As the first post on the portfolio, I found it fitting to showcase one of my most prolific ideas, my crystalline prehistoric animals. While starting as a simple combination of things that I like for a single drawing, it has turned into one of the main “bases” for any new ideas I have. It’s probably the idea that I keep coming back to, as it allows me to experiment with new things and concepts that I can put into my own style.
Dinosaurs and their fossils were always something I gravitated to. As a child, I wanted to go to natural history museums, and wander through the exhibits whenever we had the chance. I wanted to know everything. Media like the Dinotopia books, the TV shows Dino Dan and Dinosaur Train, and the movies Dinosaur(2000) and The Land Before Time were staples of my childhood that instilled a fascination of them in me. The first one I drew was using sapphire and a stegosaurus, that was for a monthly drawing challenge in 2021. I was going for more of a log-book style drawing style, hiding most of the skeleton because of my lack of skill. I did most of the first ones in that style, covering less of the skeleton as I got more comfortable drawing the bones.
After about 16 different creature drawings in the logbook style, I figured I could do more. I started looking more closely at the skeletons, swapping from 2D references to 3D as a way to further my skills. I then went back and redrew the stegosaurus to give myself a way to see visible growth. At this point, I shifted to doing more opaque “semi-precious” crystals and rocks, as there’s only so much I differentiate between translucent coloured gemstones with markers. I’ve always found the colours and patterns of them more interesting. My personal favourite is one called ammolite, which comes from ammonites.
There are some side project I’ve been working on that originates from this, is making a weapon based on each creature. Mostly taking inspiration from the Monster Hunter franchise by CAPCOM, I wanted each one to match their dinosaur in some way. A few examples being shown here are; a khopesh, an Egyptian style sword for the spinosaurus, whose most known species was found there (spinosaurus aegyptiacus). A warhammer for pachycephalosaurus, who are believed to bash their thick skulls against one another to show dominance. Others that aren’t shown are a megalodon trident, a quetzalcoatlus ballista, and a tyrannosaurus fantasy greatsword. I’ve also made terrarium style potion bottles.
Below are some digital mock ups and other things I’ve done with this idea.
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