Carboniferous Art - Work in Progress

Carboniferous WIP

Meganeura monyi and Pulmonoscorpius kirktonensis

This WIP is being made for ART Evolved's Carboniferous Gallery which goes online July 1st.  Be sure to send in your art to artevolved@gmail.com.

I'll post the finished piece with more info on the amazing arthropods at the end of the month.

Also sent around twitter as my #10oclockart.

Parasaurolophus in Love

Parasaurolophus in Love ©2011 

Medium: Acrylic Paints

Now that the Hadrosaur Gallery has gone up on ART Evolved, I can reveill the complete parasaurolophus piece!  Be sure to visit the gallery for a metric ton of gorgeous duckbill art!

The point of this reconstruction was to keep my colour pallet to only one to two colours.  As the emotion of this piece is love, I went with the traditional red tones for the critters.  One of the biggest  challenges I have in painting is that I tend to paint with bold, almost primary colours.  A prime example is my Pterosaur family in their garish blue, orange and yellow. 

I have recently bought James Gurney's book, Colour and Light, in an effort to teach myself better colour choice.  I look forward to pouring through it when I can find the time, and hopefully you will see an evolution in my art.

Thanks for checking this piece out and if you have any critiques, please let me know in the comments section below.

Ushering in 2011

Last night, the world clock ticked over from 2010 to 2011, and with it, the infinite possibilities of a new year ahead!  Time to seize those possibilites...

To begin with, it must be noted that I have been posting less and less here (only 40 posts last year!)  I don't feel the desire to write about my personal life, nor have I done much traveling recently.   Somewhere in 2010, I made a conscious decision to transform "Bond's Blog" into a space to showcase art and give a peek into creation.  I never fully completed that transition.

So my plans for 2011 include creating the formal art communication space here.  More shared art, more artistic updates, and artsy travel photograph-of-the-week type posts to start.  Organization and planning is key!  I am also committing myself right now to the creation and completion of some sort of kids book - something I have been dancing around for the last few years.  It's time to do something about it.

2010 also saw the continued evolution of ART Evolved as a more significant force in the paleo-art-isphere.  The continuation of the every-two-month galleries and an increase in article content, along with the highly successful Pink Dinosaur cancer campaign, has given me huge satisfaction.  I also plan on spending more energy in 2011 so ART Evolved can grow even bigger!

Thanks to all my friends and followers for a great 2010.  Here's to a fantastic 2011!

-Peter

(and a big welcome to the world to Calvin Mellow!)

To Catch an Art Thief

Yesterday, ART Evolved banned together around one of our members, Dr. Manabu Sakamoto, to catch an art thief.  Please follow this link to read the whole story "The Art Thief vs. The Dinosaur Bloggers," masterly written and posted on ART Evolved by Glendon Mellow.

Here is a sample from the post:

Theft is going to get found out.

All of us on Art Evolved experienced a point in time where we made a decision to go online with our artwork.  It's a tough decision, and everyone frets to varying degrees about what will happen if our work is stolen.

• We slap copyright symbols on it, and some of us put obscuring watermarks on the images.
• We employ Creative Commons Licences, or rail against Google ImageSearch for making it so easy.  
• We vary on how much we protect our artwork, and how much we like to share it.  
• None of us is likely to know if an indie punk band in Vienna has downloaded our Diabloceratops for their gig posters.  

So if you're an aspiring artist looking to get into paleo-art or any kind of image, and you're nervous about making a big enough name for yourself online, here's some stuff you can do.

• Don't steal. 
• If it's a fan homage, say it is.  
• Don't re-post someone's stuff without asking.  
• If they have a blanket statement saying it's okay, make sure you link back to them and give them credit.   
• Always give artists, illustrators and image-makers credit. Always.
• Just ask.  Always ask if it's cool.  Most illustrators love feedback.
• Use the © symbol a lot. State what you want. 
• Blog.  Post comments elsewhere.  Reciprocate.
• Become friends and peers to others with similar interests. 
• If you can, be part of a network or group online. 
• "I got yer back" is one of the most heart-warming statements you can utter to a friend. 

If someone steals your work, 

• make a fuss. 
• Go through proper channels. 
• Be civil and intelligent when you dialogue. 
• Ask for help from your support network.  

I encourage anyone to put their artwork online.  And becoming part of a network makes everyone stronger than without it.

 Read the full post here.

I totally agree with Glendon when he says that becoming part of an online community is the best way to protect your art online.  Strength in numbers, we've got your back!

-Peter

October is Pink Dinosaur Month

Sorry for the recent absence folks, but I've been having too much fun with the Pink Dinosaur Cancer Fundraiser event that ART Evolved is currently running! 

What is Pink Dinosaurs, you might ask?  Go here to read an overview about what the event is.  Send in a drawing of your pink dinosaur to artevolved@gmail.com and I'll post it on ART Evolved!  Send in as many as you like!  Each pic I post, AE will be donating $1 to the Canadian Cancer Society.  If you don't feel you have the necessary mad skills to scribble a pink highlighter on the back of today's newspaper and email me a pic, then you can also go directly to the event site and donate there!

The response so far to Pink Dinosaurs is simply amazing.  It has been promoted all around the paleoblogsphere (most notably here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here) and we already have 25 posted pink dinosaurs.  If we get more than 50, then my initial predictions will have been surpassed!  The submission rate has increased now that it is October, and I am loving seeing all the amazing artwork!  Paleo-art for a difference!

The event officially ends at the end of October, but if people keep on sending in pink dinosaurs, I'll post them through November and December!

With Fawlty Towers rehearsals in full swing and Zorro stage design due, my time is busy with acting and tutoring and teaching.  I will need to sit down and create my own pink dinosaur to add to the growing group of spectacular art!

Pop-Cutlure Gallery Submissions

Ghostbuster vs Zombie Dinosaur (2010)

Godzilla Contemplates Vancouver (2010)

ART Evolved is evolving into a Network

Our little ART Evolved Network has evolved with it's own RSS Feed! You can subscribe to it by clicking on the icon above (or at the top of the left sidebar), and follow all 20 or so fascinating blogs from one place!

The network and RSS feeds are designed to put ART Evolved, and everyone involved with it, more exposure and hopefully more opportunities for freelance gigs and jobs.  One step always leads to another!  Big thanks to Glendon for putting in the R&D time to make this happen!

Happy Crawlin' Canada Day!

a Canadian Trilobite: Olenoides serratus of the Burgess Shale 

 - see this and a lot more trilobite art at ART Evolved.

Trilobite WIP(3)

FINALLY figured out how to separate and select only the black pencil/ink lines!  Yes!  This is something I've been trying to do forever, and I'm sure it was such a simple thing!  Also started to do some detail and blending with the background. 

T-minus 8 days to ART Evo's  Trilobite Gallery, and Canada Day!  Speaking of which, stay tuned for another in my Canada Day Flag series!

Trilobite WIP

With the ART Evolved Trilobite Gallery a short scurry away, it was really time to get something done for it.  I started with a quick search for an interesting Moroccan specimen and found this, the lovely Dicranurus monstrosus.  After grabbing the black uni-ball pen, this is what I came up with:

Next is to throw this into photoshop and digitally colour him, with hopefully some sort of background for this little critter!

Liveblogging: Ichthyosaur Edition! (Part 1)

Without a full day to dedicate to liveblogging (aka doing art for 15 hours consecutively in one sitting!), this edition of liveblogging will be an ongoing event where WIPs will be posted often.

For this edition, an ichthyosaur is the subject (to be included into May's ART Evolved Ichthyosaur Gallery!)  While teaching Math yesterday, I managed to throw down a quick sketch of an ichthyosaur I kinda liked.

I like how droopy his snout is - he looks very Muppet-like.  And, yes, his tail is completely wrong!  He was sketched in pencil, then the brightness was digitally lowered to give him an inked look.  From here, I plan to digitally colour him and place him in a created environment.

Any guesses as to his name?

Barosaurus Finished

Barosaurus and Allosaurus ©2009

Created during liveblogging for ART Evolved's Sauropod Gallery.  See it's creation here.

I returned to this piece after six months and decided to play with the contrast and lighting...  I think I'll say it's finished and be done with it.  For some reason, I love some aspects (puddles, rain wash) and hate others (rain effect, simple forest, colours).  A fun experiment!

New Portfolio and Updates!

Update: 
In keeping with the blog redesign and the online transition of Bond: Unprofessional Doodler (just fooling around) to Bond: Amateur Artist (on the track towards professionalism), I have created a new professional-looking portfolio!  Click here to check it out!

The portfolio is hosted (free!) through deviantArt, and I am quite pleased with the results.  Having had an account with dA for a few years, I found it very easy to organize and transfer images.  If anyone is interested, my deviantArt profile is here.

Art Update:
I am currently working on a few things:

• a coral reef painting - a large piece to hang above the fireplace, full of colourful coral, fish, and invertebrates!  I have had this image in my head since scuba diving in the Philippines, of slowly drifting towards the edge of a reef and peering down the wall into the dark depths...  The painting is still in the initial stages; the reef has been sketched and the background ocean blue has been painted.  Stay tuned for updates, as I am quite excited about this one...
• an ichthyosaur piece for ART Evolved - one month until the very exciting Ichthyosaur Gallery, and I haven't even started a piece yet.  My plan is to sketch simple outlines and then digitally colour it using the same photoshop technique I used on the spinosaur.  I just need to decide on a subject - which genera of ichthyosaur?!  Perhaps I will get inspired before the AE liveblogging session in a few days!  Remember, you too can join in the liveblogging!
• a playbill poster for Players 99 - Back in 1999, the acting group I belong to (SMP Dramatic Society) put on a cabaret show, and the SMP producers have asked me to create a poster for the archives.  I preformed Monty Python's Bookshop Sketch and sang a Cherry Poppin' Daddies swing dancing song, while a couple swang danced. Uh, swung danced?  Danced swingingly???

 Anyway, have a Happy Easter!  I hope you all had loads of chocolate.  Mmmmm, chocolate....

Goodbye 2009. Hello 2010!

As you may have noticed, Bond's Blog is going through a New Year's refurbishment.  So stay tuned, while I work out the html and finalize the tabs.  And all this on it's 300th post!

With the end of a year comes reflection.  I thought I'd take a moment and recap 2009 from a Peter perspective.

Reflections on 2009:

• It is over a year since I've been back in Vancouver, after living abroad for the previous 3 years.  I've been effectively "stable" for the past year, but I still don't feel "settled."  I'm sure it will come with time.  Just as long as I can repress the urge to grab my pack and run to the airport!
• I did run to the airport once in 2009 though!  Las Vegas, Baby!  A fun Vegas trip with a couple of buddies, along with some camping and cabin-ing around British Columbia, is the extent of my travels this year.  Quite a reduction from 2008, which included Korea, Japan, and the Philippines...
  
• Upon returning back to this beautiful city, I returned to my substitute teaching job.  While I am planning to get my own classroom someday, I was given the opportunity to teach Science 9 in summer school in July!  Quite satisfying to teach an entire course from beginning to end...
  
• 2009 has also seen me in two different apartments - the first: an expensive bachelor with a view, the second: a less-expensive one-bedroom ground floor with a garden (and fireplace!) 
  
• A huge benefit of the Stable Life is an increase in the amount of art I do.  I've painted more this year than any previous, and that makes me happy!
  
• What also makes me happy is my formation of the paleo-art website ART Evolved.  Along with Craig, we've managed to create an expanding community of artists and scientists, who create, discuss, challenge, teach, experiment, and appreciate all things prehistoric art!  ART Evolved has er.. evolved and grown more then either of us expected - culminating with a featured interview and article in EARTH Magazine!  (My thanks to all the talented friends I've made on this adventure this year!)
• With great highs also comes great lows.  2009 was the year we had to put down my dog Toby.  This was one of the most painful experiences of my life, as Toby was part of my life for 13 years.
  
• This was also a great year for visiting friends.  My English roommate Emily came to visit for a few weeks in April, as did a couple of my Lookout Crew friends Marianne and Duncan in the summer!  It was a blast seeing them and catching up.  Miss you all!
• For the past 15 years, the local theater group I belong to, SMP Dramatic Society, has been putting on traditional pantomimes every January.  This year, it is The Wizard of Oz and I've delved headlong into the production - not only as Set Designer, but also acting as the classic Dame, Aunt Em!  Yes ladies and gentlemen, this role requires a bit of cross-dressing, but don't fret - this is classic pantomime!  But I'll tell you, double H-cups are really big!

So ends 2009, a transition year.  A creative year.  A year of coming together.  But what of 2010?  What do we have to look forward to next year?

• The Wizard of Oz run at the end of January...
  
• A month of artistic collaboration with Craig, as he visits for the Olympics in February...
  
• And of course, the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games! 43 days until the torch is lit...
  

Hmm, after February, 2010 is quite open...   Suggestions?  Come visit!  This is an open invitation to you to come see this beautiful city of mine.  Happy New Year!

Berlin Brachio...er... Giraffatitan Reconstruction

Giraffatitan brancai Restoration - The New Berlin Mount

With ART Evolved's Sauropod Gallery up in all it's glory, I quietly added one more piece from me - a brachiosaur in pen-and-ink with dot-shading. Officially, it is a reconstruction of the new mount of the Berlin Brachiosaurus ...err... Giraffatitan branchai.

Giraffatitan. A name just not as cool as ol'Brachio. If you're interested in why this specimen was renamed, check out here and here. My interest lies not in the new name, but with the new mount.

Back in the summer of 2002, I traveled around Europe by train (good ol'Eurorail!), checking out the many museums and beer halls the UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium and Germany has to offer.

Besides the beer, wine, rich food and chocolate consumed, one of my favorite things I found in Europe was the Berlin Brachiosaur - yes, still Brachiosaurus in 2002 - at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin. It was huge - a mighty testament to an amazing animal as well as to the scientists who discovered, prepared and mounted her. Umm, created her mount. Yeah.

Still the tallest mounted skeleton in the world, the Berlin Brachiosaur was updated when the museum underwent renovations. Gone were the elbows-out arms and draggy tail. Now she strides elegantly in lovely Greg Paul-style, head held high and arms underneath.

You can see the transformation from the original pose in these 2002 pictures (before digital panorama ability!) and the new pose in the Wikipedia picture at the top of the post. Next to that new mounted Giraffatitan is my pen drawing of the animal reconstructed. As you can see, I moved the positioning of the back legs, to make it look more stable where it stands.

I love this specimen - one of my favorites out there, and when sauropods became the next ART Evolved gallery, it seemed right to reconstruct the Giraffatitan. (Though she'll always be the ol'definitive Brachiosaurus to me.)

Having delved into these old European museum photos, I feel the need to share them. And so begins a new series here on Bond's Blog - A Photographic Tour of Museums I've Been To: Europe - Part 1: Berlin. Coming soon...

The Sauropod Gallery is UP!

Check out the HUGE Sauropod Gallery over at ART Evolved - it really is as gigantic as the beasts we reconstruct!

Sauropod Liveblogging 4: Dino Colours

So the dinosaurs get a base colour. I had to physically remove the red from my brush for the allosaur (who just has to be red! Why? I don't know!) Trying to get away from the norm...

I am listening to right now: Craig's voice on skype. He's begun his liveblogging, so check him out here.

Sauropod Liveblogging 3: Colours

Began the sky and the base colour for the forest. Think the ground will be am annoyance. Time to move onto the dinosaurs. And get food (already 2pm here in Vancouver!)

Music I am listening to right now: Beautiful Freak by The Eels, Tribute by Tenacious D

Sauropod Liveblogging 2: Background

It is quite hard to see on the pic (you can enlarge any of my pics for more details!), but I have added a bit of a background. Think I'm going to go with a skewed horizon, hopefully giving a frantic feel to the piece. Not sure it is working at all. Perhaps it is just killing the "circular" flow Glendon mentioned in a previous comment... Thought?

It's raining in Vancouver, and it might soon be raining in the Jurassic... Time to put paint to paper.

Music I am listening to right now: She's Not There by Santana, Acting Like a Fool by Matt Costa.

Sauropod Liveblogging 1: Pencils

And so we begin... with basic pencils on "canvas" paper. This is the point now where I need input on the anatomy of the animals. Did I get the proportions right?

See you back in an hour. Next is to finalize some sort of background...

Music I am listening to right now: Cuts Like a Knife by Brian Adams, Shot Through the Heart by Bon Jovi. Hmm. Big Rock theme here...