✧ Alaska ✧

Animator / Illustrator

[alaskanay]

✧ Hi! I'm Alaska, an animator/illustrator who loves history, fantasy, and dinosaurs ✧

✧ TikTok | Youtube | Instagram ✧

✧ Commissions | Open ✧

✧ The Paleo Post - Art Shop ✧

✧ Links | Contact Information ✧

The Paleo Post is a project that combines human history with prehistoric animals! If you're interested, feel free to check it out <3

[alaskanay]

Eastern Bluebird!

[alaskanay]

Patagotitan / Buriolestes | The Inca Empire

This one was a lot of fun! I directly referenced the qullqas above Ollantaytambo, Peru for this piece (as well as the use of khipus to record information). The Patagotitans are a little too big but I've always liked exaggerating the size of dinosaurs LOL.

Plus a little Stegouros! The patterns in the background are based off of patterns on an Inca tunic, and the base on which the Stegouros is standing is based off of an Inca lime spoon.

This was all done for my mail club, The Paleo Post! Art marketing below:

The Paleo Post is a mail club that focuses on a combination of prehistoric animals and human history - if you sign up, every month, for $10, you get a 5x7 print, a sticker, and a letter that describes the history behind the piece as well as what I was thinking as I made it! It's a fun little way to get something neat in your mail each month <3

[alaskanay]

Vintage Magazine Cover | Austroraptor

This was my part of a paleoartist collab! Based the layout off of Leyendecker's beautiful work - genuinely had so much fun with this one <3

[alaskanay]

American Kestrel | Raptors of North America

[alaskanay]

Hatzegopteryx | The Golden Age of Piracy

For May I wanted to do something about the Golden Age of Piracy! This is technically nearer to the end of it (since it features Mary Read, Anne Bonny, and John 'Calico Jack' Rackham - and they only sailed together for about two to three months before being captured), but I thought it would be fun to work with Mary Read's history (as defined in A General History of the Pyrates, by (pen name) Captain Charles Johnson, which means it's likely completely made up... but interesting regardless). The book suggests she was a disguised Dutch cavalry trooper during the Nine Years War before becoming a pirate, so hey, why not have her horse be a Hatzegopteryx instead? One that she brought with her when she traveled to the West Indies? Of course that part of her past is all conjecture, but it worked so well that I had to include it.

I mean, Azhdarchids in naval warfare?? SOO neat. I want to draw more related to this, but illustrating this ship (sloop, specifically... ish) was KILLER so I might need to take a break before exploring that again HAH

And guess who finally figured out how to do a read more link (art marketing below lol):

The Paleo Post is a mail club (link to the shop here) that focuses on a combination of prehistoric animals and human history - if you sign up, every month, for $10, you get a 5x7 print, a sticker, and a letter that describes the history behind the piece as well as what I was thinking as I made it! It's a fun little way to get something neat in your mail, and you'd also be supporting an artist too <3 Here's the little graphic that shows what's available for May:

I appreciate you all very very much <3

[alaskanay]

Spinosaurus Mirabilis | Crocodile Fishing

Looked into the Songhai Empire for this one! It was based on the seventh book of The Cosmography and Geography of Africa, specifically the crocodile section which talked a little bit about how crocodile fishing was done in the 16th century!

Prints / The Paleo Post

[alaskanay]

Because I too would cheat at cards if I had as long of a neck as a sauropod…

[alaskanay]

Cuju Practice | Caudipteryx

For The Paleo Post this month, I wanted to draw something connected to the Song Dynasty! More specifically, cuju, a game considered to be the origin of soccer (or football). I was inspired by an illustration of Emperor Taizu playing cuju and kinda found a way to shove a dinosaur into it, because that’s what we do here :D

As always, March’s edition is available until the 15th - I’ll share some historical info about the sticker part of it later.

[alaskanay]

Taking a short break from my dinosaur + history pieces to do a bit of fanart!! I’ve been loving A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and Lyonel Baratheon with all those stag motifs?? I NEEDED to draw him

[alaskanay]

The Tuskegee Airmen | Quetzalcoatlus

Since The Paleo Post (my snail mail club) is about WWll this month, I also wanted to do something in connection to WWII pilots! This piece features Edward C. Gleed and Benjamin O. Davis Jr. both of whom were part of the 99th Pursuit Squadron (Davis being the commander). They participated in the Mediterranean Theater and were also in the Battle of Monte Cassino, so hey! A connection to February’s print!

[alaskanay]

The Battle of Monte Cassino | Tameryraptor

This is the print for February’s edition of The Paleo Post! It depicts the capture of the Monte Cassino Abbey by the 2nd Polish Corps after the fourth assault of the four month campaign. The dinosaur is meant to represent Wojtek the Bear (mascot and ammunition crate carrier of the 22nd Artillery Supply Company) - and although he wouldn’t have been anywhere near the front lines, I really wanted to draw him eating a Nazi, so this is what I went with in the end!

I’ve been reading The Death of Democracy by Benjamin Hett recently, so that’s a little bit of where the inspiration for this came from - just had to figure out where best to put the dinosaur lol

[alaskanay]

A vaquero and Edmontosaurus resting at noon.

A girl playing marbles alongside a curious Bambiraptor.

A few more sketches for the Wild West month of The Paleo Post!

[alaskanay]

Bass Reeves | Dilophosaurus

Since the theme for my snail mail club this month is the Wild West, I thought I’d also do some extra illustrations based around that! This one features Bass Reeves, who was a very accomplished lawman; he's credited with over 3,000 arrests and is likely the inspiration for the (whitewashed) Lone Ranger.

I haven’t gotten the chance to read it yet, but if you’re interested in learning more, there’s Black Gun, Silver Star: The Life and Legend of Frontier Marshal Bass Reeves by Art T. Burton!!

[alaskanay]

Buffalo Bill's Wild West | Tenontosaurus

I've been working to combine a few of my interests into a single concept these past few months! I love history just as much as I love prehistoric creatures, so, I'm drawing the two together. In this case, you'll find the cavalry drill section of Buffalo Bill's Wild West (featuring Roman riding specifically), and four Tenontosauruses (as their fossils have been found in the western United States).

You can also find a research video about Buffalo Bill's show on my TikTok because I don't want to fill up your feeds with an essay :'D

If you're interested in the project, you can check it out at The Paleo Post. I'll be sending out new prints/stickers each month, and they'll be connected to a different period of history each time! Here are a few early concepts of what you might see in future months:

A bestiarii fighting a Deltadromeus during the inaugural games of the Colosseum.

Wakayama Soryu waiting for soldiers fallen overboard during the Battle of Sacheon - part of the Imjin War.

A moment of Mansa Musa's Hajj as he passes through Cairo with a Paralititan, Charcarodontosaurus, and Melanosauruses.

[alaskanay]

Bayou Nwa - featuring a Therizinosaurus/the Nightfolk.

[alaskanay]

A Daeodon! With a stronger emphasis on its hippo relation. And longer fur because I was partially inspired by the American bison.