Fossil Art

[S233]

Dear Forum Members,

 

I am interested in hearing whether or not anyone here has played around with interesting or exotic displays for their fossils, or in hearing if anyone has created fossil

art from the usual materials (e.g. paints, pencils, etc...) or from digital tools (e.g. neural style transfer, digital drawing platforms, etc...).

 

I have used a machine learning technique called neural style transfer to take the following artwork, extract its style, and apply it to an image of a fossil.

 

I have also tried to do some stuff with TSP (Traveling Salesperson Art), which a technique from linear optimization that allows one to make continuous line

drawings.

 

The inputs are an exogyra mollusk and a mosasaur tooth found by me.

 

I am interested in seeing anyone's fossil art, so please post it here if you want!

 

NEURAL STYLE TRANSFER

 

Styles

 

 

 

 

Inputs

 

 

 

 

Outputs

 

 

 

 

 

TRAVELING SALESPERSON ART

 

Voronoi Stippling

 

 

 

Continuous Line Drawing

 

Edited July 19, 2021 by Trevor

[Top Trilo]

Have you looked through here, http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/forum/186-paleo-re-creations/ 

I have tried drawing realistic black and white but may try different ways like you've shown here where it still looks just like it but clearly not like a photo. These are cool and thanks for giving me new ideas 

[piranha]

10 minutes ago, Trevor said:

 

 

     

[ThePhysicist]

Cool stuff! I especially like the continuous line drawing. I'm comparatively more traditional, the process is more satisfying IMO. I haven't done much art on fossils per se, save this work in progress done on my tablet (AMNH 5027 - started last year after seeing it in person):

@Kane and @Ludwigia definitely have made me want to start up again. Look forward to seeing all kinds of artistry here!

[S233]

5 minutes ago, Top Trilo said:

Have you looked through here, http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/forum/186-paleo-re-creations/ 

I have tried drawing realistic black and white but may try different ways like you've shown here where it still looks just like it but clearly not like a photo. These are cool and thanks for giving me new ideas 

 

Wow, I had no idea this existed! I've been on the forum for 9 years and never saw this! Thank you!!!!

[Ludwigia]

11 hours ago, ThePhysicist said:

Cool stuff! I especially like the continuous line drawing. I'm comparatively more traditional, the process is more satisfying IMO. I haven't done much art on fossils per se, save this work in progress done on my tablet (AMNH 5027 - started last year after seeing it in person):

@Kane and @Ludwigia definitely have made me want to start up again. Look forward to seeing all kinds of artistry here!

 

That is very cool! You wrote "on my tablet", but it looks to me like a pencil drawing?

[Pagurus]

Your artwork made me smile. I enjoyed seeing these varied styles applied to fossil depictions.   

[Brett Breakin' Rocks]

6 hours ago, Trevor said:

I am interested in seeing anyone's fossil art

I am always interested in the fossil as art ... or rather, trying to capture the detail that is sometimes overlooked. It is a slow process but I've got several like this in the works. 

Cheers,

Brett

[Ludwigia]

5 hours ago, Brett Breakin' Rocks said:

I am always interested in the fossil as art ... or rather, trying to capture the detail that is sometimes overlooked. It is a slow process but I've got several like this in the works. 

Cheers,

Brett

 

Can you please describe how you created this?

 

[JamieLynn]

I do stylized pen and ink artworks of fossils. They are obviously not intended to be realistic, but I do try to be true to physiology within the stylization. These are fairly small - 5 x 7. 

 

 

 

 

 

[ThePhysicist]

17 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

 

That is very cool! You wrote "on my tablet", but it looks to me like a pencil drawing?

That's exactly what I intended. The wonderful app I'm using (Procreate) has a variety of customizable brushes that mimic traditional media: pencils, pens, paint, airbrushes, you name it.

[Brett Breakin' Rocks]

10 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

Can you please describe how you created this?

Hi There,

 

The basic premise is to capture a good scan of the tooth. Here is a great guide from Elasmo.com

http://www.elasmo.com/frameMe.html?file=refs/terms/scanning.html&menu=bin/menu_refs-alt.html

 

I'll pull the hi resolution scan into Photoshop and do some cleanup and slight color correction and enhancements to bring out the detail. A modern version of burn and dodge, removing dust and scratches etc....  I try to stay away from tweaking the colors/texture too much, I don't want it looking like I hit it hard with an Instagram filter.

 

Any other questions let me know !

 

Cheers,

Brett

Edited July 19, 2021 by Brett Breakin' Rocks

[Ludwigia]

2 hours ago, ThePhysicist said:

That's exactly what I intended. The wonderful app I'm using (Procreate) has a variety of customizable brushes that mimic traditional media: pencils, pens, paint, airbrushes, you name it.

 

Does that mean that you are using the mouse to guide your 'brushes'? Aren't the precise movements difficult to control?

 

 

7 hours ago, JamieLynn said:

I do stylized pen and ink artworks of fossils. They are obviously not intended to be realistic, but I do try to be true to physiology within the stylization.

 

Very nice! They may be stylized, but you have to be able to accentuate the main essentials to be as successful at it as you are.

[ThePhysicist]

1 hour ago, Ludwigia said:

Does that mean that you are using the mouse to guide your 'brushes'? Aren't the precise movements difficult to control?

I use the old apple pencil. It's very precise, with essentially no lag. It takes some getting used to but works well.