I kept coming up with ridiculous JS Bach slogans, and I just liked all four of these so much that I put them all on Redbubble! I kinda treat classical composers like rock stars.

 I just had to make a Redbubble design featuring the ever-adorable Vampyroteuthis! Always looking for excuses to sneak vampire squid into things. <3

 I'm launching a new line of merch on Redbubble that's all about... reimagining historic scientists as cats. Yep. That's what cat moms do.

First up is Mary Anning, because she's my friend Ashley Hall's favorite paleontologist and I wanted to give the woman her due. Accompanying Meowry Anning is her furry friend Tray, who is also featured on Mary's statue in Lyme Regis.

Meowry is specifically excavating the famous holotype specimen of Temnodontosaurus that the real Mary Anning and her brother Joseph discovered in 1810-1812. Mary was actually just a tween at the time, but I wanted to include a real and recognizable fossil of hers in this illustration. (I mean, if you care that much about accuracy, she also shouldn't be a cat, so.)

More coming in following weeks!

Here are the latest graphics I've made for my RedBubble store!

Self-explanatory. Obey the cat.

It's the 90's hip hop/British cryptography mashup nobody was asking for. I dunno. This is just what my imagination does.

The world needs more goblin shark merchandise because goblin sharks need more love. I've fangirled these critters ever since I was a kid, and now I have fulfilled my lifelong dream of having one available on a t-shirt.

It's been a month for creepycuteness; I also just had to make merch for the incredible Scotoplanes sea cucumber genus, because they are amazing. Tube feet that they use to literally walk across the seafloor? A mouth surrounded by tentacles tipped with more tentacles? Giving free rides to juvenile king crabs? Don't put limits on sea cucumbers!

 Doodled out some ideas for a sequel to Ravenscrag. It would take place about a year after the first novel, and I was toying with the idea of the narrative starting with Tam's high school graduation (and then she irresponsibly decides to spend her summer in a fantasy world instead of prep for college). Carrie and Saturos would attend the graduation, and by that point, they've figured out a shapeshifting spell so Saturos can assume human form and do stuff on Earth with Carrie's family without, y'know, causing mass panic because of his real appearance. So of course I also had to draw Carrie as an oncor.

(As a random aside, Saturos is a tall creature compared to humans--probably about 7 feet tall or so. That's why one of the first things Carrie and Tam notice about Arthabasca is that all the furniture and architecture are weirdly scaled up from what they're used to. But I kind of imagine that Saturos is actually on the short side for an oncor--it's just that with him being the last of his kind for the past tens of thousands of years, there haven't been any oncor to compare him to, so he seems tall by most other creatures' standards.)

Also some design sketches for Nayzak, who is a supremely fun entity to write. Nayzak (whose name is the Arabic word for "meteor") is a sapient space probe built by an unknown (and implicitly extraordinarily ancient) civilization. At some point in its interstellar journey, its programming went awry and it started to believe that in order to most efficiently carry out its directive to gather information on the universe, it needed to dismantle planets and use their raw materials to create copies of itself. In fact, it's totally unknown whether this Nayzak is even the original construct or a copy, as all Nayzaks appear to act as a hive mind and share information.

Nayzak's actions and its effect on the history of Arthabasca play a pivotal role in Ravenscrag; in the sequel, Nayzak is out wandering the stars again (benevolently this time), but it has left a fragment of itself with Saturos in order to stay in contact with him. That fragment bonds with Travis, Carrie's awkward ex from the first novel, who has accidentally found his way into Arthabasca and finds himself accompanying Carrie, Saturos and Tam on a real adventure that makes his D&D campaigns pale in comparison.

Anyway, not sure when I'm going to get around to writing this, but these were fun to draw.

 Today on Fossil Friday, Maggie Jo gave a great presentation on crocodilians, and we were talking about how cool it is that alligators sometimes balance sticks on their snouts to lure in birds. Ashley said the gators are probably thinking "Shhhh... I'm a log", and I just thought that was so cute that I asked her if I could make a graphic of it. Gators need more love!

This behavior also speaks to just how smart crocodilians are, because using something as a lure definitely counts as tool use. Don't count out the ectotherms! They'll surprise you.

 I designed a qilin gargoyle a few years back, but I was never quite satisfied with her; the proportions were off, plus I accidentally used the wrong brush for the line art and it just didn't look quite right. I've recently acquired some free time, though, so I thought I'd put it to good use redrawing her. I'm happier with this version. Qilin manes are so fun to render.

 Well, this one was fun!

Last Fossil Friday, we were talking about sauropods (yay <3) and how many of them probably ate cycads, which are toxic. Fellow paleoartist Amanda Perry had the great idea that maybe sauropods themselves were toxic because of this. And so of course I had to conjecture that they were colored like poison dart frogs. And then she was like "DRAW THAT", so... what else was I supposed to do? :)

As a result of this, I got to draw lots of lovely sauropods (and I snuck a basal sauropodomorph in there too)! You may notice (if you're as big of a nerd as me) that there are no brachiosaurids or rebbachisaurids in this bunch--that's because those guys appear to have been high browsers and very low grazers, respectively, so I'm not sure they would be eating cycads which were more of a mid-height food. This is scientifically accurate wild speculation, people!

I tried to make this look like a poster you could buy at a museum in an alternate universe.

Did more sketching!

Doodled an entelodont from memory (the head should be bigger), and tried to make it look more interesting than just being a large pig. Actually it kinda turned out looking like a spotted hyena and I'm not even mad. Entelodonts are so rad. I've been to the American Museum of Natural History and saw the real live actual type specimen (and only specimen) of Andrewsarchus, which is nowadays widely suspected to be an entelodont relative. I remember reading about it when I was younger and how it was speculated to be an absolutely massive carnivore, before further research gave it a firmer phylogenetic placement. That's one of the fun things about paleontology--our vision of the past is constantly being updated by further discoveries and research.

And then something completely different: ponies. I've been on a bit of a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic kick lately, and I've even been making plans for an entire blog post essayrant about everything Gen 5 got wrong that Gen 4 (FiM) excelled at, because I am an Ultimate Nerd. I've also been working on a fanfic that explores what Princesses Celestia and Luna might get up to after the events of FiM season 9, because I really don't think they'd be content to laze around forever after their retirement. They need adventures!

Anyway, these are two OCs of mine who I've written about in previous fics (maybe I'll put my MLP fics up on the blog once I'm done posting all my Neopets stuff). Princess Radiant Dawn is an alicorn who rules the kingdom of Daybreak, which she saved from a tyrannical lamia queen. Radiant Dawn is the Princess of Happiness, and Daybreak is home to many ponies whose special talents lie in the realm of spreading happiness. Ray is quiet and shy, but won't stand for injustice, and strongly believes that when all ponies are allowed to follow their passion and their dreams, everypony benefits. She has a real soft spot for foals, because she used to be a schoolteacher before becoming an alicorn.

Below is her husband, Prince Ironclad, the erstwhile general of a pegasus city-state. The two met when Radiant Dawn was called in to Ironclad's homeland (er, homecloud?) to help expose a government conspiracy, and although they got off to a rough start, they discovered they made a great team. Ironclad is hard-working and no-nonsense and can come across as gruff, but he shows his warmer side toward his family.

 And pony versions of Tam and Carrie from Ravenscrag. I was kind of experimenting with getting more dynamic with my pony drawing; I've been studying the artwork in the FiM comics and trying to render my ponies with more fluidity. In the past I haven't strayed far from the original look of the TV series with its fairly rigid Flash assets, but I felt like that was making my artwork too stiff. 

Okay, I'm off to do more nerdy stuff.

 I was re-reading Tolkien (as one must regularly), and one of the things that strikes me about the man's writing is how much he puts into his descriptions of not only landscape and geography, but the details of just being outside--the color of the sky at a given time of day, how the wind smells, the sounds trees make. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings were obviously written by someone who loved nature and thought it worth writing about on its own accord, not just as the backdrop for a fantasy adventure. That richness of detail is what really helps bring Middle-earth to life in the imagination--it's not just a place where things happen, but a place that is wonderful and beautiful in itself, a world where you would want to be even if nothing particularly exciting was happening.

The way Tolkien describes the Shire is utterly charming, a loving homage to a rural England of yesteryear, and it serves as a really effective happy place when life gets stressful. I just wanted to doodle Bag End I guess.

 Finishing up Pokémon Legends: Z-A, and I feel like the story gets a lot better as you get further in the game (and Naveen is still kind of obnoxious, but huge props to the writers for having his dynamic with the player character develop realistically). Although it started a little slow and clunky on the story side of things, Legends: Z-A is a super fun game that makes some sleek improvements on the formula introduced with Legends: Arceus, and I kind of just want Legends to be the actual core series from now on (especially after Scarlet and Violet were so underwhelming).

Aaaaaaanyway. Every time a Pokémon uses Struggle Bug, this is all I can think of. I kinda want a t-shirt of this now. We all have days like this, feeling like a level 2 early-route Pokémon whom people won't stop throwing Poké Balls at.

Sat and doodled for a bit last night! Nothing like chilling to classical music and just drawing whatever comes to mind.

Expression studies for Saturos. Although he can come off as imposing, once you get to know him he's actually kind of a goof. He's a real foodie and a voracious eater (although I imagine reality-bending magic does require a lot of energy). When the situation commands it, though, he is capable of becoming a demonic creature roiling with unleashed power--but he actually really hates doing this because he's worried it scares people. The only time he's had to let out the full capacity of his power was when he fought the Erdunn (but back then, nobody was really around to see it). (He actually only gets into one fight in the plot of Ravenscrag, but he was intentionally holding back because he didn't want to hurt Tam.)

 And a concept doodle for a novel I've been brainstorming for and would like to get around to writing soon. Valdovas is a millennia-old dragon from Eastern Europe who is arrogant, aloof, and disdainful toward humans--but that changes when he is forced to accept help from a family living on the American frontier, and he grows to realize that not all humans are enemies, and that some of them need his help, too.

Valdovas was inspired by Smaug and Tolkien's treatment of dragons in general--I love the man's writing, but his dragons are always irredeemably evil spawn of darkness. I've loved dragons since I was a kid, and I feel like they deserve better than that. I also haven't written a novel with dragons since Voyage of the Kaus Media, so we're way overdue for more dragons. <3

Not sure I did the best job rendering it yesterday, but Valdovas has black iridescent scales. He also breathes poison. He's a zmey from Slavic folklore (but a one-headed variety, because multiple-headed dragons means more characters to juggle).

 I was listening to a podcast where the hosts were discussing the possibility of pink dinosaurs, and I got to thinking about how a dinosaur could be pink. Modern dinosaurs (birds) that are predominantly pink, such as flamingoes and roseate spoonbills, get their coloration from ingesting foods rich in carotenoids, usually arthropods in aquatic environments. That made me think of Deinocheirus, which is from a swampy, tropical environment and looks adapted for a bit of aquatic feeding. So naturally I put two and two together and concluded it would be great if Deinocheirus was pink. It's already such a bizarre dinosaur that you might as well make it pink on top of everything else it's got going on.

I specifically based this guy's coloration on the roseate spoonbill, one of my favorite birds because of how so very weird it is. <3

 I'm not quite sure how these things happen. One day I'm just sitting around thinking about Tiktaalik and how cute it is, and the next thing I know, this pops into my head and I have to draw it.

Well, I think the Internet needs more sarcopterygian fan art.

 More costume design for Ravenscrag. Tam wears her clothes from Earth throughout her journey to unseal the Erdunn, but at the end of the story, she spends some time at Castle Ravenscrag and Melly (the resident giant spider seamstress) makes her lots of new clothes. Melly crafted mostly elegant gowns for bookish and intellectual Carrie who spends much of her time studying magic with Saturos, reading, and playing the harpsichord, but I imagine the more athletic and tomboyish Tam would need attire better suited to romping around the woods and using Smaragdus to fuse crystal armor onto herself.

 Costume design for Ravenscrag, which I just can't stop doodling things for. Not sure when I'll ever publish it, but I sure had fun writing it.

This is Carrie's outfit when she and Saturos go to a northerly locale for Important Sorcerer Business. (Castle Ravenscrag is located in the mid-latitudes of its planet's southern hemisphere, FYI.) I based that setting off the island of Svalbard, which is an incredible, beautiful place that I'd probably only ever visit if I made sure I got a really, really warm hotel room. But the landscapes are stunning.

 I think it's really awesome how a lot of Chinese dinosaurs get Chinese taxonomic names, and a lot of them include the word long (dragon). Much more fitting than saurus (lizard); dinosaurs were pretty much as close to dragons as the history of life on Earth has ever gotten. 

I just wanted to play around with depicting a Chinese dino as it might appear in one of those historic bestiaries, especially since they often have the names to match. This is Zhenyuanlong, a dromaeosaur from the Yixian Formation.

I've heard speculation that finds of sauropods like Mamenchisaurus might have been what inspired the serpentine physiology of the Chinese dragon. Such a fun idea, and would bring the whole dragon thing full circle.

 One last piece of Fossil Friday fan art (for now)! We were talking about Anzu wyliei one week, and someone asked why it had such long arms. MaggieJo suggested maybe they were for hugging, and then she wanted to see two Anzu hugging. I love oviraptorosaurs, so I jumped right on that idea. 

 My buddies at Virtual Fossil Friday have been giving me so many fun paleoart ideas lately! We'll get going on a subject and then MaggieJo Widdicombe will say "somebody draw that", and honestly I don't have much else going on, so I've been keeping a list and working through them as fast as I can.

The other week, she and Ashley Hall were super excited because a freshwater mosasaur has recently been found in Cretaceous fossil deposits in Montana. This is really interesting because mosasaurs have traditionally been thought of as marine animals, but apparently some made the move to fresh water. MaggieJo said it would be terrifying to be boating down a river and see a mosasaur lurking right beside you, and then wanted someone to depict that. Your friendly neighborhood paleoartist is on the case!

I had a lot of fun with this painting. Looked up lots of references of Amazon River dolphins, which are adorable. Also I fully support mosasaurs with forked tongues. Partly this is because they were closely related to snakes, which have forked tongues, so it makes sense. And is cute.

 

At the last Fossil Friday of 2025 a few weeks ago, we had a great presentation on dinosaurs of Canada, and Ashley and MaggieJo were talking about Albertavenator, a troodontid from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation that's only known from fragmentary fossils. They showed a very nice piece of paleoart that reconstructed it colored like a blue jay, which made me picture Albertavenator perching on a head like grey jays (sometimes called Canada jays here in the US) are notorious for doing. When I told them that, they said they wanted to see it. I wanted to see it too, so here we are.

This Albertavenator is perching on Edmontosaurus regalis, one of the largest animals at Horseshoe Canyon. Hadrosaurs probably made good perches, in all honesty.