Paleoartist Mauricio Anton helped to organize a safari to northern Botswana to sketch big cats in the wild. He filmed and edited  a video about it, and he wrote the music, too. (Direct link to video)

He'll be doing the safari again if you're interested in joining in.
Mauricio Anton has written and illustrated several books, including Sabertooth (Life of the Past)

The American Museum of Natural History has just created some new videos about the making of the dioramas in the bird hall. In this one, exhibition artist Stephen Quinn spotlights bird painters Louis Agassiz Fuertes and Francis Lee Jaques, as well as taxidermist David Schwendeman, who was able to present the birds in lifelike flying positions.

If you like this one, check out the other video: "Birding at the Museum: Frank Chapman and the Dioramas" And on a related note, Michael Anderson has published Chapter 11 of his online bio of diorama artist James Perry Wilson.

Stephen Quinn is also the author of Windows on Nature: The Great Habitat Dioramas of the American Museum of Natural History

Sculptor Gary Staab created this short video showing how he sculpted and cast a saltwater crocodile. The croc will be part of an exhibition called "Crocs -- Ancient Predators in a Modern World" (link to video)

Dogs make the most amazing faces when they're shaking off water.
Animators will appreciate the extreme keyframe poses and the overlapping action of all the loose forms pulled around by centripetal forces.


(Video link) Slow motion footage shows that different animals shake at different frequencies to maximize the effectiveness of removing water.

See more high speed photos at Demilked.com. Thanks, Susan.

The latest issue of International Artist magazine has a feature about the making of the Australian dinosaur stamps. If you pick up a copy, you can see the various preliminary stages that the art went through.















I've also just uploaded this longer video preview about the making of those stamps. (Direct video link)
You can travel with me to Museum Victoria to study original fossils with paleontologist Tom Rich. Then we head into the Australian bush to study ancient plants. The full video shows every part of the creative process, from the unique design challenges of philatelic art to the construction of 3D reference maquettes, then the comprehensive drawing, the color planning, and the oil painting.


The DVD version also includes 10 minutes of additional interview material with Dr. Tom Rich, plus an eight minute narrated slideshow of development artwork and philatelic products, and a 13.5 minute documentary on the making of Dinotopia, called "Dinotopia: Art, Science, and Imagination."

This is a great resource for art teachers or parents wishing to inspire a young person who wants to find a way to do imaginative or science-based artwork.

Stan Prokopenko says: "Saw the DVD and loved it. He takes you through his whole process from concept to final. I liked seeing how he built his maquette and used it as part of the creative process. Great to see how free he is in every stage to experiment with ideas and make changes. Makes me want to go paint dinosaurs."

Learn more about the full-length art instruction video:
Digital download  via credit card Australia's Age of Dinosaurs: Art of the Stamps
Digital download via Paypal 
DVD with 32 minutes of additional content available now here
or preorder with Amazon 
More info at James Gurney.com 

We're hanging out with a family of glassblowers in the high country of Colorado. They own a husky named Dea who has a sleeping mat near the wood stove. The challenge was figuring how to get her to settle around us strangers.


We took her for a long walk and gave her a little taste of honey baked ham. Best friends for life!

She got sleepy and comfortable and curled up in husky style, with the nose beneath the tail, just what I was hoping for. Still, I figured I might only have 15 minutes to paint her before she got up and changed position.

I used casein (black, white, golden ochre, and cadmium green), mixing it on my watercolor palette, and painting with a big round watercolor brush. There was no time for a pencil preliminary, and I was working over one failed start where she moved from another position, so I did all the drawing with the brush.

Painting is a sort of drawing. The only difference is that the brush and paint give you much more versatility and control.

Sheep studies from life in oil by Anton Braith (German, 1836-1905), 40x58cm, about 16x23 inches. Compare to sheep studies in previous posts by Rosa Bonheur and Heinrich von Zügel.

Last weekend I had the privilege and responsibility of being a prize juror for the Society of Animal Artists' annual exhibition in Bennington, Vermont.

Cindy House, "Flight Over the Dunes in Autumn," 16x20 inches, pastel

In the prizewinning pastel above, the birds were set within a sumptuously textured landscape rendered in pastel.

Guy Coheleach, "Cooling Off," 24x36, oil

Trailer for a documentary about eccentric taxidermist Walter Potter, who created tableaus like "The Kitten's Wedding." (Video link)
Amazon: Walter Potter's Curious World of Taxidermy
Via BoingBoing

This was probably the only final stamp artwork that was ever worked on en plein air. I had to go outside in the forest to paint the ferns, because I discovered that cut ferns wilt too fast. The painting was less than 24 inches wide and painted on flexible Bristol board so that it could fit on the drum scanners of the time.
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YouTube week continues as I bring you along to the farm to paint a donkey and a horse. (Direct link to YouTube).

I was impressed with how sweet tempered and curious this bird was. She was really interested in my brush pens.
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Live Stream: This Saturday at 7 Eastern in New York City at Concert Window Open.
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New Video: "How I Paint Dinosaurs"
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Art Supplies:
1/4 inch flat brush 
Moleskine watercolor notebook
Caran D'Ache watercolor pencils
Waterman Phileas red fountain pen 
Camera: GoPro HD Hero at 2 second intervals

I asked Ben if I could take Barney for a walk and sketch his portrait. Barney is a five-year-old rescue who was hit by cars three times until Ben offered him a new home.


Barney doesn't usually get to hang out in the parlor and receive such attentions, and he definitely rose to the occasion (as much as a basset can rise). Once Barney settled for a nap, I got out my watercolors and water-soluble colored pencils.


Here's what the sketch looks like as I begin to wet the colored pencils with a water brush. Note how the water alters the dry colored pencil. It darkens, softens, and intensifies the color.


Once I cover the light, warm areas, I add some blue from another brush pen that is filled with fountain pen ink. I am working quickly, because I'm expecting Barney will change position after 10 minutes or so—which he does. After that I work from memory.


Now the sketch is almost done, and if you scroll back up, you can see it finished.
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Materials used:
Caran D'Ache watercolor pencils
Moleskine Watercolor Notebook
Niji water brush filled with fountain pen ink
Waterman fountain pen
The place I stayed is called River Run Bed and Breakfast in Fleischmann's, New York.

(Direct link to video) I arrived at the Bronx Zoo early yesterday to do some watercolor portraits. I had no luck with the mandrills, who were too hyper, so I moved on to the gorillas.


One of the females came down to pick up big handfulls of carrots that were scattered in front of the window. I couldn't interest her in what I was doing. She shyly tried to disguise herself with a leafy branch as she grabbed the carrots. The she went halfway back in the enclosure to enjoy her breakfast, where I hoped she would hold still for a while.


The big silverback male was named Ernie. He coolly surveyed the people watching him, and then he looked up to the side. I was so impressed with the powerful forms of his head as I sketched him in watercolor, gouache, and watercolor pencils.


There was a giraffe standing quite still in the indoor enclosure. In the video you can see how I laid in the background with the opaque gouache mixed with ultramarine blue watercolor to get a smooth tone.
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Media: Watercolor Pocket Set, watercolor pencils, watercolor sketchbook, and various sizes of flat watercolor brushes. 
Bronx Zoo (also called Wildlife Conservation Society)
Previously: Gorilla Portraits

"The rooster does all the crowing, but it is the hen that lays the eggs." —Kansas City newspaper, 1904.
Read variations on that line at "Quote Investigator: Dedicated to Tracing Quotations."

Designers of dragons and other mythological creatures might wonder how to draw the scale patterns on the head and body. How would the scales form on such an animal?