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Description
The Bearpaw Formation is named after the Bear Paw Mountians of Montana which is where it outcrops, however it also outcrops in Southern Canada. During the time it was deposited in Earth's history relative to the modern-day, the Bearpaw Formation was a 75-72 Million Year Old (Mid/Late Campanian Stage-Terminal/Latest Campanian Stage, Late Cretaceous Period) northern sea which was within the Western Interior Seaway which cut through the interior of North America; beginning in Canada and ending in Texas/The Gulf of Mexico.

The enviornment was mostly mud based, based on the primary lithology of the Bearpaw Formation being shale. There are also iron concreations, however at the time of writing I cannot recall if they were a resultant of taphonomy/preservation of the formation or if they were around in the enviornment at the time that the Bearpaw Sea made its appearance in prehistory.

Moreover, the highest trophic levels was mostly made up of marine reptiles however a primary food source at the bottom-most area of the scenery for said marine reptiles herein are the ammonites. These ammonites were based on/traced off of Brian Engh's ammonites (his website is dontmesswithdinosaurs.com/ ) and I made them more colorful as that is more reflective of the ammonites appearance in life.

The marine reptiles going from left to right depicted are the of polycotylid plesiosaur Dolichorhynchops which is trying to snag an ammonite for a meal, Nakonanectes which is a short-necked elasmosaurid, that contrasts with the extremely long-necked elasmosaurid Albertonectes to showcase the diversity of elasmosaurid bauplans (body plans) which existed during this time in the Cretaceous period; and finally Plioplatecarpus which is one of the native mosasaurids in the Bearpaw Sea.

Furthermore, the medium in which this work was created was initially Adobe Sketch & Draw. However, due to the iOS apps for these services being discontinued approx. this year if i remember correctly, I had to migrate to Adobe Fresco which introduced some resolution & illustration issues. However, I've gotten more used to this new digital illustration software which is what i'll be using going forward in the future. The Dolichorhynchops is based on a specimen on-display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C, the Nakonanectes herein are based on a skeletal made by ToshaHollmann2 (hyperlink takes you to the DA page which is where I got the skeletal), the Albertonectes herein are based on a skeletal/flesh-reconstruction from Adam Stewart Smith who is a paleontologist and curator at Nottingham Natural History Museum. Finally, the Plioplatecarpus was based on another skeletal which was done by randomdinos (link to that DeviantArt page is www.deviantart.com/randomdinos ).

For more information, a video which features this work in a discussion manner is avaliable on my YouTube Channel: youtu.be/o9w35pWwymM

Description
The Bearpaw Formation is named after the Bear Paw Mountians of Montana which is where it outcrops, however it also outcrops in Southern Canada. During the time it was deposited in Earth's history relative to the modern-day, the Bearpaw Formation was a 75-72 Million Year Old (Mid/Late Campanian Stage-Terminal/Latest Campanian Stage, Late Cretaceous Period) northern sea which was within the Western Interior Seaway which cut through the interior of North America; beginning in Canada and ending in Texas/The Gulf of Mexico.

The enviornment was mostly mud based, based on the primary lithology of the Bearpaw Formation being shale. There are also iron concreations, however at the time of writing I cannot recall if they were a resultant of taphonomy/preservation of the formation or if they were around in the enviornment at the time that the Bearpaw Sea made its appearance in prehistory.

Moreover, the highest trophic levels was mostly made up of marine reptiles however a primary food source at the bottom-most area of the scenery for said marine reptiles herein are the ammonites. These ammonites were based on/traced off of Brian Engh's ammonites (his website is dontmesswithdinosaurs.com/ ) and I made them more colorful as that is more reflective of the ammonites appearance in life.

The marine reptiles going from left to right depicted are the of polycotylid plesiosaur Dolichorhynchops which is trying to snag an ammonite for a meal, Nakonanectes which is a short-necked elasmosaurid, that contrasts with the extremely long-necked elasmosaurid Albertonectes to showcase the diversity of elasmosaurid bauplans (body plans) which existed during this time in the Cretaceous period; and finally Plioplatecarpus which is one of the native mosasaurids in the Bearpaw Sea.

Furthermore, the medium in which this work was created was initially Adobe Sketch & Draw. However, due to the iOS apps for these services being discontinued approx. this year if i remember correctly, I had to migrate to Adobe Fresco which introduced some resolution & illustration issues. However, I've gotten more used to this new digital illustration software which is what i'll be using going forward in the future. The Dolichorhynchops is based on a specimen on-display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C, the Nakonanectes herein are based on a skeletal made by ToshaHollmann2 (hyperlink takes you to the DA page which is where I got the skeletal), the Albertonectes herein are based on a skeletal/flesh-reconstruction from Adam Stewart Smith who is a paleontologist and curator at Nottingham Natural History Museum. Finally, the Plioplatecarpus was based on another skeletal which was done by randomdinos (link to that DeviantArt page is www.deviantart.com/randomdinos ).

For more information, a video which features this work in a discussion manner is avaliable on my YouTube Channel: youtu.be/o9w35pWwymM