Art Prehistoria #1: Megalosaur

Art Prehistoria - a new feature on my blog where I detail the process behind creating piece of art, from sketch to signature. The prehistoric theme is by no means meant to be restrictive but inspiring. I also just love to draw dinosaurs!

Our first piece of art is a life reconstruction of a generic megalosaur for The Tyrannosaur Chronicles blog's post on New Zealand dinosaur fossils:

First, I sketch a few different thumbnail sketches until I am satisfied with a pose. Using the skeleton and anatomical reference pictures, I decided on a menacing walking pose with its mouth open. This initial pencil sketch was changed and tweaked quite a bit before I was happy with it...

Next, I outlined the pencil sketch in black pen ink. This is the final (happier-looking) pose.

I had decided that this New Zealand Dino project would be created in watercolour. Here, I apply a base coat of watercolour paint over the body. The black ink begins to run with the water...

Then, I add more detail in fine watercolour lines and the black pen is used to smooth out the seeping ink...

A Megalosaur by Peter Bond

Finally, I add the third fingers, small details, a shadow and a signature, and we are done the first piece of Art Prehistoria. I am quite pleased and taken with the little theropod! Artistic and scientific feedback and suggestions are much, much appreciated!

More from the New Zealand Collection soon - including a sauropod and a raptor...
Check out Prehistoric Insanity Production's blog for this and more palaeoart from PI's team!

The Blue Whale Project

There will be a new museum in the University of British Columbia. And it's got a Blue Whale!

The new Beaty Biodiversity Museum is currently being built at UBC - right on Main Mall, opposite the Geology Building (where the old Engineering Annex used to be). It is slated to be finished sometime .... in the near future...

A 26-meter-long blue whale is being dug up in Prince Edward Island right now, and when it is stripped and cleaned and mounted, it will be displayed in all it's gigantic mammal-ness!

The story goes that in 1987, a blue whale washed up on a beach in Prince Edwards Island and died. The Canadian Government couldn't figure out what to do with a whale corpse the size of two city buses, so they decided to bury it in PEI's red sand until a plan could be devised.

Two decades later, The Plan is to dig up the whale and ship it the 6000 km to UBC, and display it in a glass atrium at The Beaty Biodiversity Museum!

Check out this video about the Blue Whale dig.

I can't wait to head back to my old Alma Mater and visit the new museum. And then after, I'd check out my old stomping grounds at the UBC Geology Department - the Pacific Museum of the Earth.

Korean Baby Dinosaur Footprints

From Digital Chosunilbo:

The largest remains of baby dinosaur footprints has recently been found in Korea. Over 100 footprints of two baby sauropods were found in Euiseong County, North Gyeongsang Province - eastern South Korea. Palaeontologists have dated the trace fossils back to 110 million years ago - the Early Cretaceous.

Boneyard #20: Meeting Prehistoric Creatures 'behind the scenes' at The Royal Tyrrell Museum

I was intrigued by Laelaps' Boneyard (#20) competition, and decided to throw my travel-worn hat into the ring. The topic is "Meeting a Prehistoric Creature," and I have just the post.

In fact, I've been wanting to post these photographs since I began Bond's Blog, but it never seemed appropriate. A few years back, I worked at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta (my favorite and the best dinosaur museum) and spent an afternoon "behind the scenes," exploring it's collections department.

Join me for a peek inside the prepared collections of the Tyrrell Museum, as we meet MANY prehistoric creatures!

(Please excuse the Batman t-shirt - just call it more viral advertising for this summer's The Dark Knight! - opens July 18th)

DINOSAURS"Never trust a man holding a skull."
Albertosaurus skull

"My, what big teeth you have, Granny!"
Tyrannosaurus rex (Stan) lower jaw

"So tell me about your problems, Mr. Bonehead..."
Pachycephalosaurus skull

"Makes a great indoor pet...and house-trained!"
Compsognathus skeleton

"Smile Big Guy. You smiling? Smile, damn it!"
Parasaurolophus skull

"Oh my god! He just flew into this slab of solid rock!
Archaeopteryx (the London specimen)

"Can I kiss it?"
The world-famous Berlin specimen of Archaeopteryx
(Relax, it's a cast. I saw the original in the Humboldt University
Museum in Berlin a few years back!)

REPTILES"One for the girlfriend, one for the wife."

Two beautifully-preserved Pterodactyls

"How any ways can this kill me?"
Mososaur skull

"Yup, looks straight..."
Chamsosaurus skull

CEPHALOPODS

"Man... I hate counting sutures"
Ammonite

"Ingredients: ammolite, calcium carbonate, riboflavin, vitamin C..."
Ammonite displaying reflective iridescence.

"Bowling for extinction."
Large ammonite with limpit-marks
(which look like mososaur teeth-marks)

ARTHROPODS

"Mmm, smells like trilobite!"
Small trilobite

"You actually can hear the Super Sounds of the Silurian..."
Beautiful large trilobite

TRACE FOSSILS"Cross-species high-five!"

Hadrosaur hind-foot footprint

"You know, you can't make an omelet
without breaking some prehistoric eggs."
A nest of Protoceratops eggs

"Umm." No caption required.
Yeah. Actual dinosaur poop.

This concludes our quick peak inside the prepared collections of the Royal Tyrrell Museum!

As the repository for all fossils in Alberta, the museum's collection contains over 120,000 specimens and adds 2000+ annually. Included in the collection are unique Cambrian Burgess Shale fossils, Cretaceous dinosaur specimens from Dinosaur Provincial Park, and Triassic marine fish from British Columbia.

If anyone knows the species name of any of the fossils in the above photographs, please let me know what they are in the comments section. Thanks!


For more Tyrrell Museum and dinosaur-related Boneyard posts, check out Prehistoric Insanity Production's other entries:

• Traumador the Tyrannosaur's Primal Love
• Craig Dylke's Un-Professional Palaeontologist
• and Prehistoric Insanity Productions' Meeting a Prehistoric Creature

Busan and Back (Part 2 of 2: The Photographs)

BUSAN: The Photographs

After taking the overnight bus down to Busan from Seoul (~$30), Steve and I met up with some of his friends. Our first stop was Beomeosa, the largest Buddhist Temple in Busan - about 1500 years old.

Beautiful lanterns lined the pathway into the temple. This would have looked amazing at night.

The Main Gate and I

The lines and colours in the paint still show through after hundreds of years of exposure.

One of the Main Temple buildings had this huge drum inside and two fantastic dragons outside.

Close-up on Dragon 1: looking very serpent-like.

Close-up on Dragon 2: looking less serpent-like and more European dragon-like.

Tall, tall, tall bamboo

An amazing tree (that I don't know the name of). The picture is the right-way up!

The best shot I could bet of this cool earwig-like insect. It was about 3.5 cm long!

Overlooking a portion of the temple complex

The use of bamboo

As spring arrives, flowers bloom

The Waterfront

...Where development meets nature.

Steve and our two friends.

The domed space-age building where Korea hosted the leaders of countries bordering the Pacific Ocean for the 2005 APEC conference.

A friendly robot who greeted us in the lobby of the APEC conference center.

Ajashi (older Korean gentlemen) playing Baduk (or 'Go' in English)

Chillin' on the Beach

To the beach! Haeundae Beach - why Busan is so popular!

Beautiful

Steve juggling beer and water bottles.

I love this shot because it looks like wings are erupting out of the little girl's head!
Seagull hat!

Eating a Traditional Korean Seafood Dinner

Korean food is always eaten with many side dishes!

Eating Bundagae (Silk Worm Larvae)...

For more of me eating weird seafood, including *gasp* live octopus, watch the short film - the Peter Bond Travels: Food Attacks in Busan!

Dig in!