Friday, December 18, 2009

Dinosaurs and Kids go together like PB and J

There isn't much that captures a child's imagination like a 10 story lizard with some of the goofiest stuff on it one has ever seen (really Steggie, plates on your back in case a dinner party suddenly breaks out?)

I first fell for the dinosaurs waaay back when I was about five and the first Land Before Time came out (at this point we shall all pretend that they never tried to make 50 sequels and that we live in a world where it was just the original).

My favorite was Little Foot, of course, the big friendly brontosaurus. Then I grew up and learned that like Santa, the Easter Bunny and candy necklaces actually tasting good the brontosaurus is a myth and never actually existed.

Apparently paleontologists aren't as good at puzzles as we'd thought. Or one of them had a bit of a practical joke that sort of got out of hand. Like Nessie is a bath toy or New Coke being a good idea.

Back then it was pretty weird for a girl to be big into dinosaurs and most things were of course closely marketed as "For Boys Only." Not that it stopped me much.

For one of our "Dress up like what you want to be" days in grade school I put on an old lab coat, got a small brush and a piece of pumice (it was the closest I had to a fossil) and went as a paleontologist (yeah I even knew the difference between that and an archaeologist I was that far gone) to all the other girls teachers, vets, and high powered lawyers in miniskirts.

Alas, overtime my dinosaur love slowly waned as I found other things to keep me distracted (those shiny AOL discs they mailed you every other day in the 90's sure did the trick for a while. I can't be the only one to ever make an AOL mobile).

But now thanks to a PBS show dinosaurs are back and big into taking public transportation apparently.

So using my few painting skills I've been having a grand ol' time creating dinosaurs for the girls (or any little boys who still like wearing necklaces because Madison Avenue hasn't convinced them it's weird yet).

My first one was that T-Rex/Allosaurus/Tall upright tiny armed dinosaur I made for my one friend that I posted about with the two horses.

But then I wanted to try making one more girl oriented so I made a pink Pteranadon with a shiny purple/blue background. It's funny how it's pink but it doesn't scream DISNEY PRINCESS GIRL either.
"I just want to give you a hug! LOVE ME!"

My third and so far last dino pendant was made a bit more to spec. Favorite Dino the Triceratops, favorite color green.

So I give you a green triceratops on a dark green and blue background.
I'm noticing a pattern with my dinosaurs, they all look so damn cute. I go off pictures and realistic images but I definitely use quite a bit of artistic licence when it comes to the size of eyes (easiest way to make something cute, give them huge eyes) and use softer lines on the body.

Since both of these are already sold what was the point of this post?

DINOSAURS RULE!

Did you ever have any dreams to dig up old dinosaur bones and glue them back together in some misguided attempt to crush small children's dreams?

How about Land Before Time, anyone else remember those cool puppets they had at Pizza Hut at one point?

What is it about Dinosaurs that capture our imagination so?

1 comment:

Leslie said...

I REMEMBER THE PUPPETS!!! They were the coolest!