a few (million) years later

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Steve Brusatte wrote in his (great) book The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs “The realisation that birds are dinosaurs is probably the single most important fact ever discovered by dinosaur palaeontologists.”

I knew that birds descended from dinosaurs before reading the book but it has really caused me to think about it more and, despite being taught the concept of evolution at a young age, watching the birds on the sidewalk it is still a mind-blowing thing to consider.

This 3D illustration was my way of expressing this sense of wonder. It describes three species of Dromaeosaur in relation to their modern descendant, the osprey. The illustration shows the respective sizes of the animals as well as their period of existence, which can be told from the rock (each layer represents roughly 20 million years).

To create the illustration I made a virtual 3D model of the scene which, ideally, would be experienced as a physical object, something that can be felt and looked at from different angles.

Rather than conveying specific information, this is meant to give an experience of the abstract concept of evolution by breaking it down into a simple scene.