Beth Zaiken Profile Banner
Beth Zaiken Profile
Beth Zaiken

@BZaiken

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Artist/illustrator specializing in large-scale murals of prehistoric animals and landscapes | Lead muralist Blue Rhino Studio | RISD alum | #paleoart #sciart

Minneapolis
Joined March 2012
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
4 years
Finally made a proper project page, with high-res and closeups from the @RoyalAlberta Museum Ice Age mural! Check it out:
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
1 year
Drop a cool photo that someone took of you doing your job….
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@skeletaldrawing
Scott Hartman
1 year
Drop a cool photo that someone took of you doing your job (a long time ago now...)
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
3 years
Just wild to me that it's been 10 YEARS since I started working on this set of graphics and #illustrations for the Ancient Ozarks #NaturalHistoryMuseum ....looking back some of this information has aged well, some not so much....
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
1 year
Exciting things happening here at Blue Rhino Studio (coming soon from Giant Screen Films)…
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
6 years
So like....WHAT IF? Smilodon fatalis...but with serious lips ya'll. Definitely less elegant than the conventional take. #paleoart #sciart #SciArtTweetStorm
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
5 years
It’s official, we at #bluerhinostudio are lucky enough to be working on a lifesize @SUEtheTrex , coming soon to a museum near you! All hail the majestic murderbird!!!
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
2 years
Amazing new research in the international journal Nature—using environmental DNA, the team was able to gain incredible details of a 2-million-year-old ecosystem in Greenland—and with my illustration on the cover!! ❤️🦣
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
6 years
My new ice age project features a herd of extinct North American Wild Horses—ancestor to all caballine horses we know today! Horse color genetics are fascinating and I’m playing around with some plausible alternative coat colors—what’s your favorite color scheme?
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
1 year
Our incomparable lead sculptor Jim Burt (Blue Rhino Studio) 🦖🙌
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
3 years
Posting some work I did for the new visitor center at Ice Age Fossils State Park. #americanlion #scottshorse #iceage #paleoart
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
6 years
Ready for round 2? After some new info (thanks SS!) I revamped my ice age horse color chart to be more accurate (by recent-ish available research anyway). What do you think?
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
4 years
You guys the shop is absolutely STACKED with dinosaurs right now 🤓🦖 #bluerhinostudio
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
2 months
Hey check out my T.rex and triceratops on the cover of the September @sciam Scientific American magazine! #paleoart #dinosaurs 💚🦖
@sciam
Scientific American
2 months
Advances in imaging technology have let scientists study dinosaur brains, offering insights into how intelligent these creatures were and how they experienced the world. Learn more in our September issue:
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
3 years
What happens when a pack of dire wolves happens upon a #smilodon on a fresh camel kill? #paleoart #scicomm
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
4 years
So proud of the whole #bluerhinostudio team for all the hard work that went into our beautiful @SUEtheTrex for the @FieldMuseum ! Can’t wait for the next one.... ❤️🦖 #paleoart
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
1 year
I’ll be headed to Cincinnati for #2023svp this weekend! Who will be there? #Scotty the #tyrannosaurus #TRex stomping in here for signal boost. #paleoart 🦖🦣🎨
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
4 years
This guy and his flying partner go to their new home @sciencemuseummn tomorrow! #quetzalcoatlus #bluerhinostudio
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
5 years
#smilodon showdown! What's your favorite pelage pattern for this guy?
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
3 years
Just getting around to sharing a piece I did for the @tulespringsnps — a #pleistocene megafauna lineup 🦣🦣🦣
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
4 years
Super COOL new steppe mammoth study dropped today in Nature! Oldest sequenced DNA ever, cold adaptations! Wonderful stuff by an incredibly talented team, along with a wintry illustration by yours truly. ❤️🦣
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
6 years
Still workin on those American Lions (Panthera atrox).... #paleoart #digitalpainting
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
5 years
Hey #mammoth folks, what do you think of this #columbianmammoth ? More hair? #paleoart
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
3 years
These really fired me up to work on #paleoart as much as I could, though I still work on a lot of modern #naturalhistory projects, even now (still love it too)
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
3 years
Really, how did I forget the lions? 🤓🦁
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
3 years
There were a series of 12 for this museum, each is set up near a full #bluerhinostudio diorama or real fossil mount, spanning the #cenozoic . This was one of my favorite projects I've been lucky enough to work on. 🎨🥰🦣
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
4 years
@SUEtheTrex , still in progress, now getting all tucked in for her trip, snacks included. It takes a lot of work to ship such a legendary chonk across the country! #bluerhinostudio #tyrannosaurus #dinosaur #paleoart
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
5 years
Happy #fossilfriday and Unearthing day to my MASSIVE friend, @SCOTTYtheTREX !!
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
5 years
Work in progress....Mastadon mother and calf. Screen-photo, but part of a MUCH larger painting lol. #Paleoart #digitalpainting
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
5 years
A little horsey in a big mural #pleistocene #paleoart
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
4 years
SUE is home!!!
@FieldMuseum
Field Museum
4 years
SUEprise! 🦖 A more "meaty" SUE is now on display in our main hall until August 17. 👀
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
6 years
Proboscidea busts from the “mammoths and mastadons: titans of the ice age” exhibition, ca 2011
@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
6 years
@SHeadcrabs Gomphotherium, Ambelodon, Phiomia and Deinotherium 👍
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
6 years
Decided to post some of my shorthand notes on American Lion (Panthera atrox). I often do these kind of things in the margins of stuff but I don’t usually post them...since they’re not to be taken literally and are mostly for my own reference.
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
6 years
@anatotitan I wouldn’t say “favorite” but occasionally I think I’m not terrible at this stuff....actual favorite muralists run more along the lines of old natural history diorama artists—James Perry Wilson, Carl Rungius, Francis Lee Jaques...
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
5 years
Case study for the importance of flesh in restoring extinct species....
@solomilne
Sol Milne, PhD
5 years
This is what a Mola-Mola (Sunfish) skeleton looks like. 😶
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
4 years
Truly the highlight of my year to be awarded the Lanzendorf National Geographic Paleoart Prize in 2D! A huge thank you to everyone at @SVP_vertpaleo for the honor! (And of course the @RoyalAlberta for the opportunity to create their gigantic Pleistocene hall mural!)
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
5 years
American lion glamour shot 👍 #paleoart #digitalpainting
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
5 years
New mural painting installed at the Royal Alberta Museum!
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
5 years
Happy #FossilFriday ! I ended up going with reddish pelage colors for this #smilodon ....bonus points if you guess the modern feline the colors are inspired by....
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
5 years
I hope this little one survives, it would be amazing to see as an adult. 🙏
@XposeTrophyHunt
Xpose Trophy Hunting
5 years
A unique spotted zebra foal was first seen on the Maasai Mara Reserve Kenya, by a Maasai guide on the weekend. Named Tira, this zebra will be a star! A very unusual and completely beautiful genetic mutation! Photo credits: frankliuphotography photo 2&3 RS Photography: photos 1&4
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
5 years
Happy #Fossilfriday ! Enjoy this #Nothrotheriops , aka the Shasta Ground Sloth. #paleoart
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
6 years
@SHeadcrabs Gomphotherium, Ambelodon, Phiomia and Deinotherium 👍
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
3 years
This is just a spectacular animal. 👏👏❤️🦌
@Rednaxela1821
Tristan Landis
3 years
I don’t think people acknowledge how awesome fallow deer are enough, they have stunning antlers and a neat pattern. Not to mention they *might* (heavy emphasis here) be the last of the Megacerines
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
4 years
We see depictions of T. Rex in action mode so often it was really difficult to figure out an appropriate “resting” pose; I tried 9 different versions of @SUEtheTrex before we settled on the final for the @FieldMuseum mural!
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
4 years
Prerequisite dinosaur mug shot with “fleshy” @SUEtheTrex ❤️🦖
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
3 years
Well, you beat me to posting these on Twitter 😅
@adi_fatalis
Aditya Srinath
3 years
Since I haven't seen these posted yet, here are 3 paintings by the very talented @BZaiken depicting Ice Age Fossils Park in North Las Vegas, Nevada.
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
6 years
New stuff on the “easel,” just a sneak peak at my ongoing larger project #americanlion #iceage #digitalpainting
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
1 year
Huh 🤨
@raftingzalmoxes
Palaeoncryptozoologist Briton
1 year
#GiantScreenFilmsTRex Beth Zaiken's Hell Creek mural. Now coming to life in TIER 0 VFX.
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
3 years
Oh man how did I forget the mammoths too! What a week. 😅
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
6 years
My work from #PicturingthePastSVP is featured in this article for NAT-FREAKIN-GEO you guys!! And I’m quoted quite a bit as well!!! Couldn’t be happier—Amazing!!! How dinosaurs are brought back to life—through art via @NatGeoScience
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
4 years
This is an absolutely eye-watering sum of money, and until we know more about the purchase, I feel it’s a rough day for open access to science. 😬
@ChristiesInc
Christie's
4 years
#AuctionUpdate @ChristiesInc sets a #WorldAuctionRecord for a #TyrannosaurusRex named #STAN which sold for $31,847,500 #crushing the estimate of $6-8M.
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
6 years
Remember that time we built a bunch of Proboscidea busts for the “mammoths and mastodons” traveling exhibition.... #tbt #bluerhinostudio
@BonnieBeasties
Bonnie Griffin
6 years
Loving these incredible life sized models @labreatarpits ! I have a big elephant project coming up too so feeling all things Proboscidea at the mo 🐘 #elephant #naturalhistory
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
3 years
Oh this is so cool, I’m so here for the gritty natural history content 🤩
@DennisMHansen
Dennis Hansen
3 years
Happy #FossilFriday ! I Encountered a decomposing adult T. rex in a Bavarian forest the other day - including an easily missed 'Easter egg' (a dromeosaurid?). Wonderful to see a display like this; the autumn mood & litter made it even better! (DinoMuseum Altmühltal)
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
4 years
So excited to be building a quetz for our very own @sciencemuseummn !
@sciencemuseummn
Science Museum of Minnesota
4 years
It's a bird, it's a plane, no... it's a Quetzalcoatlus, who will soar to the Science Museum soon! 🛫 Share your #NationalFossilDay love by telling us which ancient plant or animal is your favorite ⤵️
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
6 years
Well my Scotty the T.rex illustration found it’s way into the (digital) pages of National Geographic! Everyone follow @WScottPersons and @royalsaskmuseum for more Scotty-related news!! So exciting, more T.rex to come....
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
4 years
@DreadfulK and I finished patching and painting the seams of the #quetzalcoatlus pair, and now they are all tucked into place at their new home @sciencemuseummn ! I hope I can visit them again soon when the expanded dino hall is open. ❤️🦖
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
4 years
They did turn out beautifully ❤️
@DreadfulK
Erik Krenz
4 years
I can’t even begin to tell you how proud I am of these two dioramas
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
5 years
I don’t know how but these are the best pictures I took of the Antarctosuchus polyodon while it was still in the shop.....really need to work on that. 🧐😩
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
4 years
There she is! Our newest woolly mammoth produced by #bluerhinostudio for @theboxplymouth —she’s more of a blonde this time, and I just love how those dreadlocks turned out
@JanFreedman
Jan Freedman
4 years
It's taken me four years of work, to finish the new natural history gallery at the @theboxplymouth . It is full of stories about climate change, extinction and biodiversity loss displaying 6948 specimens.
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
5 years
Blue Rhino Studio work, ca 2010! ❤️
@camthecowboyman
Cam Clow
5 years
Went to @labreatarpits today and got to see @BZaiken ’s work with Blue Rhino Studios! Was awe-inspiring and gorgeous sculpted, illustrated, and fabricated work.
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
6 years
Needed this—happy Friday. ♥️
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
4 years
Thanks Natalia! 🥰🦖🎨
@WryCritic
Natalia Jagielska
4 years
Highlighting the Blue Rhino Studios ( @BZaiken and heaps of other insanely talented people in the team), because there is blowing it out of the park and this -
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
5 years
Thank you @bone_sharpe ! ❤️👍
@Paleoartologist
Hank Sharpe
5 years
Also props to @BZaiken for this mammoth Mammoth mural!
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
5 years
Why would you write this article and only put in 1 picture?!?!? 😭
@Jamie_Woodward_
Prof Jamie Woodward
5 years
A perfectly preserved woolly mammoth trunk has gone on display in Tokyo this week along with other ice age animals recovered from the Siberian permafrost #MammothExhibition
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
4 years
Such a cool project Ben! I miss seeing the chonk in our shop every morning, but now we can them with the world. 🤓
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
2 months
My pleasure, Amy and Daniel! The article is excellent 🥂 @KsepkaLab
@KsepkaLab
Daniel Ksepka
2 months
Amy Balanoff & I have a piece out on what it was like to be a dinosaur - how did they perceive the world in terms of smell, vision, hearing, and cognitive capacity. We are thrilled that @BZaiken created this beautiful illustration for our article. Thanks to @katewong for editing!
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
3 years
Mammoth Tusk Reveals Ancient Mammal's Travels via @sciam In case you missed this cutie I illustrated for the last volume of Scientific American (v325, i6)...🦣🥰
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
5 years
Beautiful visualization!
@brendandjcad
Brendan Body
5 years
Happy #fossilfriday I realised I’ve never posted this quick test I did anywhere. The fossil is the tyrannosaurs ‘black Beauty’ from @RoyalTyrrell
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
6 years
Easy to do with such an ABSOLUTE UNIT ❤️
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
5 years
Yup, it’s the biggest digital mural I’ve ever done—both in physical scale and GB....she’s a monster....reveal coming soon. 🤓😉 #paleoart #digitalpainting
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
5 years
That smooth pebbly finish is a lot harder to achieve than you’d think 😉.... #bluerhinostudio #Paleoart
@BonnieBeasties
Bonnie Griffin
5 years
Super stoked to have visited the Antarctic Dinosaurs exhibition yesterday @nhmla if you’re in #LA I would recommend a visit! First up, not a Dino but this rather lovely Antarctosuchus polyodon! What an old smoothie! #dinosaur #exhibition
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
6 years
This is amazing! More access to more specimens for more people, yes!
@OxyMLZ
Moore Lab of Zoology at Occidental College
6 years
Um, yeah, that’s a 3D virtual model 😱 Part of our continuing effort to get critical specimens online, designed & led by three undergrads: a Classics major, a History major & a Biology major. That’s not the start of a joke, it’s collaboration across the liberal arts!
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
2 years
#PrehistoricPlanet 100% agree!! Just utterly inspiring!! 🤯
@TetZoo
Darren Naish
2 years
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
4 years
And to all a good night! 😎🦖
@DreadfulK
Erik Krenz
4 years
The shop is FILLED with dinosaurs right now
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
4 years
They are looking fiiiiine 👏👏👏❤️
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
5 years
My big secret project is done and INSTALLED! A monster 60-foot-by-13-foot digital painting of Pleistocene fauna for Ice Age Fossil Hall at the Royal Alberta Museum! #paleoart #digitalart
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
5 years
#aspirational Wednesday feeling 😉
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
5 years
Cool!
@mahvic1
Mah-vic Masten
5 years
Here's a video I created with Enlight Pixaloop. Paleo Art @BZaiken
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
5 years
Toby is being extra cute today....my little cinnabonoodle ❤️🐍
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
1 year
@arvalis Thanks RJ! This one has been a good 18 months in production…..It will be heading to the west coast but I can’t say where yet 🤫
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
4 years
Gorgeous! ❤️👍
@jgilleard
James Gilleard
4 years
Dinosaur timeline
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
5 years
Oh what did you do with your Friday night, Beth? .... I illustrated a triceratops while watching a documentary about lemmings. 😏
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
6 years
Shoebills always look to me like a person wearing an oddly fitting birdsuit trying to be sneaky about it
@AlanDaviesbirds
Alan Davies
6 years
Shoebill has to seen to be believed!
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
4 years
A big (one could say... #mammoth ) new #bluerhinostudio project about to drop....
@AndWhitehouse
Andrew Whitehouse 〓〓
4 years
Great to get a preview of @theboxplymouth today, seriously impressive - you are going to love it! Not allowed to share photos yet, but everyone knows there's one of these there right?
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
6 years
AMAZING
@TylerKeillor
Tyler Keillor
6 years
Never saw this before! Check out how these boar tusks can circle back and wipe out other teeth in the jaw as they grow! @FieldMuseum #osteology #anatomy
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
4 years
I love seeing stuff like this, great tip, @Tomozaurus !
@Tomozaurus
Tom Parker
4 years
Feathered dinosaur palaeoart hack: rhea have some nice dino legs hiding under their wings. They also are pretty good overall reference for some flightless coelurosaurs where the feathers around the arms bare semiplumes, but the rest of the body more plumaceous feathering.
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
5 years
This is an excellent reference RJ @arvalis !
@arvalis
RJ Palmer
5 years
Dinosaur/bird wings are tricky for a lot of artists. I have wanted to put together a handy little graphic like this for a while. Hopefully this make sense to you guys.
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
4 years
@arvalis Additionally, you could build and furnish an entire Jurassic park worth of beautiful lifesize reconstructions from BRS for that kind of $$
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
5 years
Really such an impressive space!! I hope I’ll be able to see it in person someday....🙏
@Paleoartologist
Hank Sharpe
5 years
So the @RoyalAlberta is AMAZING
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@BZaiken
Beth Zaiken
6 years
Protip: use gel superglue (not liquid) when installing cast rhamphorhynchus teeth 🤓 #bluerhinostudio #artfabrication #paleoart
@Extinct_AnimaIs
Extinct Animals 🦣🦤
6 years
The jaws of Rhamphorhynchus housed needle-like teeth, which were angled forward, with a curved, sharp, beak-like tip lacking teeth. (Credit jesuspunk)
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