dontmesswithdinosaurs.com

So I ended up in a rap battle on youtube. The guy I was supposed to battle goes by the name of ‘Tykwon Flow’ and that name alone got me a little carried away…  

Click the monster to enter Earth Beasts Awaken

Enter the “Earth Beasts Awaken” page for a free download of the entire album, art, lyrics and more…

Let me know what you think. I’m certainly no sound engineer, so it probably shows that it was mixed on a laptop plugged into some speakers I pulled out of the trash… I hope it’s an enjoyable listen regardless…

Ultimately, my only (semi) rational justification for making this album is that I want to make music videos for several of the songs, to use as reel material. Although I have some ideas already, I would be really interested to hear what you, the unspoiled listener, would like to see made into a video. So please be sure to leave a comment if something strikes you that way.

Thanks for checking out my stuff.

-Historian

A great deal of my life has been dedicated to both observing nature and speculating about how it once was, based upon whatever solid paleontological literature I can get my hands on and my own observations of the natural world. Having imagined and drawn dinosaurs and other prehistoric monsters for nearly my whole life, I have finally decided to commit myself to pushing my paleo-art to the next level. In addition to improving the overall quality of technical execution, I feel it is high time that I begin to create images which illustrate some of the behavioral, environmental and anatomical theories that have been quietly developing in the depths of my imagination.

Although it is both foolishly ambitious and presumptuous for me, an artist with almost no formal scientific training, to attempt to create illustrations which depict my own original “scientific” concepts, I am convinced as an observer of nature that one of the best ways to test theories about the behavior of extinct animals is to attempt to depict it realistically in a visual medium. Because extinct animals can really only live in our imaginations, I think it is the duty of artists to put forth new visualizations of these creatures in order to challenge old ideas about how they lived while at once stimulating new discourse and investigation into hypotheses which might not otherwise receive serious consideration. Unless we constantly re-imagine the prehistoric world, we will never refine our ideas about how it might have worked.

In the image above an Apatosaur follows a game trail through an ancient conifer forest covered in moss. The idea for this illustration came when I was thinking about how old growth forests would look if they were stripped of their undergrowth by the constant grazing of large animals (dinosaurs!). With little competition from shrubs or edible lichens, low-nutrient plants like mosses and liverworts would have thrived, spreading unhindered across the forest floor and up the trunks of trees. Game trails would have probably crisscrossed these forest barrens, linking meadows, water holes and other places of good grazing on the forest’s edge where there was more sunlight and thus more food. That’s the idea anyway… I guess the picture is really just a dino strollin’ through a super mossy forest.

As evidenced by much of my art, I am very impressed by cold, predatory things. This is a bit of an homage to one of them that lives in my bedroom.

Watch the video here:
Danger: Frogs Attack! Episode 2

I just finished a series of creature models and accompanying movie posters to be used as props in a short film entitled “The Amazing Arlo Fender” directed by George Valos. The story centers around a reclusive albino fellow whose hobby is painting detailed models of his favourite movie monsters. I designed and fabricated the creature models and illustrated the posters.

Here are the posters I created:

When the production wraps and I get the models back I will be posting photos of them as well. 

It was a really enjoyable project and my thanks go out to George and his production designer Jesse Morrison for trusting me with nearly complete creative freedom. 

-Historian 

I finally have my portfolio of illustration, drawing and storyboard work up. I hope you’ll take a look around. I’m adding new stuff as I finish it, so check back often. The next task is to get the movie and music sections up, and link each movie to its collection of concept art and music.

Thanks for stopping by.

-Historian

Here it is, the promo track for my upcoming album “Earth Beasts Awaken.”
(right click to download)

Thawed Out (Promo).mp3

Lyrics

The rest of the album is almost finished, and will be available for free download from this website. Music videos will follow…

The beat for this song was inspired by, and featured in, David Woo’s recent animated short “Forever Skull.” A link to David’s Blog can be found in the green sidebar at left.

Thanks for listening, I eagerly await your feedback.

-Historian