Illustration Obsession

What, you may be asking yourself, are those odd shaped sheep in that reproduced image (an engraving from ~1787), brought to us courtesy of the Biodiversity Heritage Library's Flickr stream?* They do look like sheep, don't they? Or some sort of odd ungulate-sized mice lazing about on rocks? Maybe a blocky rat, or muskrat? ...But, NO! They are bats. BATS!?!?! Printed the same size as the jaguar three plates earlier. What was Buffon thinking? I don't know, but I had to do my own illustrations of these little guys to demonstrate how much scientific illustration has improved in 200+ years...

The three bats presented in the above Buffon image done here in pastel, from top to bottom:

• Greater Bulldog bat, Nolctilio nigrita
• Ternat or Greater Yellow House bat, Pteropus vulgaris
• Senegal bat, Vespertilio nigrita

*Buffon's Natural history, containing a theory of the earth, a general history of man, of the brute creation, and of vegetables, minerals, &c. &c. From the French, with notes by the translator.  London:1797-1807.

Tooting my own horn

My new book of illustrations is out!! Twenty or so images interspersed among stunning ocean mythology poetry. Many thanks to Zachary Chartkoff for collaborating with me on this one. :) 

Get your copy here.