

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Paleo Interview 8: Peter Schouten

Yup, our next interview is with none other than Peter Schouten! I'm pretty sure he and Julio Lacerda are the only people I've interviewed who don't live in the US. Schouten does works that feature both prehistoric and modern animals, and he has quite a few books with his lavish illustrations in them. I have three of them myself; Astonishing Animals, Feathered Dinosaurs, and A Gap in Nature, all awesome books. He also has some currently in the process.

1. The first question is a staple in the interviews. When did you first get interested in dinosaurs and other prehistoric life, as well as the modern creatures you illustrate?
I have always been interested in animals of all kinds. My fascination
with dinosaurs started when I was very young, probably when my mother bought
me a copy of the "How and Why" book of dinosaurs. This was a small paperback
booklet with some very dodgy reconstructions of some of the more famous dinosaurs.
From that moment on, I had to have every book I could find on dinosaurs and
other prehistoric life.
My interest in modern animals went hand-in-hand with palaeo animals. This
was a good thing as understanding modern animals is essential for the reconstruction
of extinct species.

2. You've had quite a bit of books with your pieces in them. Can you tell us a little bit about them? 
I have 9 books that I have produced in collaboration with a variety of
authors and I have contributed illustrations to many others. My books are
usually about animals that are obscure, cryptic, or not well represented
in other publications. This is why I concentrate my efforts on extinct species. 

3. What's it like living in the most dangerous place in the world, I mean, Australia? 
Curious that you should think Australia is the most dangerous place in
the world? We do have some dangerous animals here - as you do in the US and
in many other parts of the world - however, the opportunity to encounter
these animals is rare. People living in the North of Australia know that
it is unwise to swim in water where there might be crocodiles and some of
the most venomous snakes that we have are also very shy and secretive. In
saying that, however, I should say that I live in an area of wilderness and
have an unwanted encounter with the highly venomous Red-bellied Black Snake.
This was a large and, not very happy, snake that found itself trapped in
my living room. It took quite a bit of effort to encourage it to leave.

4. You have quite a few (an understatement, I shall say) pieces with Australian animals, modern and extinct, published and out there on the web or books. Do you ever draw inspiration from the local (or even non-local) wildlife to complete your reconstructions of prehistoric animals? 
Yes I do. The marsupials on my property are an inspiration as they are
related to our extinct megafauna. Dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals
are a different matter. I have to use my experience with anatomy and morphology
as my guide for these creatures.

5. Do you prefer drawing modern animals over prehistoric ones, or vice versa? 
I love to illustrate all animals equally. I do love the challenge of illustrating
something for the first time - especially prehistoric animals or newly discovered
modern species.

6. Who taught you about art, or did you teach yourself?
 I am entirely self taught.

7. Has anyone influenced your work?
The following palaeoartists; Jay Matternes, Zdenek Burian, Charles Knight.
The following contemporary wildlife artists; William Cooper, Raymond Harris-Ching,
John Cox.

8. If you could you pick a few, who would you say your favorite paleoartists/pieces of paleoart are?
My all time favourite paintings are the large murals of prehistoric mammals
painted by Jay Matternes in the Chicago Museum of Natural History. These
paintings influenced my career.

9. According to your site, you've had quite a bit of temporary/permanent exhibitions with your art in them. What was that like?

Exhibitions do not really mean much to me. My work is principally for
publication and I get greater satisfaction from seeing my images in a finished
book - it will be around for lot longer than a temporary exhibition.

10. As if all the books you have published already weren't enough, you have even more books coming up - such as The Antipodean Ark (great name by the way) and Megafauna. Can you tell us about your upcoming projects? 
I am also looking at the evolution of Humans and possibly a book on the
prehistory of Asia.

11. Anything you would like to say to anyone interested in pursuing paleoart or any kind of art or palaentology as a career? 
Forget about making a fortune or pursuing  ladder-climbing career, just
do it because you have a passion for animals.


It was an honour to interview Mr. Schouten (as it was with everybody). Keep your eye out for his new books, and hopefully I'll get a non-paleoartist in some time.

All images are property of Peter Schouten; none are the author's.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

A Good Point

Here's a good point my dad brought up today at the doctor's, that arose from a picture in a magazine. That picture featured Albertosaurus being attacked by Deinosuchus (the artist's name slips my mind but it is an excellent piece). And that's what brought about the good point, well two of 'em. See if you notice anything particular in the picture below.

Well, there's one thing. It's going for the face usually (or the leg). Whenever you watch nature documentaries, that's usually what you see. But most pieces have it going for the midsection or tail. Another point is: its an herbivore! Nile crocodiles today usually don't go after lions or hyenas, they generally attack zebras and wildebeest. But most paleoart pieces show it (Deinosuchus) attacking an albertosaur or a T. rex. I've seen some pieces showing it attacking Parasaurolophus, but that seems to be the only herbivore it attacks. What happened to the other creatures it lived with? What about Kritosaurus or a ceratopsian? Now, I'm not trying to being all high and mighty, standing on my soapbox and such, but it is an interesting observation.

Monday, August 20, 2012

The Downfall of an Era














Key List:
Armored one/reptile: Turtle
Wraith: Tyrannosaurine tyrannosaurid, similar to Tarbosaurus
Monstrous lizard/monster: Speculative mosasaur
Hatchet-crest: Olorotitan
Bird-like creature/climber: Speculative coelurosaur
Goose lizard: Ornithomimosaur
Living tank: Nodosaur

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Shark Week

Well, we're nearing the midst of Shark Week on Discovery, and being a blog about prehistoric animals (usually, as you'll see in updates to come), you know what that means. A totally mandatory (in my mind) update on prehistoric sharks!

Sharks first evolved in the Silurian period, about 420mya, though some remains may date to the Ordovician, thirty million years earlier. The latter are disputed. These Silurian sharks are generally known from scales, and we know they look very different than modern sharks, contrary to popular belief that sharks have kept the same general body shape for 400 million years.

One of the best known of the primitive sharks was Cladoselache (above), known from 370mya. Up to 6ft long, this shark was a speedy, agile predator; sharing the sea with the behemoth Dunkleosteus. With a bus-sized monster with a bite force that could crush a car, it was important to be quick. Stomach contents of been preserved from this shark, and show it ate ray-finned bony fish (which comprise nearly 96% of the 25,000 species of fish), shrimp-like fish, and hagfish-like protovertebrates. It lacked claspers and might have bred through internal fertilization, though this is unknown at the moment.

© Nobu Tamura

© Dmitry Bogdanov

Also arising during the late Devonian, about 385mya, was the small family Stethacanthidae, with both known members represented above. On top is the younger Akmonistion, while Stethacanthus is represented on the bottom. The latter lived from the Late Devonian to the Early Carboniferous, a very long time for one genus to exist. Akmonistion, however, is only known from the Early Carboniferous of Scotland, once placed in Stethacanthus. Both are known for their "ironing-board" or "anvil fins", covered in small spike-like denticles; the head was as well. They also had large spines by their pectoral and pelvic fins. The purposes of the "anvil fins" are unknown, perhaps used in mating rituals or to intimidate possible predators.

Unknown artist
©Dmitry Bodganov
Unknown artist

The stethacanthids were part of an extinct order known as Symoriida; split into two more families, Falcatidae and Symoriidae. Shown here at the top as they were fossilized, the falcatid Falcatus was a small (10-12in) shark with large eyes and a prominent fin spine that curved over the head in the males. They have been found in Missouri and Montana from 335-318mya. The bottom two, Symmorium and Cobelodus (both symoriids) were known from the Carboniferous, both around 4-6.6ft long. The latter has been found in the author's home state, Illinois, as well as the less cooler Iowa. It was thought to have inhabited the deeper parts of the sea, due to their large eyes.

Unknown artist

The xenacanthids also came into existence during the late Devonian, and survived into the late Triassic. Four genera are known but all were rather similar to the above Xenacanthus, with minor variations. Xenacanthus was the earliest xenacanthid, and the last to die out as well. A meter long, with an eel-like body and from freshwater, it would have been a lithe predator, with unusual V-shaped teeth that were probably used to feed on crustaceans and heavily scaled fish.

© Nobu Tamura

The hybodontids were the last (now-extinct family) to appear during the Devonian, lasting the longest into the late Cretaceous. Hybodus itself, seen above, lived from 260-100mya, a temporal range dating from the late Permian to the early Late Cretaceous. Along with animal such as dicynodonts, it survived the greatest mass extinction of all time, the Great Dying. One of the most popular extinct sharks, it made an appearance in Walking with Dinosaurs and Sea Monsters, and also appeared in a Karen Carr-illustrated book Jurassic Shark (inaccurately portrayed going after and living among Elasmosaurus (this in itself would not be too bad, except the story is set in the Jurassic). They would have caught slippery fish and hard-shelled prey, possessing two different types of teeth and was 6.6ft long. Other hybodontids were able to live in freshwater and one genus even lived in Hell Creek (as seen below on the middle left), though of marine origins.

© Tom Parker

Tomorrow we review more prehistoric sharks, from more modern orders. Stay tuned.

None of the images, especially those unmarked or marked as "unknown artist" are not property of the author and are used here for comparative purposes only.