Hello all. This is a portrait of a war-chief of the Huron tribe named Long Spear – I don’t know how to say that in Huron/Wyandot, but I’m certain somebody out there knows. This person was supposed to be a character in a video game set in the French and Indian War that my friend Andrew and I were going to develop years ago, but that idea unfortunately never got off of the ground.
I found the original version of this man’s portrait that I had made back in 2005, I think – there was no date on it, but I’m pretty sure that’s when I first drew him. The overall pose and design was the same, but it was less detailed, done with markers instead of colored pencils, and was rather sloppy. I decided to re-make Long Spear’s portrait, and the result is what you see here.
Media for this portrait include:
- No. 2 pencil
- Crayola and Prismacolor colored pencils
- Black felt-tip marker
I’m sure that many of you will likely see the influence that Wes Studi’s portrayal of Magua in the film The Last of the Mohicans had on this design. However, I tried very hard not to make a clone copy of THAT Huron war-chief! If you have any questions or comments, please write them. Hope you enjoy my latest work. Keep your pencils sharp, everyone.
Categories: History, Uncategorized
DINOSAURS AND BARBARIANS 
Wonderful illustration. The style reminds me of those old paintings and pictures you see of Native Americans hunting buffalo.The colors are particularly stunning.
P.S. I just read in the Summer 2015 Prehistoric Times issue that you are involved in writing a book on the tyrant lizard king with a bunch of other people. Congrats. It seems we’re in the same boat.
Your articles in past issues are also fascinating.
Thanks for your kind words concerning both my artwork and the articles that I wrote for Prehistoric Times magazine. I’m working on another one for the upcoming issue. Im trying to branch out and find other public publications that I can submit material to.
The information that you received concerning my book is a bit misleading – in fact, I was not aware that it was even mentioned in the magazine since I don’t have a copy of it. Yes, I am in the process of writing a book (a rather huge one, at that) on prehistoric life, but it does not involve just T. rex – it’s a book that’s about the entire Hell Creek Formation. This includes not only T. rex, but a complete analysis of every species that’s been discivered there, as well as a description of geography and geology. This has proven to be a much more ambitious project than I thought, and a few times, I’ve put in on the back-burner in favor of other writing projects. Right now, my publisher is favoring history books, so that’s what I’m working on. I recently did a complete re-working of my first book, which will be published as a revised edition sometime next year. I’m now working on another history book project.
Secondly, I’m writing this book all on my own. I’m not working in collaboration with other people on this.
Not only am I writing it, I’m also illustrating it. You’ll notice that many of the prehistoric life illustrations that are on my blog are from the Hell Creek Formation – those are illustrations that are going to appear in my book, once it gets done. Right now, it’s 217 pages long, and it’s nowhere near finished yet! I have a feeling that it’s going to be an absolutely massive tome once it’s complete.
So we are really in the same boat…
I’m excited to get a copy once the Hell Creek book is published. Interestingly, I’ve found that the amphibian fauna of the Ellisdale site (New Jersey) is very similar to that of Hell Creek (in both, a batrachosauroidid salamander is present, as well as a sirenid and an amphiuma).