updates

Critter of the Week: Camptosaurus

| Patricia Bujard

Meet Copper & Daisy. These gentle giants are always happy to meet new friends.  They love being part of the group.

copperndaisy update.png

 

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’ve got a tiny buffer going, yay!  It’s taking a little more determination and stick-to-it-iveness (I’m sure I’ve heard that term used before) than I’m used to, but you’ll be seeing this post a week after I write it. 😀

You have to celebrate the tiny wins as much as the big ones, y’know. 🙂

Baby steps will still get you up the stairs. It just takes a lot of concentration, looking back to see how far you’ve come, and looking up to the top to keep moving forward.

A little lesson I learned from watching my little Sammysaurus crawl up the steps, learn to walk, and all the many challenges of being one year old. 🙂

And why is a buffer good for you?  It means I can focus more time on the actual book!  As a full-time mom, I have to manage my time carefully, so any way I can help streamline the blog here makes sure I have time for the book. 🙂

 

Coming Next Week…

A shy giant who just wants some greens and a big hug. 🙂

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

Critter of the Week: Pliosaurus

| Patricia Bujard

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

 

Tigger plio.png

Tigger sure has a big appetite.  He’ll eat anything that fits in that giant mouth of his.  Don’t mind the teeth though, because he’s just a big softie.

Speaking of teeth, I’ve made a few changes to his smile.  I’d originally chosen Liopleurodon, the marine predator famous in Walking With Dinosaurs, as the critter for Tigger.  But I decided to change it to Pliosaurus for a few reasons.

  1. Pliosaurus is the pliosaur!  It was the original critter discovered that gave the whole group its name
  2. Pliosaurus doesn’t seem to be as well represented as Liopleurodon, probably because of Walking With Dinosaurs.  
  3. Pliosaurus is easier to spell and say than Liopleurodon.  I have to sound out that name in my head every time I write it. 😛 Kids are awesome at saying long dino names like a boss, but come on, that one is just plain hard unless you’ve heard it. *cough*Walking With Dinosaurs*cough*

What’s the difference between this picture and the last one?

I’m glad you asked, because here’s where I get to geek out on you. 😀  But first, a quick disclaimer.

I don’t pretend to be an expert, because I’m not.  I’m just a hardworking mom doing my best to make a scientifically accurate picture book based on prehistoric animals.  I’m just sharing what I learn in the process, so if you happen to be an expert, please let me know if I’ve got something wrong! I’d be happy to hear from someone more experienced. 🙂

Liopleurodon sketch.
Pliosaurus skull diagram, note the smooth, sloping forehead & shape of the lower mandible. I found this picture by searching the web, but don’t know who to credit. Any help there would be great, because I want to give proper credit to whoever illustrated this helpful diagram.
Pliosaurus sketch
Liopleurodon skull. Picture was found on Pleasiosauria.com, where credit is given to Markus Felix Bühler

Now, Top left picture is the original sketch, which is based on liopleurodon.  Compared to the bottom picture of the skull, now I see where I got the teeth wrong a bit.  Shows what happens when you use a toy for reference. A very well sculpted Wild Safari model, but still a toy. 🙂

Comparing both skull and sketch to the top right and middle pictures, you can see a few big differences.  You can really go into technical detail, but the basics are…

  • the slope of the forehead
  • the shape of the mandible, the bottom jaw.
  • the size and arrangement of the teeth.

So a casual glance looks like I didn’t change much, but a closer look shows a much different animal. 🙂

 

Making progress…

I just want to say thank you for stopping by to chit chat with me on my little corner of internet. 🙂

It truly is humbling (and awesome!) to know that I get visitors all the way from Spain and Indonesia.  I have no idea who came from where of course, so there’s no way I’d ever know where you live unless you wanted to share your address with me.  It’s just cool to see the little map and which countries are colored in. 😀  Isn’t technology amazing?

Thank you for taking the time to read.  Life is busy and time is irreplaceable, so I hope I’ve done what I can to make your stay enjoyable.

If there’s anything I can do to make things better around here, then I’d love to hear from you!  I know there isn’t a lot on the site so far, but what do you like best?  Why do you like it?  I’d love to hear your answer in the comments. 🙂 

 

Coming Next Week…

Two thrown in for the price of one this time around.  This pair are always happy to meet new friends. 🙂

Share your guess in the comments! They’ll be a couple of the critters over on the critter page. 🙂

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. 🙂

Critter of the Week: Plesiosaurus

| Patricia Bujard

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. 🙂

Nessie.png

Look at that smile, I think she wants you to chase her!

Nessie loves hide & seek, especially seeking.  Better watch out, because she’ll sneak up on you from below.  She’s really good at that.  It’s hard to see in the picture here, but her eyes are almost on top of her head and point upwards a lot.

It’s kinda funny, because I made the mistake of doing more research while I was coloring her, and ended up making changes!

Now here is my original sketch…

Plesiosaurus

 

Notice all those little bumps and wrinkles in line of her spine there?  And that little line that marks her jaw line at the back of the skull?

Turns out that what I thought was a beefy, well fed Nessie, was actually 2 weeks from starvation.  No kidding.

The article I read compared two pictures of orca whales beside each other.  One starving, the other healthy.  The healthy one had a perfectly smooth torpedo shape.  The starving one had a defined spine and faint lines defining the shape of the skull.

I didn’t even know whales could get that skinny!  But apparently they do, and when they do, it doesn’t end well.

But I’m not sharing random sad stories.  My point is, that this whale showed the same marks as my Nessie.  And she’s a marine critter perfectly adapted for life in the open water.  It’s reasonable to think she’d have similar adaptations.  Thick layers of insulating fat to keep her warm. 🙂  And less wrinkly, because that just makes it harder to glide through the water.  Essential for predators.

So yay for the magic of contour forming shadows and highlights!  Nessie is now a happy and well fed marine reptile. 🙂

I could experiment more with an even smoother and more blubbery profile, like sea turtles, seals, and orcas- and there’s this neat speculative thing about a stumpy skink tail- but that’ll have to wait until the next sketch. 😛

 

Making progress…

I’m having fun with the blog posts, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. 🙂

This week I have a special goal to update the about page.  At the moment it’s too much about me, and not too clear what Pete’s Paleo Petshop means for you.  I love what I’m doing, but ultimately I want it to be for you, and not make it all about me.

It’s important that you get to know me of course.  Who wants to have a one-way conversion with the nameless and faceless website?  I just think the about page could be better.  I could still have the stories about how I got here, just not take center stage. 🙂

Coming Next Week…

This quiet softie loves nothing more than to spend time with his special person.

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

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. 🙂

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. 🙂

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.  🙂