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Extinction

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Old, OLD Art - Completed in appx. 1995-1996

I discovered this long-lost piece of art tonight and I wanted to upload it because I really loved it at the time, and because there is a story that surrounds it.

Though I'm not sure this gallery adequately displays my deep love of all things dinosaur, I have always adored them (raptors especially), and the premiere of Jurassic Park in 1993 only further strengthened this love.

About three years after Jurassic Park came out, I was given some sort of assignment for an art class at school (the details of which are a bit vague at this point considering that is about 16 years ago...), but suffice to say, whatever it was, I wanted to really push myself and think out of the box, and make a statement through my art. I had always been very concerned about wildlife, and it seemed interesting to young-me to do a piece concerning a cycle of extinction.

My teacher at the time had been frustrated with so many people in my class drawing entirely from their minds that she asked we all use reference for whatever our piece was. After a few passes and sketches, I decided that I would try to really blow her out of the water and do a multi-figure piece featuring, you guessed it: dinosaurs.

The problem with this plan, however, was that I really wanted to draw from life (rather than just reference someone else's art), and armed with some Jurassic Park toys ( [link] ), I set to work carefully lighting them and rotating them so I could sketch small sections of the dinosaur(s), before moving them around and relighting them so that in the end, I would have a very dynamic pose that I had created entirely from my own ingenuity.

I was simply floating on cloud-nine from how much time and effort I put into it, and I was honestly INCREDIBLY proud of this piece (even though I obviously no longer have a complete scan of it). I wish you all could have been there to see the smile on my young face when I came into class with it. It wasn't that I wanted to show off, no no: it was that I felt like I had brought something to life on paper, and I was extremely eager to share it with my teacher and peers.

My teacher, however, took one look at it, and told me I'd traced it.

I was sincerely (and understandably) upset. I tried explaining to her that no: I'd referenced this from a figure at home, and yet she still insisted I was lying.

As I can recall: the scene just escalated from there. I might very well have started crying, or insisted she call my mother to confirm my story, but the instructor was so angry and disappointed that I would outright "lie" to her, repeatedly, that in a final gesture of frustration, she took the piece and tore it up in front of me.

From that day on, all the other classes I had with her had this sort of... numb feeling to them. Some profound, sacred bond of trust had been broken between us, and while I gladly did work for assignments for her, I really don't think I put my heart into another piece in her class over the four years or so I had classes with her. At the time I remember being hurt, angry, whatever emotion you can imagine, but in hindsight part of me wonders what on earth was going through her mind to do such a cruel thing to someone who was just starting to blossom and take art more seriously.

To this day, I wonder if, were it not for her, would I have aimed myself more forcefully towards a different, more creative career in those early years?

If I ever have a time machine, I'd definitely want to step back to that juncture in time, "rescue" the piece, and give my younger self a big hug. Then, I'd look that instructor in the eye and go, "You were wrong. Don't ever do this again. Don't destroy what others have created simply because you believe you possess the right to get away with it. You don't."


This piece was approximately 9x17 inches or so and was done in graphite and watercolor.
Image size
1093x622px 357.72 KB
© 2012 - 2024 Dreamspirit
Comments6
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solusauroraborealis's avatar
I had a similar teacher, I can tell this was not traced. Tracing has a much more stiff effect. The marbled lighting is awesome. Your work was well worth it, jump back into that time stream and recapture it!