Museolla taas

AT THE MUSEUM AGAIN

Mentiin töistä käymään Luonnontieteellisellä museolla. Kävin siellä usein opiskeluaikoinani piirtämässä eläimiä, joten piti tietenkin verestää muistoja siitäkin.
I went to the Natural History Museum because of work. When I was studying, I often went there to draw, so I had to try that again.

Kattoliskot

ROOF LIZARDS

”Mom… where do baby stegosaurs come from?” ”My child…” //
”…the time has come when I should tell you about the birds and the bees. However… bees have not evolved yet.” //
”True story. Bees only first appeared some 20 million years after stegosaurs went extinct. Makes you think.” //
”On the other hand, the way in which stegosaurs, well… did start the life of a new generation… is a bit of a mystery. Them being the shape that they are.”

Jaa mitkä ”kattoliskot”? Nimi ”Stegosaurus” tarkoittaa kattoliskoa, koska alun perin sen selkäkilpien ajateltiin olleen sen selän suojana kuin kattotiilet.
Why ”roof lizards”? The name ”Stegosaurus” means roofed lizard because it was originally thought that their back plated would have been protecting their backs like roof tiles.

Kannattava ajatus

A SUPPORTING IDEA

”I’ve been planning my own fantasy world a lot lately.” //
”I don’t have giants there but four-meter-tall, four-armed frogs.” //
”I’ve also been developing a writing system for them but I can’t decide if they would write horizontally or vertically.” //
”I think frogs would obviously write vertically.” ”Why?” //
”We mammals have the atlas vertebra in our necks which allows for up-and-down movement of the head… and the axis vertebra that allows the head the move side-to-side.” //
”Frogs, however, lack the axis vertebra so they cannot move their heads from side to side. Therefore they would write vertically.” //
”Well, that solves it. Vertically it is.” ”I’m just wondering why THIS is what I remember from my fresher’s year’s animal anatomy class…”

Peuroja

FOREST REINDEER

Minulta tilattiin peura-aiheisia kuvituksia. Ostin niitä varten uutta paperia, joka toki vaati testaamista. Samalla tein vähän väri- ja materiaalikokeiluja. Ylempi kuva on ihan pelkkä lyijykynäluonnos, vesiväriä ja valkoista puuväriä (skanneri otti sinisen taivaan tosi huonosti) ja alemmassa näiden lisäksi mm. mustetta, valkoista geelikynää ja elintarvikeväriä.
I was commissioned some forest reindeer illustrations. I bought new paper for it and it of course required some testing, and I tried out some colors and materials at the same time. The first painting is just a pencil sketch, water color and white pencil (the scanner did a lousy job with the blue sky) and the second one also includes ink,white gel pen and some food coloring.

Se oli hyvin suuri kivi

IT WAS A VERY LARGE STONE

”Dinosaurs ruled the Earth for some 200 million years.” //
”Their reign suddenly ended when a large meteorite hit the Earth. It really was huge, 12 to 15 kilometers in diameter!” //
”Like… when I come to work by bike it’s 13 kilometers. So about that much.” //
If that whole meteorite was placed in the ocean, it would easily reach the surface. Even the deepest place of the oceans, the Mariana Trench, is ’only’ 11 kilometers deep! //
The highest mountain in the world, Mt Everest, would pale in comparison with this meteorite. (The plane on this picture is not to scale but…) Passenger planes would have to fly AROUND it! //
”…” //
”Excuse me, I will lay down for a while.” //
”These scales are a tad overwhelming.”

Stegosaurus

Piirsin töihin dinosaurusvärityskuvia. Tietysti piti itsekin värittää. Postaan näitä varmaan joskus lisää jahka saan väriteltyä.
I drew dinosaur coloring pictures for work. Naturally, I had to color some myself, too. I’ll probably post more of these when I get them done.

Ääripäät

OPPOSITES

”Hello, cousin!” ”Hi there!”

Eteläamerikkalaisia koiraeläimiä! Pensaskoira on noin 30 cm korkea, lyhytjalkainen ja pienikorvainen koiraeläin. Harjasusi puolestaan näyttää suurikorvaiselta ketulta puujaloilla. Nämä lajit ovat toistensa lähimpiä eläviä sukulaisia, eli jossain kohtaa evoluutio lähti kovin eri suuntiin! Molemmat lajit on luokiteltu silmälläpidettäviksi.
South American canines! Bush dog is approximately 30 cm high, short-legged and small-eared canine. Maned wolf, on the other hand, looks like a large-eared fox on stilts. These species are each other’s closest living relatives, so at some point their evolution went down completely different routes! Both species are classified as near threatened.

Valvontaa

A WATCHING EYE

I was cleaning up a little at work today when… //
”…well, this Jimmy-Joe. Well, he just came to stand right next to me.” //
”Clearly just to check if I had swept well enough.” ”…” //
”Jimmy-Joe just wouldn’t let me leave. Some customers saw this and thought it was really funny.” ”Terrible behavior! I hope you told your boss!” ”I didn’t.” //
Jimmy-Joe is a wallaby.

Tätäkö varten opiskelin?

IS THIS WHY I STUDIED SO HARD?

”Hey where’s the closest restroom?” ”There in the picnic area.” //
”Hey what time is it?” ”Half past twelve.” //
”Hey where are the kangaroos?” ”Over there to the left.” //
”Hey where can I smoke?” ”Behind that kiosk.” //
”Hey! Hey, guide!” ”Yes?” //
”I read from that info sign over there that the European bison would have gone extinct without zoos.” ”…” //
”So I was wondering if you could tell me more about it?” ”YES I CAN!!!”