Long time, no blog...

... it may seem like I have vanished off the face off the Earth, and for that, I apologise. I am working on many ideas for blog posts: it turns out the island project I had mentioned a while back probably won't make it onto The Disillusioned Taxonomist. Although I completed it several months ago, I am less than proud of many of the drawings. There are a few outstanding illustrations, the best of which are towards the end of this post, but perhaps due to the paper quality, the scan quality, and my own substandard work, the majority of the illustrations look too poor to upload and show off. Perhaps in due course I will be able to rectify this, but for now, there are other projects in the pipeline. One of them, which I am soon to begin, is to draw every species of extant carnivoran. There are about 250 of them, so that should keep me busy for a while! For now, enjoy some oldies from my back catalogue, and some of the better island critters.



Smilodon fatalis (Leidy, 1868)
Felidae; Carnivora; Mammalia; Chordata
Graphite pencil illustration of mounted skeleton in Natural History Museum, London
December 2008



Gomphotherium angustidens Burmeister, 1837
Gomphotheriidae; Proboscidea; Mammalia; Chordata
Graphite pencil illustration
February 2009



Entelodon magnus Aymard, 1846
Entelodontidae; Cetartiodactyla; Mammalia; Chordata
Graphite pencil illustration
February 2009



'Ida'
Darwinius masillae Franzen et al., 2009
Notharctidae; Primates; Mammalia; Chordata
Graphite pencil illustration
May 2009



Basilosaurus isis (Andrews, 1904)
Basilosauridae; Cetartiodactyla; Mammalia; Chordata
Graphite pencil illustration
December 2008



Rebbachisaurus garasbae Lavocat, 1954
Rebbachisauridae; Saurischia; Sauropsida; Chordata
Ink pen illustration
October 2009



Valdosaurus canaliculatus (Galton, 1975)
Dryosauridae; Ornithischia; Sauropsida; Chordata
Colour pencil illustration
June 2009



Rhomaleosaurus cramptoni (Tate & Blake, 1863)
Rhomaleosauridae; Plesiosauria; Sauropsida; Chordata
Graphite pencil illustration of mounted cast in Natural History Museum, London
January 2010



Tapejara and Tupuxuara (or 'Two Tapejarids')
Tapejara wellnhoferi Kellner, 1989 (top) - family Tapejaridae
Tupuxuara longicristatus Kellner & Campos, 1988 (bottom) - family incertae sedis
both Pterosauria; Sauropsida; Chordata
Colour pencil illustration
September 2008



Dimetrodon and Edaphosaurus (or 'Two Pelycosaurs')
Dimetrodon angelensis Olson, 1962 (top)
Edaphosaurus pogonias Cope, 1882 (bottom)
Sphenacodontidae; Pelycosauria; Synapsida; Chordata
Colour pencil illustration
December 2008



Huayangosaurus taibaii Dong, Tang, & Zhou, 1982
Huayangosauridae; Ornithischia; Sauropsida; Chordata
Colour pencil illustration
June 2008



Centrosaurine skulls
Ceratopsidae; Ornithischia; Sauropsida; Chordata
Graphite pencil illustrations
February 2009



Argentinosaurus huinculensis Bonaparte & Coria, 1993
Family incertae sedis; Saurischia; Sauropsida; Chordata
Ink pen illustration
October 2009



Parasaurolophus, Lambeosaurus, Saurolophus, Olorotitan, and Corythosaurus (or 'Five Hadrosaurids')
Clockwise from top left:
Parasaurolophus walkeri Parks, 1922 - coloration inspired by the hoopoe (Upupa epops)
Lambeosaurus lambei Parks, 1923 - coloration inspired by the mandarin duck (Aix galericulata)
Saurolophus osborni Brown, 1912 - coloration inspired by the secretary bird (Sagittarius serpentarius)
Olorotitan arharensis Godefroit et al., 2003 - coloration inspired by the roseate spoonbill (Platalea ajaja)
Corythosaurus casuarius Brown, 1914 - coloration inspired by the southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius)
Hadrosauridae; Ornithischia; Sauropsida; Chordata
Colour pencil illustration
July 2008



Plateosaurus, Apatosaurus, and Brachiosaurus (or 'Three Sauropodomorphs')
Plateosaurus engelhardti von Meyer, 1837 (top) - family Plateosauridae
Apatosaurus louisae Holland, 1915 (middle) - family Diplodocidae
Brachiosaurus altithorax Riggs, 1903 (bottom) - family Brachiosauridae
Saurischia; Sauropsida; Chordata
Colour pencil illustration
June 2008



Humboldt penguin
Spheniscus humboldti Meyen, 1834
Spheniscidae; Sphenisciformes; Aves; Chordata
Colour pencil illustration
late 2006



Caribbean flamingo
Phoenicopterus ruber Linnaeus, 1758
Phoenicopteridae; Phoenicopteriformes; Aves; Chordata
Colour pencil illustration
May 2010



Gastornis parisiensis Hébert, 1855
Gastornithidae; Gastornithiformes; Aves; Chordata
Colour pencil illustration
December 2008



Emperor penguin
Aptenodytes forsteri (Gray, 1844)
Spheniscidae; Sphenisciformes; Aves; Chordata
Colour pencil illustration
late 2006



Male anhinga
Anhinga anhinga (Linnaeus, 1766)
Anhingidae; Pelecaniformes; Aves; Chordata
Colour pencil illustration
August 2007



Sula Islands barn owl
Tyto nigrobrunnea Neumann, 1939
Tytonidae; Strigiformes; Aves; Chordata
Colour pencil illustration
February 2010



Tiktaalik roseae Daeschler, Shubin, & Jenkins, 2006
Family and order incertae sedis; Sarcopterygii; Chordata
Colour pencil illustration
February 2010



Cuban solenodon
Solenodon cubanus Peters, 1861
Solenodontidae; Eulipotyphla; Mammalia; Chordata
Colour pencil illustration
February 2010



Brothers Island tuatara
Sphenodon guntheri (Buller, 1877)
Sphenodontidae; Rhynchocephalia; Sauropsida; Chordata
Colour pencil illustration
February 2010

PK Comics

Not something I normally blog about, but check out this new web comic, PK Comics, which is just starting out. It was created by a close friend of mine, who has a real talent at this sort of thing. A word about the artistic quality: my friend decided to start uploading the panels as soon as possible in order to get the comic out there. He insists the quality of the artwork will improve in future strips as he takes more time in creating them. The relevance of this comic to me and my interests will become clear in due course...