Stefan Steps Down

As regular readers will have noted, often, the smallest seed of a picture will plant itself in my head from the vaguest of references, and I would find myself unable to resist realising it in illustrative form.

So it is with this drawing, which perhaps will only have any real significance for the members of the Dinosaur Toy Forum, but which I nevertheless hope will afford you a moment's visual entertainment.

Stefan (the Therizinosaurus), one of the long-standing members of the forum staff (and Dinosaur Toy Blog author), has decided to step down from the team. And although he still remains as a regular member on the forum, the news was a rather sad one. Here, the team says goodbye. They are, from left; Adam (Rhomaleosaurus -- who, by the way, is able to swim through the air much in the manner of the whales in the Pines of Rome sequence from Fantasia 2000), our forum admin and plesiosaur expert, whom you've encountered here before; Lisa (Coelophysis -- scaled up, because this is all in fun); Ashley (Amargasaurus); yours truly (Diplodocus) and Chris (Allosaurus), whom we also welcome as the newest recruit to the moderating team.

And here is an even larger copy of the image.

Thecodontosaurus

I'm almost tempted to begin this post with 'I r a srs palaeo artist too,' for reasons yet unclear even to myself.

 Thecodontosaurus (with sphenodont). Sepia ink on Saunders Waterford hot pressed watercolour paper; 150 x 280mm. I've decided that her name is 'Thesis'. Yes.

(Opening the picture to view in a new tab is recommended)

This was originally conceived as my entry for Bristol Dinosaur Project's Thecodontosaurus Illustration Competition. Sadly (though perhaps predictably), I failed to make the competition deadline. My attempt to rally a few palaeo-minded friends into entering also bore no fruit, alas. It would have been lovely to see familiar names among the entrants.

Close-up detail views.

 

My many thanks to Jon Tennant of Green Tea and Velociraptors for very kindly supplying me with the Thecodontosaurus paper (Adam M. Yates (2003)) and Dr. Heinrich Mallison of Dinosaurpalaeo for his input during the progress. I feel like quite the grown-up palaeo artist.