There were SO MANY awesome, beautiful and adorable scenes in the novel that weren't even eluded to in the movie and WHAT A SHAME that is! The merchandise options alone could have made the companies involved WAY WAY WAAAAY more money in the long term and, could have even stretched out into TWO movies from the one novel alone. But, nope. Lack of vision, creativity, and LOVE for books and movies alike!
Dramatics aside, while reading (any book really) I tend to highlight quotes and sections that I like or that inspire ideas for art projects. And YES, I always make sure to own the books I mark in. NEVER EVER mark in or damage rented books! That's just wrong. Now, back to dinosaurs! One of the scenes in the novel they altered and scattered here and there in the movie. That scene involves the iconic
💚RAPTOR!💚
Next to the TRex, the Raptor is probably the next most popular dinosaur around. And, honestly, I can see why. They're cute!😂 And I'm not being goofy, totally, cause I do think they're cute. Not as cute as my dulaps (dilophosaurus), of course, but still they're cute. Especially, when you consider that the real VR's were the size of turkeys and not the bigger than people size like in the movies. But, that's Hollywood for you.😂 Now, for the main delish!
Before I show off the finished work, I'm going to include a bit of the scene from the novel that inspired it. If you haven't read Jurassic Park, I'd definitely recommend it. And don't be intimidated by its size. It's a page turner so you'll be done reading it before you know it! The scene is as follows:
Grant heard bleating, and walked north a few yards. He came to an animal enclosure with goats. By a quick count, he estimated there were fifty or sixty goats.
“What’s that for?” Ellie asked.
“Beats me.”
“Probably they feed ’em to the dinosaurs,” Malcolm said. The group walked on, following a dirt path through a dense bamboo grove. At the far side, they came to a double-layer chain-link fence twelve feet high, with spirals of barbed wire at the top. There was an electric hum along the outer fence. Beyond the fences, Grant saw dense clusters of large ferns, five feet high. He heard a snorting sound, a kind of snuffling. Then the sound of crunching footsteps, coming closer.
Then a long silence.
“I don’t see anything,” Tim whispered, finally.
“Ssssh.”
Grant waited. Several seconds passed. Flies buzzed in the air. He still saw nothing.
Ellie tapped him on the shoulder, and pointed.
Amid the ferns, Grant saw the head of an animal. It was motionless, partially hidden in the fronds, the two large dark eyes watching them coldly.
The head was two feet long. From a pointed snout, a long row of teeth ran back to the hole of the auditory meatus which served as an ear. The head reminded him of a large lizard, or perhaps a crocodile. The eyes did not blink, and the animal did not move. Its skin was leathery, with a pebbled texture, and basically the same coloration as the infant’s: yellow-brown with darker reddish markings, like the stripes of a tiger.
As Grant watched, a single forelimb reached up very slowly to part the ferns beside the animal’s face. The limb, Grant saw, was strongly muscled. The hand had three grasping fingers, each ending in curved claws. The hand gently, slowly, pushed aside the ferns.
Grant felt a chill and thought, He’s hunting us. (Crichton, 1990, 82-83)
For this small piece, I used watercolors atop mixed media paper. This was one of my earlier attempts at full blown watercolor painting as well as trying to illustrate a dinosaur from my imagination with a few references, mostly ones from the original movie. And, yes, I am grasping at excuses to defend my wonky raptor! 😂 I did try to create a mist or fog effect using some crushed white pastels, but they didn't really come across so well, especially in the photographs I took. But, overall, I'm happy with this little guy. Again I wish they'd really showcased more of what was written in the novel, there were SO MANY BABY DINOS! But, of course, money talks and dinosaurs don't walk no more😂.
I hope you enjoyed being hunted by this little prehistoric turkey and got more than a little curious to both try out some watercolors for yourself, but also look into the awesome history of raptors - or, at least, read the novel for some Jurassic fun! If you do try out some watercolors, or even make some dino inspired works of your own, be sure and tag me on social media so I can see YOUR creations! And please feel free to let me know YOUR thoughts on this piece/medium. If you would like to challenge me, please check out my Contact Me page, or, if you'd like to purchase one of my works or a work of your own design, check out my Commission page.
Till next time MMP fans!