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Description
As high as souls can fly, the clouds roll by for you and I.

I love The Land Before Time. I first watched it when I was very young, and I expect I fitted right into the intended audience. I was about the right age, and of course I had a fondness for dinosaurs! I think I only watched it once back then, but it was enough for the film to win a place in my heart, and to find a strong place in my childhood memories. To this day, I can still recall the odd moment of the film with a sense of wonder. I have particularly powerful memories, for some reason, of the tree star.

I actually started this sketch a long time ago. A little after Easter in 2014, I was having a short holiday. My sister got in touch with me out of the blue to say that The Land Before Time would be on television later that day. I don’t usually watch much television, but since I was on holiday, and since I hadn’t seen the movie for very many years, I made time for it.

I’m very glad that I did! Watching the film again was very moving, and I remembered quite why I had enjoyed it so much as a child. I found the ending particularly touching. There’s something wonderful about the characters not only finding the Great Valley and reuniting with their families, but also keeping the friendships they formed over the course of the film as well.

There’s a particular scene where all five dinosaurs hug, after which the excellent final song plays. This I found touching more than anything, and after seeing the film, I wanted to see if I could try to draw it. I experimented over the next couple of days, but I just wasn’t quite happy with what I produced. I couldn’t get the characters to look as I wanted. I shelved what I’d produced.

Fast forward to 2019. One of my cousins gave birth to a baby daughter a few days ago! I wanted to draw something to celebrate the occasion and, by coincidence, happened to come across the old sketch. My cousin and her partner adore dinosaurs, so it seemed a fitting picture to work on!

I have quite a lot more experience now than I did when I first made the sketch, and playing around with the characters some more meant that I could finally get them looking how I wanted. It was really satisfying to finally do some more work on this piece, and colouring and shading it was great fun. I’m really glad I came back to this work! Here’s hoping my cousin likes it too!

It’s been really nice to come back to thinking about The Land Before Time, too. I think I will watch the film again shortly – it seems fitting. I might even watch some of the other parts of the franchise, too. I’d be interested to see where they took it!

Incidentally, I have a suspicion that it might be possible to tell from this picture alone who my favourite character of the five is. Any guesses?

This work used as a model several shots from the same animation sequence at the very end of The Land Before Time. Several standard images of the other characters were used as guides, particularly for Petrie!

Here’s the excellent final song of the film, which should provide some very suitable background music:

<If We Hold On Together – Diana Ross >

P. S. Those of you who follow my output will know that my partner passed away very suddenly almost a year ago. I just want to reassure you all that I am doing alright, and that I have not disappeared! Indeed, in many ways, this year has been a good one. I have managed to get a whole lot of interesting work done, and I am currently involved in a number of quite exciting research projects.

Of course, this doesn’t change what has happened, but it’s encouraging to me that I can keep on going. I try to keep working in the way I think he would have wanted me to, and I’m trying to be a bit of a better person on top of that too. I think both have helped. Small changes can make a world of difference! Pete’s sisters have been really supportive of me, too, which has been a great help.

I have a number of projects planned for the future, including an enormous work in the Rangers universe. Trust me – it really is huge. Just the notes for the work alone run to tens of thousands of words!

Description
As high as souls can fly, the clouds roll by for you and I.

I love The Land Before Time. I first watched it when I was very young, and I expect I fitted right into the intended audience. I was about the right age, and of course I had a fondness for dinosaurs! I think I only watched it once back then, but it was enough for the film to win a place in my heart, and to find a strong place in my childhood memories. To this day, I can still recall the odd moment of the film with a sense of wonder. I have particularly powerful memories, for some reason, of the tree star.

I actually started this sketch a long time ago. A little after Easter in 2014, I was having a short holiday. My sister got in touch with me out of the blue to say that The Land Before Time would be on television later that day. I don’t usually watch much television, but since I was on holiday, and since I hadn’t seen the movie for very many years, I made time for it.

I’m very glad that I did! Watching the film again was very moving, and I remembered quite why I had enjoyed it so much as a child. I found the ending particularly touching. There’s something wonderful about the characters not only finding the Great Valley and reuniting with their families, but also keeping the friendships they formed over the course of the film as well.

There’s a particular scene where all five dinosaurs hug, after which the excellent final song plays. This I found touching more than anything, and after seeing the film, I wanted to see if I could try to draw it. I experimented over the next couple of days, but I just wasn’t quite happy with what I produced. I couldn’t get the characters to look as I wanted. I shelved what I’d produced.

Fast forward to 2019. One of my cousins gave birth to a baby daughter a few days ago! I wanted to draw something to celebrate the occasion and, by coincidence, happened to come across the old sketch. My cousin and her partner adore dinosaurs, so it seemed a fitting picture to work on!

I have quite a lot more experience now than I did when I first made the sketch, and playing around with the characters some more meant that I could finally get them looking how I wanted. It was really satisfying to finally do some more work on this piece, and colouring and shading it was great fun. I’m really glad I came back to this work! Here’s hoping my cousin likes it too!

It’s been really nice to come back to thinking about The Land Before Time, too. I think I will watch the film again shortly – it seems fitting. I might even watch some of the other parts of the franchise, too. I’d be interested to see where they took it!

Incidentally, I have a suspicion that it might be possible to tell from this picture alone who my favourite character of the five is. Any guesses?

This work used as a model several shots from the same animation sequence at the very end of The Land Before Time. Several standard images of the other characters were used as guides, particularly for Petrie!

Here’s the excellent final song of the film, which should provide some very suitable background music:

<If We Hold On Together – Diana Ross >

P. S. Those of you who follow my output will know that my partner passed away very suddenly almost a year ago. I just want to reassure you all that I am doing alright, and that I have not disappeared! Indeed, in many ways, this year has been a good one. I have managed to get a whole lot of interesting work done, and I am currently involved in a number of quite exciting research projects.

Of course, this doesn’t change what has happened, but it’s encouraging to me that I can keep on going. I try to keep working in the way I think he would have wanted me to, and I’m trying to be a bit of a better person on top of that too. I think both have helped. Small changes can make a world of difference! Pete’s sisters have been really supportive of me, too, which has been a great help.

I have a number of projects planned for the future, including an enormous work in the Rangers universe. Trust me – it really is huge. Just the notes for the work alone run to tens of thousands of words!