Tessera

Lucas Petrin

@fossilfracas.com

Associate Editor: Maps and Graphics at NatGeo Magazine. Illustrator, designer and more. Known elsewhere as FossilFracas, or Fracas #Designersaur

86 Posts594 Follower 775 Folgt

Lucas Petrin @fossilfracas.com · 2mo ago

Check out this incredible interactive I contributed a huge chunk of animation to! The world’s tallest church was built with extremely novel and (when first planned) impossible building techniques. We showcase some of the most inspired of Gaudi’s plans! www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/grap...

How Antoni Gaudí built the Sagrada Família, his tower to God

The architect Antoni Gaudí died a century ago, but his celebrated basilica, the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, is only now nearing completion. Here’s a guide to his grand vision—and the work that still...

nationalgeographic.com

Lucas Petrin @fossilfracas.com · 2mo ago

Happy National Dinosaur Day! Moby turns 5 this year in November, but I couldn’t help having him be front and center on this blessed day. Made from spare turkey and pitbull DNA alongside his majority T. rex, Moby was a beloved dinosaur for years. #dinosaur #dinosaurday #Tyrannosaurus #Trex

Moby, a large Leucistic Tyrannosaurus rex features front and center. Associated quote from Skinner Abelard, the operator of the cloning facility that produced him: “Biggest one yet son! This little chick is three times the size of our standard stock!”

Riley Black 🏳️‍⚧️ 🦕@restingdinoface.bsky.social · 3mo ago

I said “Hey, Emma, could you make me a poster for my book, with peak 80s horror vibes?” and she absolutely killed it. Plus the cutest, bloodiest dinosaur sticker anyone’s ever made. Follow her directions and poke if you have a worthy idea.

Alt text by Emma LeRae - A fake 80s style horror movie poster for the book Tyrant Lizard Queen by Riley Black. It features a Tyrannosaurus rex named Snaggletooth stalking through the cretaceous forests just as the evening sets in. The sky is reddish orange and the forest and the rex lie in blue shadows. The forest floor is moss covered and there is a Torosaurus skull from a previous kill soon to be swallowed up by the moss at the rex's feet.

Emma LeRae @ LAcon V - Worldcon@emmalerae.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Folks have been asking about commissions for years, so I finally updated my website with a commission section. I'm still picky, quite busy, and not the fastest, but I just wanted to be up front with what I charge and how I calculate it and allow folks to poke me. www.emmalerae.com/commissions....

Michael Tripoli @triloboii.bsky.social · 5mo ago

#marchofthemammals2026 Day 2: Miaopatagium furculiferum. A top 10 Mesozoic mammal

Vector illustration of Miaopatagium furculiferum, a gliding haramiyid from the Jurassic of China. The small mammaliaform is hanging from a branch, climbing along with its long limbs. Its long fluffy tail is curled up above the branch. The animal is dark gray with a reddish face and a light underside. Its long fingers, nose and rounded ears are bare and pink

Sam Manley (commissions: open)@sammanleyartist.bsky.social · 11mo ago

HOT FRESH NEW ART! A two-headed Ash Drake confronts a perhaps outmatched little warband, in this illustration from the just-released Champions of Chaos for Age of Sigmar: Soulbound!

A monstrous two-headed Ash Drake, enveloped in a cloud of volcanic ash, circles round a rocky outcrop to ambush a Chaos warband and oh my days, is it not going to go well for them. One of them readies his spear to throw it, one is in a fighting crouch, and one is intent on attacking the tail of the Drake before it spikes them.

Lucas Petrin @fossilfracas.com · 9mo ago

Gonna boost this, and also take the opportunity to repost some related artwork! Sloths are such incredible animals, nothing like what remains in our tropical canopies.

A graphic showing naked giant ground sloths versus a sparse coat versus a thick coat according to regional environments

Three giant ground sloths (Eremotherium) shed their winter coats as weather heats up in Georgia. While having slower metabolisms than most other large mammals, they may have needed to lose fur to cool down. This is highly speculative, but based on modern seasonal pelts in mammals.

Michael Deak@slothfultyrant.bsky.social · 9mo ago

I feel the need to address some comments that have been popping up here and there regarding the #Eremotherium design for #PrehistoricPlanetIceAge. To people saying that our paper fully refutes a sparse coat of fur in this genus, here is what we actually say:

Michael Deak @slothfultyrant.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Lucas Petrin @fossilfracas.com · 10mo ago

Orctober's coming to a close so soon...

Lucas Petrin @fossilfracas.com · 12mo ago

Warhammer Wednesday! Capping off my night with a mournfang. I’ve sketched this fellow up to be more ungulate than carnivore. #warhammerwednesday #ageofsigmar #theoldworld #ogormawtribes #cartoon #mournfang #warhammercommunity

A mournfang, ogor-ridden beasts that thrive in cold environments. They are hoofed predators with long tusks and powerful jaws. Like a bison mixed with a bear, they feature traits of carnivorans and ungulates, almost a throwback to extinct mammals.

Lucas Petrin @fossilfracas.com · last yr.

The quest for refinement, resulting in a flamboyant, Fracas-style Compsognathus. Pigeon colors took over, leading to some more stylized feathers and unnatural traits.

A cartoon Compsognathus in expressive, piebald pigeon colors. To its left stands a previous, lower opacity sketch from which it was refined.

Lucas Petrin @fossilfracas.com · last yr.

A freak mutation, an island population, a rainforest destination? Trolls inhabiting the Western Rainforests speciated into some of the wackiest, most diverse creatures of the jungles, eating everything from leaves to honey.

Three trolls from a rainforest biome. The Greater honey troll, Common tree troll and Giant fruit troll all occupy different niches that make use of their various proboscis. These beasts are gigantic primates, but have no external nostrils.

Lucas Petrin @fossilfracas.com · last yr.

Big thanks to Michael and Dr. Butcher for helping out on this one, and so happy to see it out in the wild! Sloths first, the world next… look out for a post later diving into this graphic a bit more.

Michael Deak@slothfultyrant.bsky.social · last yr.

Never in a million years did I think that my name would be in National Geographic this early in my career. Huge congrats and thanks to @fracas.bsky.social for bringing the #sloths of the past back to life in this incredible infographic and for having Dr. Butcher and I on board as consultants!

Michael Tripoli @triloboii.bsky.social · last yr.

The arboreal diprotodontid Nimbadon lavarackorum for day 17 of #marchofthemammals2025. A real wierdo! #paleoart #sciart

Vector illustration of Nimbadon lavarackorum, a sheep sized arboreal diprotodontid from the middle Miocene Riversleigh Fossil Site. The animal looks like a large wombat or koala, with long arms and large claws. It is climbing up the trunk of a tree, reaching out for an adjacent branch. It is colored grey with a gradient of orange and dark brown, with irregular grey and white spots along its back

Lucas Petrin @fossilfracas.com · last yr.

It’s #WarhammerWednesday with a Mirebrute Troggoth! These swamp-dwelling beasts can fully regenerate from horrific injury, recovering from lost limbs and “certain” death. Painfully stupid, they are given massive clubs and ridden into battle by the tribes of swamp orruks. #warhammer #ageofsigmar

Mirebrute troggoths are hulking, scaled humanoids with large tusks and ears. They spend most of their time marinating in the swamp, eating carcasses and thickening their hide. When captured by the greenskinned orruks, they become mounts for the most bully riders. Despite being harnessed and driven forwards, they hold onto their weapons freely, swinging at anything they feel compelled to.

Lucas Petrin @fossilfracas.com · last yr.

This mean, rocky monster-truck demolished my poor Kruleboyz in my last game of Age of Sigmar. Give it up for the stonehorn! #warhammer #ageofsigmar #warhammercommunity

The stonehorn is a massive, hooves monster that blindly charges headfirst into anything that upsets it. With brown fur, and sprawling, twisted horns, a stonehorn shears its flesh off with every collision, revealing the calcified and granite skeleton within. Usually, only the face and skin around its weapons are lost.

Beth Zaiken @bzaiken.bsky.social · 2y ago

A Tylosaurus chomping a smaller mosasaur (platecarpus) for Bluesky! 🥂

Tylosaurus grabs a smaller mosasaur, Platecarpus from the ocean surface

ablob @ablob.bsky.social · 2y ago

excuse me ma’am, you can’t build your nest there #pokemon #skarmory #fanart

Drawing of a skarmory who has built a huge nest on top of and electric pole and also has babies there. There’s a city worker in a hard hat on a crane trying to reason with the skarmory. Neither party is pleased.

avi 🌧️@barghest-land.bsky.social · 2y ago

helloo bsky! i'm here now :) hoping to find a new place to post my works and meet some cool people as well! i'm a director/art director in animation field, doing mostly paleoart in my free time, but also fanart and field sketches. i'll appreciate any support and will be happy to chat!<3 #paleoart

A portrait of a young female megalosaurus enjoying her snack under some dead trees. Though what (or who) she's eating isn't visible, she has some blood in her mouth, and some flies are flying around. Her skin is a contrast of a large white spot from her eye to the neck, everything else is brown with a subtle tint of green.

Two juveniles unwindia are sitting on a tree, enjoying their snack - they found a dead tupuxuara, that possibly got stuck between the tree and it's branch and died not a long time ago.

A few colored sketches on one page: ammonicrinus attached on the rocks, albino benggwigwishingasuchus standing on the tree being silly and looking at their reflection in the water, simosuchus hiding from the rain under large roots, and a flock of propterodactylus surfing on a rising airflow

A ghost of Iberodactylus flying by the water surface in the night. It's right wing is touching the sea, creating a little wave and the water there glows from it's touch.

Vincent @domesticus.bsky.social · 2y ago

Wait I don't remember this classic animated film

Caraid @caraid.bsky.social · 2y ago

"Onyx" The black dragon Onyx guarding her treasure hoard in the ruins of Xak Tsaroth. Painted in acrylics for the D&D 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide!

A black dragon perched atop a treasure hoard in a damp cave. In the background we see waterfalls pouring down onto the treasure piles, moss covers the stone ruins that hint at long gone civilization. The dragon has a pale face that makes it look skeletal, while her body is covered in black spiky plates, and her back ridged with tall spines. She has an almost serpentine look with a slender body and an enormously long tail curling back around to her front.

Lucas Petrin @fossilfracas.com · 3y ago

Before I moved to the DC area I had the pleasure of designing the art for The Edelman Fossil Park’s first beer can. (2022)

Fears Nothing, a dreadnoughtus pale ale, bears a large yellow and orange sauropod on its can. The beast turns to face the horizon as radiating spirals from the coming asteroid impact begin to project themselves across the sky.

Gaegral COMMISSIONS @gaegral.bsky.social · 2y ago

I wanted to create a list of artists with less than 1000 followers, but as I can't remove myself, it is less than 3000 There is some variety Creatures, paleoart, TTRPG, Fantasy, OC's etc etc go.bsky.app/SkzK7g6

Post nicht verfügbar.

Lucas Petrin @fossilfracas.com · 2y ago

Looking to show off your exorbitant wealth? Buy a Designersaur®! Cooked in a lab, the aptly named “Dragon” DNA adds a flair only few can afford. A viral process allows features to be altered from vat-grown Stemplates® at will! #Designersaur

A Designersaur is a dinosaur that has been customized for a particular patron. These curious beasts are all the rage amongst the wealthy. Pictured here: a Tyrannosaurus with baked in koi features and dragonesque touches.

Your Dinosaurs Are Wrong @ydawtheshow.bsky.social · 2y ago

Saw people were doing intros, so we're getting in on the fun. We're Steven and Elizabeth, two people who really want to tell you stuff about dinosaurs using old toys and animation. Our stuff can be found on Youtube (link in bio). We hope you like it!

Image of the team behind Your Dinosaurs Are Wrong. Steven, the Host, writer, and animator. Elizabeth, the Director, Editor, and writer. And Bertrand, the show's mascot.

Lucas Petrin @fossilfracas.com · 3y ago

Boy did I make a lot of these guys in 2021.

Three swamp trolls. Scaly, slimy and made with hints of fish.

Three rock trolls. Calcified, blue skinned and happy to hurl boulders.

Lucas Petrin @fossilfracas.com · 3y ago

What happens when a mastodon in musth meets a black bear? #paleoart

Page one of “The Confrontation”, in which a black bear happily chewing on blueberries unintentionally attracts the attention of a hormonal male mastodon. The mastodon drives the bear up a tree and begins to eat from the bush.

The bear unwittingly cracks a branch in the second page, enraging the mastodon, which attempts to knock the bear from the tree.

Lucas Petrin @fossilfracas.com · 3y ago

A humpbacked polar dolbin, with mandibular tusk.

Dolbins are much like dolphins, but retain their hind limbs to some degree. They are alternative evolutionary forms sprinkled with a dash of fantasy.

Lucas Petrin @fossilfracas.com · 3y ago

The most predatory dolbins drag themselves across the shorelines of coastal waters, eating everything from hoofed animals to larger fish.

A dolbin is an animal derived from a dolphin bearing legs. Having developed in open water, the return to land has caused them to lose most of their fins.

Sawyer Lee (Books out on Backerkit!)@sawyerleeart.bsky.social · 2y ago

LIVE ON KICKSTARTER! The Dragonslayer Codex begins. www.kickstarter.com/projects/saw...

Dragonslayer Codex: A Survival Guide to Dangerous Dragons

A fully illustrated artbook exploring dragons, beasts, & the cultures adapted to live among them.

kickstarter.com

Lucas Petrin @fossilfracas.com · 2y ago

Celebrating the final day of #Orctober with a Kruleboy! I love the chain-mace swinging orruk from the Stab Ladz (Warhammer Underworlds warband), so this is loosely based on it. #warhammer #aos #ageofsigmar #orrukwarclans #kruleboyz

A kruleboy, the skinny, smart and conniving variety of orruk. These green, pignosed creatures live to fulfill their desire for loot, mayhem and combat, aspiring to be "the boss" of their clan.