Colin Caket's Model a Monster, first published by the Blandford Press in Dorset, England in 1986, is one of my childhood favorites. This copy still has some paper mache stains in it from my failed attempts at creating the adorable models in the book. I was enthralled by all the cool art projects inside, and I'm sure this book saved many a kid during science fair season.
This otherwise innocuous book about making dinosaur-centric art also takes a turn for the very, very unexpectedly weird towards the end, but we'll get to that later.
The "stars" of the book are these beautiful little balsa wood carved models. I wanted to make these so bad as a child. Heck, I still do.
Here's a simple way to recreate the super-cute Pterosaurs and cherry scene in "The Land Before Time" with some recycled shoe boxes.
And why build a snowman or sand castle when you could bring sauropod love to the beach or backyard? And speaking of sculpting things out of snow... sort of:
A stegosaurus ice cream sundae! God, that's cute!
And this is basically what the book does up until around page 150, which is where things get weird. Really weird. Like, "where did I read that creepy thing as a child that still haunts my mind well into adulthood?" weird. That kind of weird.
We will look at that weird part in the next post. Until then, here is some foreshadowing from page 29:
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Announcement: This Saturday is the first MA Independent Comic Expo, going by the adorable acronym, M.I.C.E.! I'd love to be able to go, but unfortunately will be away that day. Although I should be coming back with lots of sketches...
Also, my good friends over at Art Evolved have started a cancer research charity called The Pink Dinosaur Project. Please support us!
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Sketch of the day!
It's Balaur bondoc!
I like this idea but should try again with a much less wonky composition. That tail...
