Mark Witton
banner
markwitton.bsky.social
Mark Witton
@markwitton.bsky.social
Palaeoartist, palaeontologist, author, documentary consultant and creature designer. Affiliated with the University of Portsmouth, UK; views and opinions are my own.

More about me at markwitton.co.uk.
Support my work at www.patreon.com/markwitton
Brain work bad thanks to some sort of flu, so you'll have to write your own amusing #FossilFriday post about this giant #azhdarchid #pterosaur #paleoart.
November 21, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Starting the journey home from #2025SVP. I didn't leave the conference empty handed...
November 16, 2025 at 11:20 AM
I'll be signing and sketching in copies of my (unintentionally orange) @princetonupress.bsky.social books this Friday, 11:00-12:00 at #2025SVP #SVP2025. #Pterosaurs and T. rex: what more could anyone want?

#paleontology #fossil #dinosaur
November 12, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Scenes from the #SVP2025 #2025SVP #paleoart workshop. We had terrific talks from @cpdinosaurs.bsky.social, @tetzoo.bsky.social, @palaeojules.bsky.social and @bobnichollsart.bsky.social, as well as fantastic discussion from attendees. Thanks to everyone who contributed, I hope you all enjoyed it!
November 12, 2025 at 7:37 AM
Sneaking glimpses at the set up of #SVP2025 #2025SVP, spotted some familiar logo artwork in the ICC.
November 10, 2025 at 9:30 PM
I'm late to my own party (again, sigh) but my new book on #spinosaurid #dinosaurs (written with @davehone.bsky.social) was officially released yesterday! Tons of info on and #paleoart of spinosaurs therein: research history, evolution, ecology, life appearance etc. Available wherever books are sold.
November 7, 2025 at 5:28 PM
The reality of being a freelancer is that you end up working a lot of evenings and nights, something #mammals have been doing since the Mesozoic. Here's new #paleoart of two #Jurassic gliding Mammaliaformes, Arboroharamiya, starting their day as the sun sets 160 million years ago. #sciart #fossil
November 4, 2025 at 9:20 PM
It's #Halloween, so here's some scary #paleoart of the dreaded MAMMALIAN NOCTURNAL BOTTLENECK HYPOTHESIS. Which of these Megaconus will survive - AND WHAT WILL BE LEFT OF THEM?

(Image just uploaded to #Patreon, along with a detailed discussion of this idea: www.patreon.com/posts/142523...)
October 31, 2025 at 7:16 PM
October 30, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Over the next few hours/days I'll be uploading lots of new #paleoart to Patreon. First up is this #Neanderthal fellow looking whimsically over his shoulder, wondering if he locked the door to his cave. Lots of discussion about his appearance and clothes at
www.patreon.com/posts/142405... #sciart
October 30, 2025 at 3:18 PM
It's based on this, from Guthrie (2005).
October 21, 2025 at 7:09 PM
I had a go at drawing steppe #lions chasing a European bison recently, based on Palaeolithic artworks. I'm unsure about the markings around the lions' eyes but my main reference, which seems to otherwise give good data about colour distribution, suggests _something_ was there. #paleoart
October 21, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Why look: a box of some sort of newish, bookish things arrived this morning. Seems to be about spinosaurid #dinosaurs... coauthored with @davehone.bsky.social... and published by Bloomsbury. Available 6th of November In the UK; then worldwide in early 2026.
October 15, 2025 at 8:44 AM
A heads up that I'm talking at @NewScientist Live this weekend (Sunday 19th October) about my book, King Tyrant: A Natural History of Tyrannosaurus rex. Details, tickets etc. can be found here: live.newscientist.com/nsl-london-2... #dinosaur #fossils #scicomm #paleontology #books
October 13, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Quick #FossilFriday #paleoart post: a 2025 redo of my 2019 take on the giant #deer Megaloceros. Palaeolithic art captures some aspects of Megaloceros appearance but the details are not unambiguous: when is a line across a body a stripe, when is it a boundary between colour regions?
October 10, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Preview of my latest #paleoart piece: a baby bison flees the deadliest predator of Ice Age Europe. Harrowing, harrowing stuff.
October 6, 2025 at 8:23 PM
#Tyrannosaurus rex was named 120 years ago today (Oct 4, 1905). If you want to know all there is to know about the world's most iconic #dinosaur, the word is that my book "King Tyrant", published a few months back, is a good start. #fossils #paleontology #paleoart press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
October 4, 2025 at 4:04 PM
...as there was evidently much variation in appendage size and length in these animals. The form used in most reconstructions is that of the smaller holotype specimen (left), but much larger, sickle-shaped examples are also known (right). Photos to scale, from Spiekman et al. 2025.
October 3, 2025 at 12:25 PM
To brighten up a wet and rainy #FossilFriday, here's my take on the recently described drepanosaur Mirasaura grauvogeli. It's shown among the conifer Voltzia, a plant found in abundance in the same beds as Mirasaura. The pointed sail shape is based on fossil data...

#sciart #fossils #paleontology
October 3, 2025 at 12:25 PM
This wallowing Tyrannosaurus certainly agrees.
October 1, 2025 at 12:17 PM
New #paleoart posted to #Patreon: woolly mammoths around a duck-filled lake. Accompanying the hi-res and WIPs of this image is a discussion about mammoth colour: the uniform red-brown mammoths of classic palaeoart seem unlikely now. Check it out at www.patreon.com/posts/night-...
#fossil #sciart
October 1, 2025 at 10:58 AM
I forgot about this #paleoart of Deinocheirus I produced back in 2019 until this morning. Having not looked at it for years, I think it holds up pretty well. And no, it's not got the "feather mountain" look because D. was a big animal in a temperate climate.
#dinosaurs #fossil #paleontology #sciart
October 1, 2025 at 9:41 AM
Just posted some new #paleoart to #Patreon (www.patreon.com/c/markwitton), full images coming soon. For now, here's a nigh-on-midnight special preview of one new piece, just for other folks who really should be off their screens already: a baby mammoth chasing ducks. Some mammoths are just jerks.
September 30, 2025 at 10:43 PM
A reminder about the #SVP2025 workshop "Palaeoart Past and Present: the view from the UK" for those last-minute early-bird [=cheap] conference registrants! It's shaping up to be a great one-day pre-conference event: please come along if you're a #paleoart fan attending SVP!
September 17, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Look fellows, you can skive the rest of #FossilFriday by reading this interview with me at Science Photo Library. Don't worry, it's more #paleoart than words, and I won't tell your boss what you're up to.

#sciart #fossils #paleontology #dinosaurs

stories.sciencephoto.com/portfolio/ma...
September 12, 2025 at 3:55 PM