A reminder about the #SVP2025 workshop "Palaeoart Past and Present: the view from the UK" for those last-minute early-bird [=cheap] conference registrants! It's shaping up to be a great one-day pre-conference event: please come along if you're a #paleoart fan attending SVP!

My wife is torturing herself to help zebras: please throw a few pounds/dollars/currency of choice to make the pain worthwhile!

Look fellows, you can skive the rest of #FossilFriday by reading this interview with me at Science Photo Library. Don't worry, it's more #paleoart than words, and I won't tell your boss what you're up to. #sciart #fossils #paleontology #dinosaurs stories.sciencephoto.com/portfolio/ma...

In case you didn't know, there's a #palaeoart / #paleoart - themed workshop at SVP 2025 ('Palaeoart Past and Present: the view from the UK', organised by @markwitton.bsky.social) ... spaces are limited so book now if you plan to attend vertpaleo.org/2025-worksho...

Spending the morning trying to figure out the logistics of sending #paleoart prints to the US from the UK now that de miminis has ended. Was hoping for clarity a week on, but nope! Anyone found any good overviews of the cost for sending small, light parcels/letters with art prints?

The internet doesn't have many hi-res images of what is possibly the only image of Steller's sea cow drawn from life (itself a copy of a now-lost sketch), so I'm uploading this version from Stejneger (1936). Very sad that this simple graphic represents the total in vivo art record for this speies.

To liven up Tuesday afternoon, have some speculative #dinosaurs adapted for modern habitats. Respectively, they are the magnificent and steppe fissurefrills, the berk, and the grand field titan. It's nice to take a break from pure #paleoart every now and then, and designing animals is fun.

Heads up for #SVP2025 attendees: I'm running a day-long workshop about UK #paleoart on Nov 11th (the day before the meeting). Essentially a mini-conference, it's a day of talks on UK palaeoart history, conservation and current projects, as well as... 1/3

My #Patreon feed this month features three new #pterosaur #paleoart pieces: Pteranodon, Tupandactylus and Jeholopterus sp., alongside essays concerning what is known of, and what some have predicted about, their colour. Check this out at www.patreon.com/c/markwitton. #sciart #fossil #paleontology

Just for fun, a 2024 painting of the cyclops Polyphemus. I started planning a book on geomythology last year that would have been filled with paintings like this, but development stalled amid other projects. Maybe something to revisit? #art #mythology #cyclops

Reached new levels of vintage #paleoart dorkery today: made myself a fine art print of John Martin's 1837 The Country of the Iguanodon and framed it next to my desk. Primordial, apocalyptic Earth is now just a glance away. (And it'll look even better with an ivory mount, now on order.)

New #paleoart for #FossilFriday: someone spilt a load of Neave Parker all over this painting of Styracosaurus. Whoops. (I should really draw some ceratopsids found this century, but the Styracosaurus silhouette remains awesome, 112 years post-discovery. Note the non-speculated frill asymmetry.)

Some #FossilFriday reading: I've been interviewed, alongside palaeontologist Tom Cullen, about the life appearance of T. rex by the Montreal Science Centre. Lots of my Tyrannosaurus #paleoart features, too! www.montrealsciencecentre.com/blog/what-di... www.montrealsciencecentre.com/blog/what-di...

What I went to #DinoConUK with... and what came home. Thanks to everyone who visited my stall, said hello, bought books, chatted about neat palaeo stuff, and to the organisers for putting everything together.

Just for fun, some #paleoart of Ichthyosaurus communis predating belemnites. I deliberately left the brushwork on this one a little looser than usual to give a sense of speed and movement. #sciart #ichthyosaur #fossil #paleontology

More @dinoconuk.bsky.social prints. This is it now, I promise. This is Tupandactylus imperator, one of the most spectacular of all #pterosaurs. Some data exists about the crest pigments and the nature of the feather-like fibres on the head. More on this at #Patreon in the near future. #paleoart

Realised that I'd printed 96 different A3 prints for @dinoconuk.bsky.social, which is obviously not a satisfying number. So I made four more this evening to hit the big one-zero-zero. It includes some new Pteranodon #paleoart and, just for fun, an A4 print of a new ?Jeholopterus piece. #sciart

My review of @markwitton.bsky.social's King Tyrant: It's REXCELLENT! I'll see myself out...

Writing about #pterosaurs today, so here's a flying reptile-themed post for #FossilFriday: giant azhdarchid Hatzegopteryx alarms a dwarf titanosaur. The situation with Hateg titanosaurs is now much more complex than it once was, and this sauropod is now too big to be Magyarasaurus. #paleoart #sciart

Been making prints to sell at @dinoconuk.bsky.social. This isn't everything. Please bring money and buy stuff, so we have somewhere to live again. #paleoart #dinosaurs #fossil #sciart #art #naturalhistory

Inquisitive email about Book 8 sent off. This concerns something very different to anything I've attempted before and relies on an untested set of writing skills. It might never happen because the idea is terrible, or I might not have the authorial chops to pull it off. But fingers crossed, anyway.

I don't bring this up often but – I'm vegan, for many reasons. Among them is that >some< farming and fishing practices are inhumane. A new study shows that rainbow trout take, on average, 10 mins to asphyxiate out of water, feeling "moderate to intense pain". Jesus. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Weeks after anyone will care, I finally watched Jurassic World: Rebirth this evening. It clears the low bar of recent Jurassic films, but even in the hands of more competent filmmakers, it struggles to draw fresh blood from the battered, withered stone of the larger JP franchise.

You’ll all have seen the many announcements and PR pieces from #ColossalBiosciences. There are reasons to be concerned about the general message promoted by CB, one being that it is seen >by some< (US politicians in particular) as meaning that we can devalue conservation. A 🧵 1/n

I've uploaded a tonne of hi-res #paleoart to #Patreon this week, all of it accompanied by articles covering what we know about the colours of the depicted species. It might be worth a read if you're curious about reconstructing extinct animals. www.patreon.com/markwitton #fossils #sciart

Some deplorable, shameful and suspicious behaviour being exposed here. I hope @toriherridge.bsky.social, @lemoustier.bsky.social, @trowelblazers.bsky.social et al. find some justice in all this.

Working on #paleoart of the fantastic new drepanosaur Mirasaura today. I don't think it's mentioned in the paper, but there's a significant size range in the skin appendages: here's the biggest isolated example vs. the (juvenile) holotype. Neat. #fossil #paleontology

A British council trying to work with wildlife and encourage changes to our behaviour for the betterment of both us and birds? More of this, please. BBC News - 'Pigeons are not vermin, they're very intelligent' www.bbc.com/news/article...

Registering for #2025SVP #SVP2025? Why not get your hands on some of the merchandise featuring our amazing logos designed by @markwitton.bsky.social vertpaleo.org/2025-svp-ann...

@gizz47.bsky.social and I tried our hands at taxidermy today: behold our mice, as displayed on our homeward train. Taxidermy relies so much on knowledge of how animals fit together and, critically, how internal tissues bulk out skin. Lots to reflect on today as goes #paleoart.

New #paleoart for #FossilFriday, to be posted to #Patreon soon: countershaded #ichthyosaur Stenopterygius spams a lagoon with uniformly dark offspring (colour schemes suggested by fossils). Some ichthyosaur specimens have been found with 11 embryos, each 25% of adult body length. Yikes. #sciart

Good to see criticism of Colossal and their fraudulent "de-extinction" process getting mainstream coverage. New Zealand has some amazing conservation successes but the fight to save its species is not over. Think what that $15 million might have done there, rather than making this Frankenstein bird.

Once again, the dog proves that her enthusiastic companionship does not extend into copy-editing. Guess I'm reading it again, then. @davehone.bsky.social #dinosaurs #spinosaurus #books #scicomm

The Triassic #pterosaur relative Scleromochlus taylori is an animal I've drawn several times over the last decade, making it a yardstick for where my #paleoart was vs. where it is today. The images here are from 2025 (finished this morning), 2015 and 2014, respectively. #fossil #sciart #paleontology

Very kind review of King Tyrant at NHBS by Leon Vlieger: "The execution of this book sets the standard for what good popular science can be and is a model that other authors and publishers can aspire to... King Tyrant is an instant classic." www.nhbs.com/blog/book-re... #dinosaur #book #scicomm

Tagging people who I know are vendors at #DinoCon 2025: we have @emilyhiggs-art.bsky.social @jedtaylorartist.bsky.social @cmkosemen.bsky.social @dailydinosketch.bsky.social @dragonsofwales.bsky.social @kakapojay.bsky.social @markwitton.bsky.social ... full list at www.dinocon.co.uk/vendor-hall

Hot damn, the Palaeontology in Public book by @chrismanias.bsky.social is the subject of an article in @theguardian.com, following a theme in recent Jurassic World films that the public are bored with dinosaurs. (Fact: Chris has not watched a single JP sequel!) www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Spreading the word about @willconway.bsky.social's #dinosaur #comic Steak, now Kickstarting a 3rd issue! Steak mashes palaeo/dino-geekery with the spirit of 2000AD's "Flesh", serving up smart time-travel action illustrated by @marcolivent.bsky.social. Recommended! www.kickstarter.com/projects/ste...

Next month I'll be signing copies of King Tyrant at @dinoconuk.bsky.social - hope to see some of you there! @princetonupress.bsky.social will be selling copies too, if you haven't picked one (or two) up already. #books #dinosaur #Tyrannosaurus #palaeontology #fossil

New post and #paleoart at #Patreon: countershading in Psittacosaurus: was it _definitely_ for camouflage? Not everyone is convinced. Read the discussion, see this piece in hi-res and check out the WIPs at www.patreon.com/posts/gettin.... #dinosaur #sciart #fossil #paleontology

New at #Patreon: discussion of this scene of Sinosauropteryx waiting out a feeding Yutyrannus for carcass access. Or - hold on - are they waiting for their parent to feed them? Behold, the compsognathid identity dispute, now #paleoart flavoured! #sciart #dinosaurs www.patreon.com/posts/132334...

For #FossilFriday: #paleoart adventures with dodos including my latest reconstruction of this famous pigeon with accurate(?) colours, 3D printing a life-sized scanned dodo head (Kolby the greyhound for scale), and upscaling Ustad Mansur's c. 1625 important painting of the bird in life. #sciart

If you edit me correctly, for small snippets of time I sound like I know what I'm talking about... (Full interview: www.fossilsfiction.co/2025/06/15/e... Thanks to @fossilsfiction.co for inviting me onto their show!)

The burial of Ghana's natural spaces under thousands of tonnes of discarded clothes from the UK (and other parts of Europe) is something every consumer should know about. Fast fashion is a huge environmental issue; don't buy into it. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Don’t miss King Tyrant author @markwitton.bsky.social‬ at the 2025 Lyme Regis Fossil Festival tomorrow, 15 June, at 12:20 BST for a special "Meet a Palaeontological Author & Artist, Book Introduction & Book Signing" event! For more details, visit:

C-r-a-w-l-i-n-g towards #LymeRegis for this weekend's #FossilFestival where I'll be promoting King Tyrant. Cancelled and late-running trains are making the journey... interesting, but we'll get there today. Probably.

Don’t miss @markwitton.bsky.social‬ at the 2025 Lyme Regis Fossil Festival this weekend for the following events: • 14th June at 11 BST: A Natural History of Tyrannosaurus rex • 15th June at 12:20 BST: Meet a Palaeontological Author & Artist, Book Introduction & Book Signing   Learn more:

WIP of new Yutyrannus/Yixian Formation #paleoart that I'm working on. That psittacosaur will be fine, btw, he's just resting. (Sad to say this post is partly motivated by my art - like that of so many artists - being accused of being AI. AI doesn't have WIPs, folks) #dinosaurs #paleontology #sciart

Some new #paleoart to welcome my 1000s of new (bot?) followers: here's Cooksonia, the First Vascularised Plant™ from the Silurian. Contra. classic reconstructions, the stems were probably too narrow for photosynthetic pigments, which were instead located in gametophytes at the plant base. #sciart

Either I've just inexplicably become super popular overnight, to the tune of gaining 700 followers in a few hours, or Bluesky is being swarmed with bots. I know which one I'd like, but also know which is more likely.