Collages of dinosaurs made with pictures of fossil teeth

[BirdsAreDinosaurs]

This is a fun project that I have been working on for the past few months.

 

Fossilized dinosaur teeth from the Kem Kem beds in Morocco showcase a wide variety of colours and patterns, caused by the varying conditions under which they were fossilized. To me, these colours and patterns are rather beautiful. Therefore I decided to ask a colleague of mine, who is a professional photographer, to take pictures of my small collection of teeth, so I could use these pictures to create collages of the original owners of the teeth.

 

Using this approach, I made images of theropods from five different families. The animals on the images inhabited what is now known as Morocco about 100 million years ago.

 

Here they are. The white bar next to the teeth represents 1 cm.

 

This one I based on the species Spinosaurus aegyptiacus.

 

This one is based on Rugops primus. I was inspired by the patterns of the Gila monster.

 

Based on Deltadromeus agilis, which might be a noasaurid. As no skull of this dinosaur has ever been found, I am not sure that these are actually teeth of Deltadromeus. The other side of the smaller tooth shows an interesting white pattern, caused by plant roots growing on the fossil.

 

Based on Carcharodontosaurus saharicus. 

 

I am not certain that these teeth are dromaeosaurid, but they do have characteristics that indicate that they might be. I love the pattern on the smaller tooth, which made it pretty easy for me to create a feathered look.

 

I went ahead and got cards printed with the collages on the front. On the back I have included the family names and the specific teeth I used for each collage, at full size!

 

 

 

It was a fun and refreshing experience to try a completely different approach to making illustrations.

[Tidgy's Dad]

Nice idea. 

[automech]

That looks awesome! Great job!

[PFOOLEY]

Your illustrations are really fantastic! I think your idea of using tooth color and texture is a pretty darn unique and creative one!!

 

Do Cretaceous Ammonites next! 

 

[Pagurus]

These would be wonderful illustrations for a children's book! Terrific!

[BirdsAreDinosaurs]

19 hours ago, PFOOLEY said:

Your illustrations are really fantastic! I think your idea of using tooth color and texture is a pretty darn unique and creative one!!

 

Do Cretaceous Ammonites next! 

 

Thanks! We also made pictures of some sauropod teeth and a meg tooth, so I guess that's what I'll do next 

[BirdsAreDinosaurs]

The first sauropod: Rebbachisaurus garasbae!