Cameron Brideoake Art

Natural history illustration, Paleoart, Sciart. Traditional media. Melbourne Australia. Commissions open: [email protected]

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Leaellynasaura, a small dinosaur from Cretaceous South East Australia. This area experienced a cooler climate and period of winter darkness due to the continent being further south at the time.

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Australian endangered invertebrate # 3 - The Golden Sun Moth, Synemon plana. Though the females have pretty golden hind wings, they are virtually flightless. The adult moths also lack mouthparts as they only live for a few days to mate. I have included the larva in this illustration as they remain in this state for up to three years, burrowing and feeding on a select few native grasses. Habitat loss is the main threat to the last few populations living in grasslands across central Victoria. 🌾

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Australian endangered invertebrate #2 - Draculoides bramstokeri (yes they are named after Bram Stoker's Dracula!) A schizomid or tailless whip scorpion, belonging to the arachnids alongside spiders. This illustration is greatly enlarged as they are only a few millimeters in length. Their numbers are threatened by habitat loss and pollution.

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Happy to announce the start of a big collaborative research project with biologist @ken , we are working on an illustrated guide to endangered and threatened Australian invertebrates - (animals without a backbone) which includes insects 🐜, arachnids 🕷, molluscs 🐌, and crustaceans 🦐.

Pictured here is Dryococelus australis, the Lord Howe Island stick insect. Recent conservation efforts have rescued it from near extinction.

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Watercolour commission of the Prairie Falcon (Falco mexicanus), native to western North America. If you would like to commission a custom natural history illustration, feel free to get in contact with me.

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What did South Eastern Australia look like 130 million years ago? This watercolour landscape is part of my on going work recontructing fossils discovered last summer in Boola Boola Forest, Gippsland Victoria. They date back to the Early Cretaceous period - the golden age of the dinosaurs.

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On our dig we found fossils of every species shown in this illustration. The plants in the foreground and fossil shown here is Otozamites douglasii, a member of the cycad-like Bennettitales which are completely extinct now. However the rest of the scene depicts plants that have similar modern decendants: Cladophlebis ferns down low, a forest of conifers including Bellarinea richardsii (Podocarp family), and very tall Brachphyllum tyersensis (Belonging to either the Araucaria or Cypress family).

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Reconstructing this roughly 140 million year old fossil of Otozamites douglasii, from the extinct group of cycad-like Bennettitales.

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Peering back in time over 420 million years ago into the Silurian Period when the first land plants emerged. Pictured in the foreground are Baragwanathia and Zosterophyllum with their pinkish coloured sporangia for dispersing spores. More to come soon from this project with biologist and fellow fossil plant enthusiast Ken Kwak.

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‘Triceratops portrait’ Sticker by Cameron Brideoake

Triceratops portrait, in watercolour and gouache paint. • Millions of unique designs by independent artists. Find your thing.

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I now have some availability for illustration work! 🖌 My focus is Earth sciences, but I also take design and personal commissions. If you are interested, dm or visit my website: cameron-brideoake.com

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I have been working with @mackenzie_kwak_parasitologist to produce a watercolour illustration for @illresearch, based on his research paper describing Australia's newest species: an endangered tick.

Heath's Tick (Ixodes heathi) is a parasite of the Mountain Pygmy Possum (Burramys parvus). It can only survive on this specific possum, which is critically endangered, so if the possum becomes extinct, so too will the tick. Interestingly, the tick has not been found to affect the health of its host.

Whilst ticks may appear to be unwanted, they are an important part of ecosystems. Though they can sometimes transmit those animal's diseases, even viruses are a natural part of ecosystems, as they can play a role in keeping populations in check; a delicate balance of interconnected organisms that goes much deeper than we can initially see.

Parasite research has great potential for controlling introduced pests, as well as medical advancements for treating and preventing tick-borne diseases.

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Exploring some pattern design ideas! https://www.redbubble.com/people/cam-brideoake/works/37121877-pachyrhinosaurus-and-ginkgo?asc=u&p=mug

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A quick warm up watercolour of the endangered Mountain Pygmy Possum (Burramys parvus), always a challenge to find a balance between loose and free style vs detailed and accurate. Also, a great article by @mackenzie_kwak_parasitologist about this possum and the co-endangered tick it hosts:

Meet Australia’s Newest Species: An Endangered Tick • The Revelator

The ancestors of the newly described Heath’s tick date back to the time of the dinosaurs, but climate change and invasive species could wi

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I've been meaning to share more works in progress, as scientific illustration takes a lot of research and time to complete. This is Heath's Tick (Ixodes heathi) a new species described by @mackenzie_kwak_parasitologist which lives exclusively on the endangered Mountain Pymgy Possum (Burramys parvus). More info on this project soon!

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Trilobite stickers now available on my redbubble! + New merch designs.

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My zine 'More than just Dinosaurs' will feature at Festival of the Photocopier zine fair this Sunday 10th at the Trades Hall 54 Victoria St Carlton Melbourne. 

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New business cards, happy with how they turned out. ☺