Things with Feathers

I imagine Deinonychus as a highly opportunistic predator that would’ve attempted small prey whenever possible, much like modern wild canids and felids. Here it crashes into shallow water to snatch an eel.

This painting, originally posted here Feb 15, 2017, was hilariously marked as “adult content” by what may be the worst filter algorithm in the history of social media, so I’m reposting it.

One of the new full-color paleoart pieces featured in my & Jonathan’s new book on the creationism/evolution controversy, God’s Word or Human Reason? I’ve been waiting to share this one for ages, as it is probably my favorite of my artworks right now.

This snapshot from the Early Cretaceous Yixian of Liaoning, China, depicts a Caudipteryx zoui mother and her two chicks darting across a shallow riverbed to the safety of denser cover beyond. In the background, a pair of shaggy tyrannosauroid Yutyrannus try to decide if they ought to be interested, and a pair of Changchengornis, a confuciusornithid basal bird, glide by. Together, the three genera represent a wide span on the continuum of feathered dinosaurs and of feather complexity: from hulking, filamentous carnivore, to ground-bound, display-feathered oviraptorosaur, to flight-capable bird.

This illustration, along with 11 other full-color paintings of feathered dinosaurs, appears in chapter 4 of our new book. If you haven’t already bought it on Amazon, you can order a signed copy directly from me for $40 via PayPal at e.deinonychus(at)gmail.com, personalized with a sketch of a bird or dinosaur of your choice! (International orders are totally fine, but please include an extra $5 for shipping.)

On and off pencil sketch I've been working on in seminars & meetings for a month or so. Archaeopteryx mom and chick. Cute, but then you realize he's trying to get her to regurgitate half-digested fish for him. Yum!

Say hello to "Silky" the Serikornis, the newest member of the paravian menagerie! Published online yesterday in The Science of Nature, I illustrated this guy for Andrea Cau, Ulysse Lefèvre & their coauthors in 2015. So, I have an unusually long cycle of review, revision, and resubmission to thank for helping in my struggles to stay relevant in the paleoart community now that I'm in grad school! :p

Despite being over two years old, this remains one of my favorites of my semi-recent pieces. The new dinosaur is related to other fuzzy little paravians like Eosinopteryx and Aurornis, and sports a voluminous covering of shaggy filaments that may've given the creature a life appearance somewhat like a silky chicken--hence the nickname. Incidentally, I first learned about the new find at SVP in 2014 in Berlin, and sketched out a brief rendition of it during the talk. Some of you might remember it!

So anyway, enjoy our sweet little Silky and his delicious meal of an orb-weaver ancestor--which is based on a specimen of Mongolarachne from Jurassic China--amidst a delicious spread of chanterelle ancestors. It almost invites the comparison to a roast hen with mushrooms. Almost.

One of the new full-color paleoart pieces featured in my & Jonathan’s new book on the creationism/evolution controversy, God’s Word or Human Reason? I’ve been waiting to share this one for ages, as it is probably my favorite of my artworks right now.

This snapshot from the Early Cretaceous Yixian of Liaoning, China, depicts a Caudipteryx zoui mother and her two chicks darting across a shallow riverbed to the safety of denser cover beyond. In the background, a pair of shaggy tyrannosauroid Yutyrannus try to decide if they ought to be interested, and a pair of Changchengornis, a confuciusornithid basal bird, glide by. Together, the three genera represent a wide span on the continuum of feathered dinosaurs and of feather complexity: from hulking, filamentous carnivore, to ground-bound, display-feathered oviraptorosaur, to flight-capable bird.

This illustration, along with 11 other full-color paintings of feathered dinosaurs, appears in chapter 4 of our new book. If you haven’t already bought it on Amazon, you can order a signed copy directly from me for $40 via PayPal at e.deinonychus(at)gmail.com, personalized with a sketch of a bird or dinosaur of your choice! (International orders are totally fine, but please include an extra $5 for shipping.)

At long last--it is here!

After nearly a decade of hard work, patience and stubborn perseverance, the book on the evolution/creationism debate that I've been working on with Jonathan Kane and colleagues is finally ready for public consumption.

Published by Inkwater Press, 424 pages, you can get the hardcover on Amazon for $36: https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Word-Human-Reason-Perspective/dp/1629013722

But for a limited time, I am offering exclusive signed and sketched-in copies for $40, shipped straight from me to you. Just PayPal me at e.deinonychus(at)gmail.com and tell me your favorite bird or dinosaur and I will draw it and personalize the title page.

My first four illustrations for the Institute for the Study of Mongolian Dinosaurs: Oviraptor, Pinacosaurus, Protoceratops and Velociraptor. We are seeking to raise money to fund an expedition across Mongolia that will recover poached fossils, educate children about paleontology, and hopefully make a significant dent in the damage done to some of these rural communities by greedy fossil poachers. Perks for donating include awesome dinosaur swag featuring the above illustrations and many other things, including a once-in-a-decade opportunity for a fully-detailed painting by me of any dinosaur for a $1200 donation.

I’ve written an article for GotScience.org on an Indiegogo campaign to raise money for the protection of Mongolian fossils against the greedy self-interest of fossil poachers. Many of these incredibly valuable, beautiful fossils come out of quarries in rural areas in Mongolia, and their worth should be contributing directly to the communities they belong to. Instead, many of these rural areas do not benefit from the fossils that are illegally removed and sold to the black market.

I am participating as the illustrator for this campaign, which is led by the nonprofit Institute for the Study of Mongolian Dinosaurs. The ISMD will use the raised funds to lead an expedition across Mongolia to repatriate illegally exported fossils and to educate children (and adults!) in rural Mongolian communities about paleontology and the significance of their communities’ fossils.

Perks for the fundraiser include a variety of awesome dinosaur swag. Choose from stickers, coffee mugs, posters and t-shirts featuring my art at the lower donation levels, fossil pendants and reproductions at the middle levels, and a handful of once-in-a-lifetime opportunities at the upper level. For a generous $1200 donation, I am offering my first and possibly last full-color, detailed commission of any dinosaur of your choosing.

Tumblr has always been amazing at generating interest and passion for important social issues, and I implore you to consider the good you could be doing in donating to and sharing this one. Your money goes to a VERY good cause.

Today on Tumblr: birds with WAY too much stuff in their bills.

(Common chaffinch, tree swallow, American pipit, Clark’s nutcracker.)

Fun fact: when feeding their young, parent birds will often cram as many invertebrates into their bills at once to bring back to their chicks. Much more efficient than bringing them one by one. Cheesy poof not included.