Paleos on Patreon

Uncategorized April 5, 2019

A lot of us creative types have to rely on a mosaic of income sources to stay afloat, and the writers and artists who regularly deliver us fossiliferous goodies are no exception. Here is a selection of these creators who use Patreon, a site which allows patrons to support talent by making monthly pledges. In case you’ve never tried to use the site’s search function: it sucks! It’s really hard to find creators by using keywords you care about. So this will hopefully serve as an easier way to keep track of the members of our paleo-posse who use the site to make the ends meet. It will also be a living document – I’ll add to the list as I learn of more!

A Dinosaur a Day is a team of four paleontology enthusiasts working to create a comprehensive on-line dinosaur encyclopedia, one Tumblr post at a time. Their ambitious project, which includes illustrations for their posts, can use all the help we can give!
Ashley Patch is a master of composition, often contrasting striking animal forms against minimal backgrounds – and their splashing water is absolutely excquisite.
Benke Balint does really wonderful paleoart with excellent use of light and bold color.
Beth Windle creates gorgeous, expressive wildlife art, including extinct mammals like thylacines and ice age megafauna — in addition to advocating for a more nuanced view of hyenas.
Brian Engh draws, paints, sculpts, animates, and films paleoart and educational projects, seemingly tirelessly. Of course, all that energy needs fuel, and he can pour more into his projects with more Patreon support.
Charon Henning is well-known for the nature art she creates each year for March Mammal Madness, as well as her wonderful tattoo work. She also does excellent work inspired by fossiliferous subjects.
Christopher Chávez is a paleoartist who has been creating work for the last several years, and began his Patreon to help him continue to grow as an artist.
Common Descent, a podcast by David Moscato and Will Harris, is another great paleontology podcast that covers all sorts of scientific and pop culture topics.
Dante Saunders creates engaging paleoart with bright colors and character in spades.
Darren Naish has been a pillar of the on-line paleontology community for as long as most of us have been involved in it, writing the essential blog Tetrapod Zoology in all of its incarnations. Now that he podcasts and hosts the blog himself, Patreon support is even more important.
Douglas. Freaking. Henderson. Go pledge!
Franz Anthony is an invert-smitten artist who creates distinctive illustrations of extinct and extant animals. His paleo work tends to deal with Paleozoic life and invertebrates from all across deep time. His use of color is just mind-blowing, and his ability to reach out and collaborate with scientists is inspirational.
John Conway is another stalwart member of the paleoart community, as he is part of the team behind the seminal 2012 book All Yesterdays. His adventurous body of work ranges from scenes showing off unexplored behavioral ideas in ancient life to bold stylistic experiments that bend the definition of paleoart more than just about any other artist.
Julio Lacerda’s popular paleoart is surely familiar with LITC readers. He’s produced many iconic images, my favorite of which evoke a feeling of mystery and drama in the way he focuses on his subjects.
Laura Cunningham focuses on Cenozoic life but that won’t stop me from including her in this list. She’s the author and artist of A State of Change: Forgotten Landscapes of California and the children’s title The Bay Area Through Time and your support makes it easier for her to keep publishing.
Mark Witton is one of the most active, prolific, and accessible paleoartists on the web, spearheading projects like his Palaeoartist’s Handbook. His work and insight is critical at this time as more and more fossil discoveries are spilling from the Earth and artists navigate the tricky waters of the modern internet.
Mike Keesey has created many cool projects over the years and currently is the creator of PhyloPic, the awesome repository of organism silhouettes, and Paleocene, a comic about stem-primated eking out a living in the wake of the K-PG event. I’ve boosted both projects here many times, but it wont stop me from doing it again!
Palaeo After Dark is a science podcast hosted by paleontologists Amanda Falk, James Lamsdell, and Curtis Congreve, who chat about all sorts of topics around extinct and extant life, in an effort to make the science accessible and readily understandable.
Raven Amos makes some of the most stylistically adventurous paleoart out there, featuring bold color choices and exhaustively researched flora and fauna. Her work was featured in Witton’s Handbook, as a testament to how aesthetic diversity and scientific rigor can make great dance partners.
Rebecca Groom’s awesome plushes and other paleoartistical output (I have two of her Microraptor tees) are a constant delight, and judging by how quickly new plushies disappear from her shop, I’m not the only one who thinks so.
Riley Black is one of the most dedicated journalists working the paleontology beat, covering the discoveries that color our understanding of evolution over deep time, but also always asking the right questions. Your pledge supports her writing and field trips.
Rob Soto, aka RaptorRobb, creates wonderfully engaging illustrations of mostly Mesozoic critters.
Scott Elyard‘s prehistoric art includes his incredible electrotiki series, combining expertly reconstructed skeletal beasts with cybernetic details and bright, bold colors. He’s carved a unique niche for himself in the paleoart world, combining anatomical accuracy with symbolic and abstract environments.
Scott Hartman’s work is literally foundational, given that many artists refer directly to his exacting skeletal diagrams as a basis for their reconstructions. Not only that, he creates awesome fleshed-out reconstructions of animals, and provides insightful writing at his blog.
Sean Closson’s paleoart is excuisitely tactile, with bold use of color and excellent use of light and texture.
Terrible Lizards is a podcast all about dinosaurs, hosted by Dr. David Hone and Iszi Lawrence. They cover big questions about dinosaur lifestyle and ecology as well as zooming in on specific taxa or issues within paleontology.
Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs is the very blog you’re reading now, and your Patreon support helps us cover hosting costs and dedicate more time to the blog and its tangential projects like the Survey of Paleoartists. And, if we earn enough, our writers get paid for their time!