Two new #Spinosaurus-themed things just arrived at Tet Zoo Towers. Congrats @davehone.bsky.social and @markwitton.bsky.social for the release of what looks like a very well designed book. #dinosaurs

I'm late to my own party (again, sigh) but my new book on #spinosaurid #dinosaurs (written with @davehone.bsky.social) was officially released yesterday! Tons of info on and #paleoart of spinosaurs therein: research history, evolution, ecology, life appearance etc. Available wherever books are sold.

The reality of being a freelancer is that you end up working a lot of evenings and nights, something #mammals have been doing since the Mesozoic. Here's new #paleoart of two #Jurassic gliding Mammaliaformes, Arboroharamiya, starting their day as the sun sets 160 million years ago. #sciart #fossil

Spinosaur Tales by @davehone.bsky.social and @markwitton.bsky.social. I got my hands on it early, and I can't recommend it enough for anybody interested in these enigmatic therapods!

Nanotyrannus is cool and all, but what if there was a brand new book written with, and illustrated by, @markwitton.bsky.social on Spinosaurus? Wouldn't that be really cool? Listen to use talk about it here before it comes out in less than a week! terriblelizards.libsyn.com/s11e10-spino...

It's #Halloween, so here's some scary #paleoart of the dreaded MAMMALIAN NOCTURNAL BOTTLENECK HYPOTHESIS. Which of these Megaconus will survive - AND WHAT WILL BE LEFT OF THEM? (Image just uploaded to #Patreon, along with a detailed discussion of this idea: www.patreon.com/posts/142523...)

Over the next few hours/days I'll be uploading lots of new #paleoart to Patreon. First up is this #Neanderthal fellow looking whimsically over his shoulder, wondering if he locked the door to his cave. Lots of discussion about his appearance and clothes at www.patreon.com/posts/142405... #sciart

[looks at clock] Oh hey, look: all my emails sorted by 10:00, not bad going. Time to get on with some writing and painting! Oh, wait: it's _that_ 10:00.

Pre-book promo podcast episode on Spinosaurus recorded with @markwitton.bsky.social terriblelizards.libsyn.com/s11e10-spino...

For some reason, this (fossil-based, evidence-led) picture always gets a reaction...

I had a go at drawing steppe #lions chasing a European bison recently, based on Palaeolithic artworks. I'm unsure about the markings around the lions' eyes but my main reference, which seems to otherwise give good data about colour distribution, suggests _something_ was there. #paleoart

Tomorrow (Oct 19), see @markwitton.bsky.social at @newscientist.com Live to discuss his book, King Tyrant: A Natural History of Tyrannosaurus rex. Stop by Our Planet stage at 11:55 am BST to hear about his fascinating research on the world's most famous dinosaur! Learn more here: buff.ly/4YBFj1U

For #FossilFriday this week, and continuing the build up to my new book on spinosaurs with @markwitton.bsky.social, here's the tip of a dentary of a large Spinosaurus showing the huge sockets for the very large anterior teeth.

Why look: a box of some sort of newish, bookish things arrived this morning. Seems to be about spinosaurid #dinosaurs... coauthored with @davehone.bsky.social... and published by Bloomsbury. Available 6th of November In the UK; then worldwide in early 2026.

I was thrilled to help to excavate more of this huge Oxfordshire dinosaur track site earlier this year. The BBC's new article has a ton of fantastic images and graphics that bring the tracks to life, including a moment where a sauropod paused to... do something?

A heads up that I'm talking at @NewScientist Live this weekend (Sunday 19th October) about my book, King Tyrant: A Natural History of Tyrannosaurus rex. Details, tickets etc. can be found here: live.newscientist.com/nsl-london-2... #dinosaur #fossils #scicomm #paleontology #books

Next week, on Oct 19, see @markwitton.bsky.social at @newscientist.com Live to discuss his book, King Tyrant: A Natural History of Tyrannosaurus rex. Stop by Our Planet stage at 11:55 am BST to hear about his fascinating research on the world's most famous dinosaur! Learn more here: buff.ly/4YBFj1U

Quick #FossilFriday #paleoart post: a 2025 redo of my 2019 take on the giant #deer Megaloceros. Palaeolithic art captures some aspects of Megaloceros appearance but the details are not unambiguous: when is a line across a body a stripe, when is it a boundary between colour regions?

In advance of the publication of my new book with @markwitton.bsky.social, "Spinosaur Tales" (Nov 6th), for #FossilFriday, here's a nice close up of a tooth of Baryonyx sitting in the jaw of the holotype. More spinosaur goodness coming in the next weeks as I desperately try to promote the book.

A superb explanation about why artists by and large detest AI imagery, from @theoatmeal.bsky.social: theoatmeal.com/comics/ai_art

Preview of my latest #paleoart piece: a baby bison flees the deadliest predator of Ice Age Europe. Harrowing, harrowing stuff.

If you want to know the real Spinosaurus, the animal behind the myths, check out this upcoming book by @davehone.bsky.social & @markwitton.bsky.social !!

My new book with @markwitton.bsky.social on Spinosaurus and their relatives is out a month today! It's available for preorder, so now is the time to get in on this amazing and well-illustrated book on these oddest of #dinosaurs. But don't take our word for it, here's what others have to say:

#Tyrannosaurus rex was named 120 years ago today (Oct 4, 1905). If you want to know all there is to know about the world's most iconic #dinosaur, the word is that my book "King Tyrant", published a few months back, is a good start. #fossils #paleontology #paleoart press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

To brighten up a wet and rainy #FossilFriday, here's my take on the recently described drepanosaur Mirasaura grauvogeli. It's shown among the conifer Voltzia, a plant found in abundance in the same beds as Mirasaura. The pointed sail shape is based on fossil data... #sciart #fossils #paleontology

Whether a print of an iPad drawing should be sold for >£80K is another question, but it's great to see digital art being given mainstream recognition. As an exclusively digital artist, I often feel like a second-class creative, but maybe attitudes are changing. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

New #paleoart posted to #Patreon: woolly mammoths around a duck-filled lake. Accompanying the hi-res and WIPs of this image is a discussion about mammoth colour: the uniform red-brown mammoths of classic palaeoart seem unlikely now. Check it out at www.patreon.com/posts/night-... #fossil #sciart

I forgot about this #paleoart of Deinocheirus I produced back in 2019 until this morning. Having not looked at it for years, I think it holds up pretty well. And no, it's not got the "feather mountain" look because D. was a big animal in a temperate climate. #dinosaurs #fossil #paleontology #sciart

Just posted some new #paleoart to #Patreon (www.patreon.com/c/markwitton), full images coming soon. For now, here's a nigh-on-midnight special preview of one new piece, just for other folks who really should be off their screens already: a baby mammoth chasing ducks. Some mammoths are just jerks.

Don’t miss this interview with @markwitton.bsky.social demystifying the world of dinosaurs! Read his full interview here: www.express.co.uk/news/science... and don’t miss his talk at New Scientist Live on 19 October! @express.co.uk #KingTyrant #NewScientistLive

For any fans of paleoart, I just want to give a huge public thank-you to @markwitton.bsky.social, an amazing paleoartist who generously accepted a commission from my paleo-loving teen & was incredibly responsive and thoughtful through the process. Its delivery thrilled our entire dino-loving family!

I've been interviewed by the Daily Express about #dinosaurs, ahead of a King Tyrant talk I'm giving at New Scientist Live next month. The article, alas, features stock imagery rather than genuine #paleoart (mine or otherwise), but that's newspapers for you. www.express.co.uk/news/science...

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

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