Centrosaurus apertus--Dinosaur Park Quartet #2

Here we see a Centrosaurus placidly amongst wildflowers--a image which burned into my brain when I was very young, seeing snippets of "prehistoric beast" interspersed in a documentary narrated by Christopher Reeve.

I updated that image though, to reflect current thought--bright colors on the frill, and yes, those are some bristles on the back, though it's hard to tell with the impressionist style. I wanted to give just the *hint* that not all is what they seem. (as regards the theory that these guys might well have eaten meat on occasion. This isn't your dad's ceratopsian.) That, and I used a lot of Prussian Blue. If I wasn't going with species names for this series, I'd probably have titled it "Prussian Blueceratops."

Of note: the Dinosaur Park Project is for someone's child, which also helps to explain the bright colors. I have to give the kid something to nitpick on, after all. After all, if Dr. Bakker gave me something to correct him at when I was seven, then it's only fair that I do the same thing.

But mostly it was nice to revisit an image from my childhood. And it opens my mind to the fact that, after/if the children's book on the Life of the Virgin Mary is done, I'd love to illustrate an alphabetic book of Dinosaurs. Now won't that throw people off! "Cody has illustrated two children's books on seemingly completely disparate fields!"