timeline

Palaeozoic Era

So I started on the timeline, just before I started I realised I didn't actually know enough about the timeline of events so had to do some quick research. I want the timeline to be informative but not too complicated - just show what was around and the evolution of events. I looked up some dinosaur timelines and the results were pretty bad:

All the educational timelines are either really busy and confusing or just really dull, so I have decided to make mine busy in terms of there is a lot going on in the scene but it is still clear what animals existed when, and the text will be clear at the bottom. I want it to be educational and informative but also fun and interesting to look at - a well crafted art print as well as a learning tool.

I have started with the Palaeozoic Era, moving into the early Triassic, which is the time before the dinosaurs appeared, it was 542 - 248 million years ago. Within this era there are lots of other periods like the Cambrian and Permian periods. The era goes through lots of changes; the earth goes from having no continents and just loads of small islands in a very big ocean to forming bigger landforms, soft-bodied life forms evolve into bony fish and reptiles, and plant life starts growing on land. The era goes through multiple mass extinctions which wipe out loads of species before the dinosaurs even arrive. Moving into the early Triassic there are reptiles and mammal-like reptiles who rule the land before the dinosaurs and even when there were small dinosaur around, which I thought was pretty interesting. The timeline of evolution is a very important area for children to learn about, but also really interesting I think - so I want to illustrate this fascinating period well and convey it as such. 

I have basically finished with the Palaeozoic/early Triassic Era now, and I'm pleased with how it has turned out - I think I have managed to make it look pretty pre-historic! It is difficult to show such a big amount of time in such a small space; I didn't want to spend too long on this era as the main foci is the dinosaurs, so I am illustrating the movement from volcanic land into green forests, and small boneless organisms into reptiles. I also put a pre-historic crocodile in there as I didn't know they existed and ruled before the dinosaurs - I think thats a pretty interesting aspect! I put in some small dinosaurs running away in the background (Eodromaeuses) which began to appear going into the mid-Triassic period, I made them small to convey their minimal presence. 

I have started moving into the end of the Triassic/early Jurassic which had the first birds, swimming reptiles, a few well known dinosaurs, plants but also mass extinctions. I want it to be busy with lots going on.