map of the supercontinent Pangaea

"Our world long ago, all the lands joined together

When first appeared beasties of fur and of feather"

This is a map of the world as it may have looked around 240 million years ago in the middle of the Triassic period. Drawn with pen and ink, coloured and textured digitally.

Two massive lands Gondwana and Laurasia had just bumped into each other, creating the Appelation Mountains and forming the supercontinent Pangaea.

Although there are other maps of Pangaea around, I could not find any illustrated in an old world style with monsters roaming the land and seas. So I just had to have a go at making one myself. Yep... nerd. I know.

Please note, I am an artist not a scientist. Although I did a fair bit of research to get it as right as I could, there is still plenty of artistic license. For instance, I made up all the rivers - sorry, I just couldn't find reference which told me where the real ones were. A few of the mountains could well be wrong too. And that volcano in between South America and Africa, well it just looked good there. So to any time travellers out there, this map is not to be used for navigation, it is decoration only!

This artwork is available to buy as poster art via Redbubble.

Meet the beasties...

The animals featured are all carefully based on life that would have been kicking around within ten million years or so of that time. I intentionally didn't label them on the map, as I think leaving the creatures a little vague and generic aids imagination. Further more, when these creatures actually existed they didn't have titles such as Saurisichisan or Amonite, instead they would have thought of each other as 'the scaley thing with big teeth it is better not to go near' or 'the tasty little furred critter' or maybe 'the giant winged one who poos from the sky'.

But for the curious, and for a closer look at all the detail going on, here is a list of what the beasties are meant to represent. (You are allowed to scroll quickly through this bit. I am being a little self indulgent)

Cynodont

Eoraptor

Nothosaur

Stagonolepis

Coelophysis

Placodont

Pterorynchus

Thalattosaur

Rutiodon

Panphagia

Cynognathian

Ichtheosaur

Eudimorphodon

Amonite

Eoraptor

Rauisuchus

Dicynodont

Helicoprion - alas I drew its mouth
swirl upside down. Whoops!

Temnospondyl

The Triassic plants featured are fern trees, ferns, conifers, giant club mosses, quillworts and cycads.

As you can see this artwork has an extraordinary amount of texture and detail. It is designed to look its best when printed at poster sizes. It would be ideal educational artwork for a classroom or decoration for a kids room.

R :)

Illustration Friday - stripes

I saw a great documentary on tv called 'Cuttlefish - Kings of Camouflage'.

One of the cuttlefish featured in the documentary was a Broadclub Cuttlefish which has the remarkable ability to bamboozle its prey with a crazy strobing stripe pattern. Truly bizzare stuff.

If you want to see a real one in action here's a link I found to a clip from the documentary.

Cuttlefish are so cool.

R :)

Christmas Cephalopod card art

Did you know I am selling Christmas cards featuring my artwork online via Redbubble? Buy online and have them delivered straight to you!

Here are a couple of non religious and mostly tasteful designs.

The Christmas Cephalopod

Cephalopod is a fancy way of saying octopus

Deercat

• Discount of 30% on every order of 16+ cards
• Superior writing surface for your words of wisdom
• 300gsm card with a satin finish
• Greeting cards supplied with envelopes and optional cellophane sleeves, ideal for reselling
• Standard Greeting Card - 100 x 150mm / 4” x 6”
• Large Greeting Card - 125 x 190 mm / 5” x 7.5”
• Postcard - 100 x 150mm / 4” x 6”

If you have recieved a Christmas card from me sometime in the last few years these design may well look familiar...

R :)

Window Frames - art along Sydney Road

Sydney Road Brunswick has been turned into an art gallery for a couple of weeks.

If you happen to be wandering along Melbourne's greatest shopping strip in between Albert Street and Brunswick Road have a squiz in the shop windows and you will find an assortment of art works. This is the Window Frames exhibition organised by the Sydney Road Brunswick Association.

I have a piece in Mocca Gigi's window, 165 Sydney road - a reinterpretation of the cover art I did for the Shopping and Visitors  Guide to Sydney Road, Brunswick. As it is presented in the window as an artwork I had to write an artist's statement to be displayed with it. First time I've ever had to do one of those!

'An illustrated response to a commercial brief, intended to appeal to an aesthetically literate Brunswick audience. Hand inked line-work, and confident, optimistic colours combine with the guide's tattoo iconography to present an adventurous visual experience.

Like a modern day Hansel and Gretel, a couple embark on a journey of exploration, seeking fashion, food and fun in an enchanted retail environment. Fortunately they won't need to rely on bread crumb trails to find their way home, thanks to the Shopping and Visitors guide they have a map!'

My favourite art works along the road are:
Lights Out by Brendon Taylor - a timber and resin angler fish in the window of Rommelik 141 Sydney Road
and Crochet Fruit by Cherry Collins in the window of Olive Grove 159 Sydney Road.
Both beautiful, fun pieces, and well worth a look.

There are plenty of other very cool artworks, so well done to all the local artists who participated. And a big thanks to all the traders who gave up some window space for us.

The Window Frames exhibition is on until the 31st of October 2011.

R :)

velocirapture

I drew this for the Illustrators Australia 9x5 exhibition 'rapture', opening this Friday.

Velocirapture was done with 6B pencil and shellac on 9x5 inch plywood. 

She's based on the well known dinosaur 'velociraptor', which would have actually looked a bit like this, with the obvious exceptions of the bunch of flowers and ludicrous expression. 
'What's with all those crazy feathers?' you cry. 'The velociraptors on Jurassic Park didn't have those!'.
Well actually these dinosaurs had bird-like feathers. They would have looked a lot like large birds with sharp teeth and four fast running limbs ending in huge claws. Just imagine Big Bird with pointy teeth. Kinda scary, if you think about it. 

If you can't make it to the exhibition you can see all the other pieces on line here 

Illustration Friday - mesmerising deer-cat

Look into the eyes of the deer-cat. Look deep into its eyes. 

Feel the mesmerising power of the deer-cat. 

The deer-cat wants you to leave a comment. 

You know you will...

This is a scan of a stencil art Christmas card I sent to friends and family. The original had glow in the dark eyes! For this weeks illustration friday theme 'mesmerising' I scanned a print and gave it a slight animated tweak.

Its okay. The deer-cat says you can look away now.

the Shopping and Visitors Guide to Sydney Road, Brunswick

Recently I had the chance to illustrate two maps and a cover for the Shopping and Visitors Guide to Sydney Road, Brunswick.

The cover and maps are designed to be casual, engaging and informative, to deliver a sense of adventure and excitement, and to appeal to the aesthetically literate Brunswick population. For my fellow font geeks out there, the typefaces used are Singapur Heavy (the tattoo typeface) and Urgent Telegram (the typewriter typeface). Both very sweet typefaces.

The guide was published by The Sydney Road Brunswick Association and laid out by Beyond the Page.

If you are living around the Brunswick area you can expect to have a copy delivered along with the Leader paper sometime in the next few weeks.

They say Sydney Road is the best thing ever to have come out of Sydney (that's a Melbourne joke), so here's hoping the guide inspires some exploring adventures of Melbourne's mightiest and most culturally exciting shopping strip!

Cheers
R

 

happy wanderer

I was at a loss with what to draw over the weekend, so I had a look in the garden and discovered the happy wanderer is flowering.
Oh, and here are some dugong sketches too.
R :)

narrative illustrations of a frog with a bouffant

Narrative illustrations for a class room reader about Billy the frog who is worried the pollution in their pond will inhibit the growth of his legs. Its okay, his legs grow. Phew!

science fiction homages and aardvarks

As a member of the Melbourne Science Fiction Club I get to use their magnificent library, listen to author talks, and meet other like minded nerdy sci fi types. In return I like to occasionally contribute art for the club magazine.

Here is a collection the cover art I have contributed.

As the club magazine is called Ethel the Aardvark you will note a recurring theme of aardvarks. I don't know why they named the magazine after a Monty Python sketch (Ethel the aardvark goes quantity surveying), but I suppose it's as good a name as any other and it gives me the opportunity to create absurd science fiction homages with aardvarks.

dinosaurs asleep

Dinosaurs asleep!

The dinosaurs in this picture are kind of based on ones that roamed Australia and Antarctica.

Created in response to Illustration Friday theme 'asleep'.

illustration of kids and animals on a hotted up thong trike

A couple of weeks ago I did a quick line image for Illustration Friday of a cockatoo driving its friends around on a hotted up thong-trike.

I couldn't leave it uncoloured, so here it is in all its Aussie colour palette glory.

R :)

illustration of bicycles outside the Union Hotel, Brunswick

Bicycles at the hotel is available as poster or card art via my Redbubble store

Around where I live a lot of people like to ride their bicycles, and we are blessed with many excellent local pubs. These things combine very nicely.

Though I do recommend some moderation if riding home from the pub... and a helmet.

Drawn and coloured in response to Illustration Friday theme 'bicycle'.

R :)

Uisge beatha! We call it whisky.

Praise to the Celtic monks of old,

Who first the water of life bottled.

Distilled of grain mash frothing frisky,

Uisge beatha! We call it whisky.

'Uisge Beatha' is Scottish Gaelic for 'water of life', the name monks of the time gave to distilled spirit. Over time 'Uisge' became the word 'whisky'.

Is it too much suggesting 'old' and 'bottled' rhyme? Hope not.

I made up the verse and created the image in response to the Illustration Friday theme 'bottled'.

Here's some pics of the illustration process and materials.

weekend pen and ink sketches

I spent some time on the weekend sketching random items from around the house. For a bit of fun I thought I might colour them and post them here.