Monday, December 1, 2014

The Great 2014 Dinosaur Gift Guide: Volume 2!

Welcome to part two of the LITC 2014 Dinosaur Gift Guide! If you missed the first installment, check it out here. the goal with this brief series of posts is to highlight artists and other independent creators of dinosaur goods. Since paleontology depends on the work of artists to reach the public, it's vital to directly support them when possible. There has never been an easier time to do it, and dinosaur lovers have never had such a wealth of amazing art by so many talented people.

Onward with the second installment. I've decided to split this guide off into a trilogy to keep the post lengths reasonable, so the third and final part will be coming Wednesday!



The Paleopost Postcard set, featuring the work of Tiffany Turrill and Brynn Metheney.

Tiffany Turrill and Brynn Metheney are concept artists in the videogame industry, and every single time they share their dinosaur work, it's the sweetest of sweet treats. Their Paleopost postcard set is a great way to get some of their finest work in one package - saurian and otherwise extinct.


Arthropod Meeting by Glendon Mellow, available from his Redbubble shop as a print or as part of his wonderful 2015 calendar.

Glendon Mellow doesn't do a lot of dinosaurs, but his utterly unique eye deserves inclusion here, often drawing from prehistory for inspiration in his surreal juxtapositions. His Avimimus, available as an iPhone or Galaxy case would be a great set of training wheels for someone working up the nerve to commission him for one of his striking tattoo designs!


Trikeratos by Scott Elyard, an exploration of cybernetic technology and prehistoric life, available as prints, pillow, tote bag, or tee at Redbubble.

Scott Elyard also has a uniquely unfettered imagination, with a portfolio populated by cybernetic saurians and brightly colored skull portraits.


Lesser Bowertyrant by Raven Amos, available as a print, pillow, or tote bag from Redbubble.

Raven Amos' work is consistently eye-popping, with bold color choices, stylistic daring, and intricate line work. Raven's work is available at Neatorama as well as Redbubble. The Neatorama store also includes her Nintendo/Kaiju Mashup series. Her GaMario and Linkzilla are slam dunks.


The mighty Dreadnoughtus, illustrated by Christopher DiPiazza and available as a print from the Christopher DiPiazza's Zazzle shop.

Christopher DiPiazza has been sharing wonderful watercolor paintings of dinosaurs and other prehistoric beasties for a good long while over at Prehistoric Beast of the Week.


The Caffienated Raptor mug, by Emily Willoughby and available from her on-line store.

Emily Willoughby is a shining star in today's paleoart universe, bringing a naturalism to her feathered maniraptors that perhaps more than anyone other single body of work invites lovers of today's extant theropods to extend that appreciation to their Mesozoic forebears.

The TetZoo Aisle


The covers of All Yesterdays and Cryptozoologicon: Volume 1, from Irregular Books.

The fellows of the TetZoo/ Irregular Books empire are marvels of productivity, especially considering the high quality of their work. I consider All Yesterdays a must-have for paleoart enthusiasts, both for the sheer volume of beautiful, challenging work inside and for the way it communicates the strong tug-of-war between imagination and inference at the heart of paleontological restoration. Their Cryptozoologicon: Volume 1 applies a similar approach to the existence of cryptids. Darren Naish's Tetrapod Zoology: Book 1 would round out a nice little book set.

Of course, there are other options available to support their unflagging efforts to educate and inspire natural history enthusiasts. Memo Kosemen sells prints from his DeviantArt account, John Conway sells his from his own site, and Darren Naish sells his designs on tees at Redbubble. The TetZoo Podcast also has its own Redbubble shop.


We'll wrap up with the third part on Wednesday, which will include even more artwork and books to stuff those stockings with.

1 comment:

  1. Thank you so much for this list! I'm getting my mom the Caffeinated Raptor mug for Christmas.

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