In Which Adam posts an Art-Dump

Hey, I'm not dead! It's been an awful busy year, but hopefully we can start seeing some more elaborate posts on here again. In the meanwhile, have some artstuff. (Click to enlarge.)

In Which Adam is in an Art Show

Hey everyone, I'm going to be in an art show!

Tomorrow night, at the Hi 5 at 59-60 Ridgewood, Queens, starting at 8 pm, some paintings of mine will be on display! Everyone go check it out.

Here is there event page, for more info.

In Which Adam Continues The Feathered Dinosaur Draw-A-Thon

I'm upping the dinosaur ante, folks!

WAHAHAHA

Now, if you participant in the Feathered Dinosaur Drawathon, you will be entered into a random drawing. At the end, I will pick a person at random, and they will win a free print of the feathered dinosaur of your choice. (Just choose any of the dinosaurs I have drawn for this project.)

Once the project is over, I will contact the winner, and we can work out the most effective methods of shipment.

Otherwise, keep sending me your favorite feathered dinosaurs, and tell anyone who might be interested! The results will be in at the end of the month!

In Which Adam presents: The Feathered Dinosaur Draw-A-Thon

Now recent news in the paleo world is that of the discovery of fossilized dinosaur feathers preserved not in stone, but in amber. In addition to being an amazing scientific discovery that could give us far greater insight on the coloration and structure of dinosaur feathers, which could in turn give us a better idea of their habitats and lifestyles, it is likewise simply breathtaking to look at.

So in honor of this momentous discovery, I shall be doing something a little special. Without further ado, I present the:

Yes, for the next 30 days, (That's from today, til October 21,) I will be drawing any feathered dinosaur, extinct or otherwise, that you request! Just post your request here, in the comments section. Or, if you have a twitter, send a feathered dinosaur of your choice to @Piscasaurus, with #FeatheredDino in the subject. At the end of the month, I shall post all of them up at once.

If you'd like to remain anonymous in the entry, please let me know. Or if you'd like me to link back to your blog or website, I can certainly be accommodating to that as well.

Please note that I am not a paleontologist, and while I will certainly do my best to remain scientifically accurate, if I make some sort of error, please just politely let me know in the comments section, and I will know not to make that mistake in the future!

Otherwise, please tell everyone you know to send me their favorite feathered dinosaurs, and if you'd like to have your own dinosaur draw-a-thon, go right ahead! This is meant to be a community project, so the more people interested, the better.

I look forward to seeing your responses!

Edit! Apparently September is Velociraptor Awareness Month! Suddenly this project has become far more appropriate.

Edit! Edit! This project is now a sweepstakes! If you enter, you have a chance to win one of the final drawings! See the above post for further details. 

In Which Adam Goes to Europe: Part 1.1.3: Berlin

Today is museum day! So to Museum Island we go!

We begin our day at the Neues (New) Museum. Having originally opened in 1855, it isn't exactly new, per se, however, it was severely damaged in World War II, and was not completely rebuilt and reopened until 2009.

Here I am!

Anywho, the museum!

The Neues Museum is particularly noted for having a very extensive Egyptian exhibit. In particular, they have that rather famous bust of Queen Nefertiti which I am sure all of you have seen somewhere or another. Alas, for that room did not allow photographs, but then again, that is what I have a sketchbook for.

So here we go, sketches:

In Which Adam Goes to Europe: Part 1.1.2: Berlin

Day two of Berlin!

Starting off where I left off, we got up in the morning, and headed towards the Bauhaus.

History lesson!
The Bauhaus school was founded in 1919 by architect Walter Gropius, as a means to apply modernist thought and practicality to architecture and design. Specifically, Gropius felt that artistic value could be applied to mass produced items, and set out to devise a means where people could work out ways to create aesthetically pleasing items on a mass scale. The aftereffects of the bauhaus movement can be seen just about everywhere, from the chairs in your living room, to that condo your grandmother in Florida lives in. There were three Bauhaus schools founded, with the one we visited being comparatively the most recent one.

Here I am.

In Which Adam Goes to Europe: Prologue

Well, for those I have not told already, tomorrow I will be leaving for Germany, and will be traveling around Europe for the next two weeks. I've never traveled abroad before, so I am super excited over this. Basically, the trip will be Berlin -> Battenburgh (Small town where my grandma grew up) -> Long train ride -> Paris -> Long train ride -> London. I shall take lots of photos and sketches, so expect some interesting adventure tales in the next few days. Weee.

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Also, check out what Tiffany Turrill (seriously one of my favorite recent artists) said to me on her tumblr: http://tiffanyillustration.tumblr.com/post/7918108478/this-isnt-really-a-question-but-id-just-like-to-say#notes

I am giddy as a schoolgirl.

In Which Adam Goes to the Museum (Again)

There are no words that can tell the hidden spirit of the wilderness, that can reveal its mystery, its melancholy and its charm.
- Theodore Roosevelt

Ah, well, as I had mentioned before, I am currently working on writing/illustrating a children's dinosaur book (an alphabet book, specifically.) And while currently, my main attention seems to be figuring out just what microraptor plumage ought to look like...

I am still working on it, you see.

I may as well go to my absolute favorite place on earth, the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH.) I haven't been there since that conference on lizards. So I figure I will make a drawing day of it, get a bit of dinosaur anatomy worked out, otherwise have a grand ol' time.

I really cannot stress how great this place is. Even the subway nearby is awesome. The walls are covered with different tile mosaics of different animals. Just lovely.

=3

I'm afraid you will have to forgive the quality of these photos. My brother off in Germany is borrowing my camera, so I had to take these with my cell phone. Ah well.

Anyway, as I start to get weird looks for being that crazy person in the subway taking pictures of the walls, I actually make my way inside of the museum.

This rather grandiose display of an Allosaurus engaged in combat with a Barosaurus. And this is just the main lobby.

So, after a half an hour's waiting on line (Its a crowded summer day, what do you expect?), I am inside the museum!

And I promptly get distracted by the gift shop.

They have hanging pterosaurs! And this is just the gift shop! Sweet!

I mean, there are just so many books! And toys! And fossils! And, and, and....

I am distracted easily. Oh, and also there was a rather charming invertebrate display by the Real Insect Co, who I have had the pleasure of meeting some of the people from a few months back. They're really helpful, and if you have any interest in preserved insects, they are worth a checking out. I am getting myself distracted again.

But yes! Drawing! That is why I am here! Yes! So I am going to draw some extinct dinos...

Well, close.

Okay, so I manage dinosaurs, though not the extinct ones yet. I end up in the the African Bird exhibit, totally on the wrong floor. Still, no loss, and I want to draw plumage anyways.

Quack.

 Okay, okay, must go on, mustn't be distracted. Up to the top floor, I make my way to the extinct animal exhibits. The dinosaurs have two rooms, one for Ornithischians (bird-hipped dinosaurs) and Saurischians (lizard-hipped dinosaurs.) (Note that despite the names, modern birds are actually descended from the lizard-hipped dinosaurs. Odd, but true.) I start with the Saurischians.

There we go.

I sit down, I draw some sauropod skulls. Its peaceful, though I do get harassed a bit by some kids crowding around trying to look. Oh well, life goes on.

But then, tragedy strikes.

Gasp

I begin sketching a Plateosaurus (a basal sauropodomorph ("basal sauropodomorph" is quite fun to say outloud. (I like recursive parenthesis, if you haven't noticed.))) But alas! My pencil runs out of lead! Despair! I quickly run to the gift shop and buy a pen, and while it is pretty cool that I now have a pen with dinosaurs on it, it is still not the same drawing wise. So if the further drawings here are a little wonky, you can at least know why.

Anyways! More from the Saurischia exhibit:

Allosaurus and Dilophosaurus skulls.

Obligatory

 Struthiomimus, not reconstructed.

And two other things of interest from here:

Archaeopteryx. I always forget just how small these guys are.

And.

Deinocheirus. Look at those big honkin' arms!

Alright, that is all for Saurischia, on to the Ornithischians!

Edmontonia, Anatotitan, and Protoceratops

And photos!

Styracosaurus. An old childhood favorite of mine.

Anatotitan (A Hadrosaur.) I noticed that I took this picture from the exact same angle as the picture of them in the museum's wikipedia page.

Protoceratops with a nest of eggs.

A stegosaurus's thagomizer.

Well, that's all for the dinosaurs. But still, there is more! In addition to the two dinosaur exhibits, there is also a room devoted to other extinct reptiles, amphibians and fish, and two other rooms for extinct mammals and synapsids. Here's a sample:

Pteranodon

A phytosaur, and another archosaur that I (tragically) cannot recall the name of. Anyone able to help on this? a Prestosuchus. Thanks Albertonykus!

I'm pretty sure this is a mosasaur of some kind.

A large bony fish.

Dunkleostus's big, bony skull.

And from the mammals, a Brontothere.

And thus, my trip to the museum comes to its conclusion. I exit, in an almost zenlike state of peace (seriously, the place is really calming.) I stop by a nearby Japanese restaurant and have some ramen, and then I am on my way home. A good day is had by all.

Later on, I find this in a bookstore for surprisingly cheap. I think I may find it helpful for my book. (Again, plumage.)

It's huuuuuuuuge.

Anyways, just as a recap, the AMNH is really a wonderful place. If you're not native to New York, but plan to visit at some point, really do include this as a high priority on your places to check out. It is worth it.

With that said, I will leave you with this additional book I had come by at my stop at Borders:

Goodnight Everybody!

In Which Adam Plans to Write a Comic and Other News

In recent news, my pal Eileen will be putting together a comic anthology of mythological stories, which I shall have an entry in! I think I will do an Anansi story of some kind...

For those who are interested and might like to make a submission of their own, check it out here: http://eileenmclain.com/gallery/mythology Expect further updates on this as I begin to put it together.

Update: The anthology project now has a tumblr page: http://mythologycomic.tumblr.com/
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In unrelated news, this very blog was featured in this week's Boneyard Blog Carnival! You can look for it, and other blogs discussing paleontology here: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/07/the-boneyard-2-11/

Many are quite neat. Some personal favorites of mine is Love in the Time of the Chasmosaurs, where they often dissect classical paleo art, and this frankly rather touching letter that a blogger had received from a paleontologist at the meager age of 10.

And lastly, check for future Boneyard updates here: http://theboneyardblogcarnival.blogspot.com/ With any luck, I hope to be up there again in the future.

Update: I've just discovered that this Boneyard Blog Carnival will in fact be the last one. And now I am sad. I wonder if it might be possible to start up something similar?

In Which Adam Talks About Weird Paleontology Art

Well, I am back!

Anywho, for today's topic, I shall be discussing David Peters, apparently a rather infamous figure in the paleontology world. Now, Tricia and and the Paleo King (check out their discussions on the matter here and here if you are curious) have had previously discussed him a while back, and I apologize to them if I come off as a bit of a copycat, but this is frankly just too amusing, and I feel that I need to share.

Basically, David Peters is an illustrator focusing in paleontology art. And if I may say so, he is quite splendid at it. He has published a few books of the years, and his art in them is really quite stunning.

You see?

The problem of course, is that Mr. Peters is not a paleontologist (despite what he might think.) And he has had some...shall we say interesting hypothesis on pterosaur reconstructions, and anatomy. Let's look, shall we?

Something seems...awry here....

"Well, okay," you say, "The posture's a bit strange. And It has that big silly head crest up top. But is this really as big a deal as you are making it to be?"

Well okay, I will give you that much. And there are in fact pterosaurs with crests as big (and goofy) as that. (Look up Nyctosaurs if you think me untruthful.) How about we look at one of Mr. Peters's own reconstructions (followed by my take on it.)

It looks like he spilled ink all over his drawing...

Don't ask me what I was thinking with the color scheme. I was sick, okay?

Convinced you yet? Basically, in addition to some unusual theories that pterosaurs were in fact more related to lizards then to dinosaurs, crocodiles and other archosaurs, as is more commonly thought, he rather infamously came about his interpretations of fossils by taking prexisting photos of the fossils, and then drawing over them in photoshop where he thought he saw any detail.

...

I'll just let that last bit sink in a bit.

So basically, the result of this, was that Mr. Peters would see a natural dent in the rock, or a crack where the animal's bone had fractured, and assume it was a natural feature in the creature's anatomy. In another example of how this can have awkward results, he drew the pterosaur Jeholopterus with vampire fangs and a angler fish-esque dangling thingwhat on its head.

Blaaaaaahh

So, I thinks to myself, perhaps Mr. Peters should take his talents and apply them elsewhere. Please take note that this is not meant as an insult to his talents, it is most certainly not. Rather, think of it from this perspective:

A loud screech is heard just past the horizon, and the hunters dove for cover, crowding into their holes in the cliftside wall, and mounting their hastily prepared headbows to their frontal crests. This is the day they had all been waiting for. Tonight they would return to their families like heroes, and eat like kings. But they must not be too overeager. It approaches.

It soon reached them, the sun glinting over iridescent fur and leathery flaps whipping back and forth in the rough wind. It let out a scream as the first of many arrows hit it, responding by letting out barrage of fine down from its underside, which immediately set cliffside aburst in yellow flame. But they had readied for this too. Working quickly, they released their dam, causing hours worth of built up mud and silt to torrent down the cliff walls, and quenching the flames, all the while continuing their assault. Within minutes of work, the creature was down.

Now, ignoring my (possible lack of) capacity for writing, what I am saying here is that Mr. Peter's designs would be absolutely perfect for a fantasy setting! Just picture it! Vibrantly colored airborn reptiles, all with numerous crests, airsacks, contours and spines. It would make some great world building!

Anywho, that is just my take on the matter. Should anyone care to see more of David Peter's reconstruction work, here's his webpage: http://www.reptileevolution.com/index.htm

Adam out.