorts. 🙂 Those short clips have pretty much no background, but the little scene at the bottom of the page is closest to what I’m going for. Very minimal.
Here’s a look at the Wall-e and Baymax clips, so you see what I mean.
What do you think? I would love your feedback! 😀 Just leave a quick word or two (or three) in the comments. 🙂
Coming Next Week…
This little dino is a bit shy, but she’ll come out of the bushes for a sweet hug and a small treat. 🙂
Meet Elmer. He’s a little shy, and likes staying in his comfort zone, but he’ll be your best giant friend if you give him some greens and a big hug.
The best way to a dino’s heart is through his stomach, as they say. Well, that’s not really the phrase, but I’m sure it’s just as true, especially when it comes to these long-necked sauropods. 🙂 I think the rough estimate is a solid cube- 5ft x 5ft – of vegetation in a single day to feed one of these guys.
Oh, there’s Elmer, browsing on a few of the trees that grow here in the pasture. You’d think you’d see him right away, he’s so big. But his striped pattern is surprisingly good camouflage in that grove of tall conifers.
What’s he looking at…? Oh, here comes Pete on the Kabota. He’ll be joining us here on the platform to feed Elmer. If you lean over the railing a bit and look down, see that row of big boxes kinda spaced along the wall? That’s where the big bunches of conifer branches and ferns will go. They’re in the big shed behind us, the one to the left of the stairs we came up.
And here comes Elmer. My goodness, he’s fast. It looks like he’s moving slow, but with those long legs he sure covers ground quickly! And so quiet…You’d think there’d be the big stomping footsteps you hear in Jurassic Park.
Hey there Elmer! We have a friend to see you today. 🙂
I just can’t get over how big he is! What are we, 30 feet up? 40?
It’s hard to grasp how big these guys really are until you’re right next to them. Come to think of it, that’s the way it is with most animals.
To think that Elmer is as heavy as 5 elephants. Five! And not just any elephant. 5 bull African elephants, which are about as big as it gets when it comes to land animals walking around today.
Here’s a video that helps put that into perspective…
So five of those guys is about as heavy as the average humpback whale. Yes, Elmer here is every bit as big as a whale, and he’s not even the biggest sauropod out there!
Oh, hi Pete, we have a visitor today!
There you are, friend, a nice bunch of ferns you can give Elmer. Just grab it at the end here, and make sure your fingers are in a nice, tight fist.
That’s it.
Elmer’s teeth are like pruning shears, so we don’t want to lose any fingers today by mistake.
I think he likes you!
Making progress…
I’ve been working on actually finishing the homepage image for a bit now, and I thought I would share my progress so far.
It’s an important part of the site, since it’s the first thing you see, and it’s the “front window” of Pete’s Paleo Petshop.
But it’s also a test.
A test for style, to make sure I’m happy with it, and it’ll have the feel I’m going for.
A test to see how long it takes me to complete a full illustration. (so far two weeks, but that’s in between the margins of everything else)
And a test to make sure you like what you see as well. After all, this may be an ambitious idea and project, but the long-term goal is to earn a passive income in a way that doesn’t take time from my family.
So here is two weeks of sporadic sketching between posts, child herding, and making sure the house doesn’t fall apart. 😛 (I exaggerate, but truly, being a stay-at-home mom takes quite a bit more work than a lot of people think 🙂 )
Compared to the current homepage…You’ll notice the little saber-tooth cub lost his fangs. They’re just hidden behind extra large lips. Turns out only tusks are exposed, so all saber-tooth cats should have their teeth nicely sheathed. 🙂
I did look at reference pictures, but research was kept to a minimum since most of these animals are not in the Jurassic period. I’ll update the picture as I get to the appropriate periods, which may take a while. 😛
Coming Next Week…
I hope you don’t mind getting wet, because this swimming critter loves to splash! 🙂
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.
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? 🙂
To get an idea on how big the ball is, check out the super-sized balls these horses are playing with. 😉
And it looks like I can purchase a domain name (like PaleoPetshop.com instead of PaleoPetshop.wordpress.com) and be able to forward emails from the site for less than $100! So that’s awesome. 😀
With that in mind, I’m working on the next step- finishing the first collection of mini-comics for an eBook. This eBook will be available for 99 cents, but you can purchase a physical copy for a few more bucks.
Once this collection is finished, then I’ll purchase the domain name and you’ll get to download and print those free collectible Critter Cards I showed you a couple weeks back. 😀
Here’s Dippy, since he’s the Critter of the Week. 🙂
Just a friendly reminder. If you’re seeing this in your email right now, it would be awesome if you’d click on the post title. That will take you to the actual page, which helps the Paleo Petshop get noticed by Google, which is a good thing if you like what you read and want to share it with others. 🙂 Thank you so much for being here with me. I truly appreciate it when we can chat a little together.
If you don’t mind spoilers, here’s a preview for one of the comics- Dippy vs. Ball.
Coming Next Week…
A real sweetie who’ll tolerate just about anything, even dress up. Just be careful not to spook her.
Meet Alfred. The lion of the Jurassic! The prince of the Mesozoic! The…oh, there he goes after another butterfly. All he needs to be happy in life is his food, his chew toy, and a nice long nap.
Looks like Alfred has found something to chase. No worries though, that butterfly has nothing to fear, and he’ll give up soon enough. Allosaurus (ah-low-saw-rus) wasn’t very fast, but he can’t help it- if it runs off, he’s got to chase it! After a quick sprint, Alfred loves to settle under the shade of a tree and take a nice nap.
What’s that you say? He’s a fearsome predator? Well yes, yes he is. Take a quick look at lions, and tigers, and bears (oh my!), and most of the time you’ll actually catch them napping. Crocodiles and eagles, Alfred’s closest living relatives, also do a lot of nothing. Once you have a full belly, why not enjoy a siesta in the sun? 🙂
Fun Fact: This guy is the first critter that I kinda found my style. All the ones I drew before him were very inconsistent, but this one had the sketchiness and detailed painterly mixture I was looking for. All other critters after him I’ve been refining my technique and getting better.
Now I have to practice on my people!
Making progress…
I had a big surprise planned. The goal was to have Pete’s Postcards from the Shop all set up by my birthday (that’s today. I just set it as a convenient goal date. 🙂 )
The Critter Cards were done, I got the PDF file sorted out, Mailchimp all set up and ready to go…I run through the motions to test it out for myself and…
Nothing.
I wasn’t really surprised, since I can’t really use my personal email account to send you emails from the Paleo Petshop. But it was worth a try. I’m trying to spend as little money as possible until I start earning a little. This can turn into a really expensive hobby really fast if I’m not careful.
Not exactly what I’m going for. 🙂
So now I’m figuring out the best place to purchase a domain name, so that PaleoPetshop.wordpress.com can turn into PaleoPetshop.com. Only problem is that so many places offer so many different packages with bells and whistles I’m not ready for just yet. Like webhosting.
All I need is an official domain name, and the email address I can use with Mailchimp.
Wish me luck! I’ve got a couple of options I’m looking at, but it’s just a matter of figuring out which one’s a better fit. 🙂
In the meantime, here’s the Critter Card chart with all dinosaurs colored in. 😀
Coming Next Week…
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.
Pete's Paleo Petshop 