(aka: Prototype Dinosaur)
I have two sons at home. Sometimes we refer to them lovingly as The Small Ones. This stuffed dinosaur belongs to The Smallest of the Small Ones, he’s 4. His name is Diny. (the toy, not the boy)
This is how it is at our house. I’m in my studio full of scraps and debris trying to make something out of all of this stuff. In shuffles a Small One. “Can you make me a Tyrannosaurus Rex? Pleeeeease?” Hmmm, well, I was going to try my hand at making some plushies out of my recycled sweaters anyway, why not?
So we work together. He picks out the colors for the body and the spikes. I do a rough sketch, he approves it. We discuss Authenticity vs. Creative License and conclude that a red heart on his tummy looks just grand. I wonder if I am raising an art director.
Not bad for a first prototype. And The Smallest of My Small Ones sure loves it. I see now after some serious snuggling that the T Rex tummy looks a bit pilly.
There it is, the real cause of dinosaur extinction…