Lady with an Archaeoceratops

Lady with an Archaeoceratops ~ Watercolour with touches of gouache, approx. 138 mm. diameter

Happy New Year! May 2017 be kinder to us all.

I promised our regular reader, Andrew Stück, that I would post this piece, after he commented that it's been a while since my saurian incongruities were last seen on the blog. So here we are! 

This piece began simply enough as a sketch, when I decided to pair a Tang dynasty lady with her pet Archaeoceratops.

The idea of turning it into a full colour piece soon took hold. So much so, I began to entertain thoughts of an entire series of ‘fine ladies from various cultures with their saurian pets’. A few friends even read my mind when I shared the sketch on social media, not least of whom was Joschua Knüppe, who, when I'd finished this piece, went on to suggest even more irresistible pairings. 

Detail

The colours and markings for the Archaeoceratops were inspired chiefly by the black-fronted duiker (Cephalophus nigrifrons) and the Sri Lankan spotted chevrotain (Moschiola meminna). 

Detail, during progress, with penny for scale.

I tried to think of a more succinct title for the piece but couldn’t come up with anything clever. Fellow illustrator and friend, Joseph Vernot playfully called it ‘Madonna and Child’, which I did like very much; but in the end, I settled for the simple, if not terribly creative, ‘Lady with an Archaeoceratops‘. After all, there is historical precedent for the form.

Happy 2016 from LITC

LITC 2016
Ink on hot pressed watercolour paper, 150 x 150 mm.

A little late, but not yet too late. Happy New Year to our readers from David (Anatotitan/Edmontosaurus), Asher (Dilophosaurus), Marc (Deinonychus), and me (Diplodocus). 

I made very few contributions to the blog in 2015, owing largely to moving house and a number of rather personal issues, but I very much hope that this piece is a good beginning to a more fruitful year ahead (opening the image out in a new tab for a closer view is once again recommended, *cough*). Oh, and I just wanted to mention that the basis of the boat's design was purloined and adapted from an illustration by Franklin Booth.

Many thanks to Marc for holding off his first VDA post of 2016 (a cracking one featuring Ely Kish once again, hurrah!) to allow me to make this 'opener', so to speak!

Welcome... To Waterloo Station

The dust of Jurassic World may have settled too long to warrant sharing these pictures now, but I was in the throes of moving house, followed by a lengthy period without home internet, and lacked the opportunity previously. Still, I felt I couldn’t have these pictures on my hands without posting them on the blog. 

During the first week of Jurassic World’s release, London’s Waterloo Station took part in what can only be described as a promotional extravaganza with a display featuring models of the film’s ‘raptors’. Visitors were encouraged to take their own JW selfie with the beasties and to share them on Twitter. Yes, folks, it had its own hashtag. I had hoped to drag Marc along for this privilege. Sadly, the display only lasted a week and there wasn’t enough time.

 

The rest of the station boasted the JW logo on its escalators, huge banners and posters hung in strategic spots, and the film’s trailers played in a loop on the new screens above the platforms on the station concourse. There was even a ‘Jurassic Traders Outpost’ erected for the occasion, where you could buy DVDs of all the previous films in the franchise in every available iteration. 

 

 I have to admit: I hadn’t yet seen the film then and though I did try to steel myself against the rampant commercialism like a good cynic, I could not help enjoying the atmosphere a little. Not unlike Christmas, really. Mea culpa.