Walking with Dinosaurs: A Viewer’s Guide is a PBS special highlighting special moments from the hit series Walking with Dinosaurs. A crucial part of this special includes intersplicing the story of the fictional baby triceratops Clover, with infographics, illustrations and animations to learn more about the various dinosaurs that once roamed the earth.
In order to best convey the information presented, I created a library of over assets including stylized illustrations of what paleontologist speculated dinosaurs looked like, fossils, and maps.
Walking with Dinosaurs: A Viewer’s Guide is available to view through PBS website, linked below:
Walking with Dinosaurs:
A Viewer’s Guide
PBS FREELANCE PROJECT
Art Direction: Jim Hoppin
Illustration, Client Work, Freelance Design
Each dinosaur started with a sketch based on renderings provided by PBS. After the sketch was completed to my liking, it was brought into both Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Fresco to be inked. This stage is where the shadows, line weight, and stylized details were more defined. Next, the illustration was sent to an expert paleontologist working with PBS reviewed each drawing to make sure the dinosaurs were accurate to recent scientific findings.
PROCESS
Pachyrhinosaurus sketch made in procreate.
Inked Pachyrhinosaurus is a vector file, and has dark shadows to add contrast and style, and slightly more detail .
The illustrations were used by the graphic designer and animator, Matt to create bold infographics. These infographics helped to point out details, scale, or other fun facts about the dinosaurs.
Below are a few examples of how the illustrations were used in the final cut of the show.
APPLICATION
Results:
Creating a library of all vector assets required a mastery of programs like Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Fresco, and hand drawn illustration.
The result was a series stylized yet educational drawings that could be applied graphically to assist Clover’s story.
Walking with Dinosaurs: A Viewers Guide is available to stream on PBS.
