Dinosaur Discoveries

Dinosaurs are fascinating creatures. The variety of sizes, shapes and the continuation of new discoveries in the past few decades is very exciting. I wanted to make something that focused on the discoveries made by paleontologists and the people that drew the very first illustrations of fossilized skeletons of these amazing creatures. During my research I found numerous illustrations, some of which dated back to the 19th Century. Not wanting to draw from these directly, I still wanted to capture the wonder and awe of these discoveries. 

An illustration of the skeletal anatomy of a plesiosaurus by William Conybeare in 1824.

I started to think about in what state were these fossils found. They wouldn't have been found in a manner in keeping with the side on, anatomical illustrations so painstakingly drawn. The remains of the dinosaurs would have been discovered the way they fell. Often images depicted skeletal remains curled in a foetal position or laying prone with back arched in an unnatural way. However, I still wanted the finished pieces to look clean and sharp. What I wanted to achieve therefore was to merge the foetal shape the fossils may have been found in and the early anatomical illustrations.  

My interpretation of a 'newly discovered' Stegosaurus fossil. 

A curled Plesiosaur skeleton. 

As my chosen medium was ceramics, or to be more exact plates, I knew that not all of my chosen dinosaur fossils to depict in the curled foetal position would appear authentic. The concern was there between creating something that looked realistic and what would be aesthetically pleasing. For the Plesiosaur design, I thought about recurring shapes in nature. One of these is the spiral. I wanted the design to appear as though it were beginning to form a spiral and that the eye would naturally be drawn to this conclusion.