Calligram of the Anatomy of a Tyrannosaur Skull

Calligraphy of the anatomical names of bones in the tyrannosaur skull.

Arguably, the two most prominent bones in the head of a Tyrannosaur are the dentary in the mandible and the jugal, just beneath the orbit where the eye resides. Sure, a case can be made for the nasal or the maxilla (from which, with the premaxilla, the top teeth erupt), but look at this image I made which proves that completely wrong.

No, in the tyrant “lizard,” the jugal and the dentary are King. And if you could separate them and weigh them, the dentary would likely be even kingier, out-kinging even the mighty jugal. But is that likely to be the case with all tyrannosaurids? All dinosaurs? All skulls? Let’s find out.

Available on shirts, mugs and other things in:

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Calligraphy of the anatomical names of bones in the tyrannosaur skull, in color.

Two days' work of sweating out hand-lettering to make it legible and accurate. Worth it? I think so. But I made this, so I'm perhaps biased.

2016 #Sciart Tweetstorm Day 5: The Curious Sail

Day of the Dimetrodon! I posted the top sketch to Twitter after reading a 2012 paper on Dimorphodon sail morphology, and decided after receiving some input on Facebook from some fellow artists to create a few different versions.

Original version - no sail, mammalian face.

2016 #Sciart Tweetstorm Day 5: flappers & flaplings.

2016 #Sciart Tweetstorm Day 4: watercolor & pencil.

Pure coincidence was at work enabling these images to essentially be pointed in the same direction. Or is it? Am I exhibiting a kind of handedness when it comes to painting or drawing? Am I in possession of an unconscious (and remorseless) bias? Must remember to ask Emily Willoughby about her findings on this notion or something.

2016 #Sciart Tweetstorm Day 4: Fossil (Reconstruction) Friday

Tonight's serving of #sciart - three reconstructions of some of my favorite fossil critters. First up, Helicoprion with her modern relative, the Galapagos ratfish. Second, an outdated reconstruction of Thallattosaurus from the side and top, after the original Merriam fossil sketch. Last, we have a troodon with corvid-esque feather patterns from a much larger piece I've been working on for the past couple of years.

Helicoprion and her modern relation, the ratfish.

Thallattosaurus, after Merriam. This reconstruction is inaccurate - the rostrum has been found to curve downwards instead of being straight.

A corvid-esque Troodon from a larger work in progress.

2016 #Sciart Tweetstorm Day 3: Raven's Pterosaur Pthrowback Pthursday

Day three (or should that be "pthree"?) of the #Sciart #Tweetstorm - a little late. This day's sketchdump includes two character design roughs for an animation project on the back burner tentatively titled "Flapling" which chronicles the first tentative flight of a newly hatched rhamphorhynchus.