Okay, so... This page look literal days to complete. I had no idea what I was getting into when I started it, but it comes along with a funny story! I'll go ahead and include the next page links here so you don't have to read through it all, but stick around if you're interested.

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Now, for the story.

As a lover of paleontology as well as archaeology, I've always wanted to try my hand at the so called "march of life" piece -- that is, where the evolution and diversity of life through the ages is presented in an artistic, linear fashion. You know, like those pictures where all those dinosaurs are walking alongside one another?

Anyway, I had originally planned on making my own "march of life" from the Cambrian period all the way to the Pleistocene epoch. That means trying to squeeze in hundreds of different animals from hundreds of millions of years ago to just a few thousand years ago and somehow trying to make it NOT look like a chaotic mess... And, as you can see, I stopped short at the Devonian period. I decided to cut things off with Tiktaalik and Dunkleosteus; Dunkleosteus was an easy choice, as it is a relatively well-known and "charismatic" animal from the Devonian that helps simultaneously capture the outlandishness and familiarity we see during that period of time. Tiktaalik was also an easy choice, but for different reasons -- seeing as I was already spent from drawing and wanted to cut short my "march of life" into a "swim of life," I realized that Tiktaalik was a perfect clinch pin for the piece. While Dunkleosteus actually lived in the Devonian after Tiktaalik was long gone, Tiktaalik both literally and symbolically represents the transition from a "swim of life" to a "march of life." That's where I got the idea to end the page with those little footprints leading away from Tiktaalik -- this chapter of life on Earth came to an end a long time ago, and TCotC is not here to retell all of ancient prehistory and history. TCotC's a story about two ancient Egyptian furry-anthro-things going on adventures -- all of this is just worldbuilding, at the end of the day. If we're going to continue with the story of TCotC, then we can't dwell on the past -- that is a major theme of this comic, after all. So, as much as I would have liked to have finished my "swim of life" and made a real "march of life," it's probably better left unfinished.

I also feel like I should mention that I am NOT a paleoartist and don't really have aspirations of becoming one. I made sure to try and capture the anatomical accuracy of all the creatures presented here, but their sizes as shown here are by no means accurate. I wanted to select some "familiar" (or at least familiar-looking) species from the Paleozoic that people might recognize and just tried to put together a fun composition that I could be proud of.

Funnily enough, this page of TCotC also got a bit of attention at my school. I showed it off to my head professor (again, I am majoring in paleontology and archaeology at my college), and he actually seemed to like it! I also presented it at my college's art show -- it didn't win any awards, but I was still proud of taking that step forward. I'm really shy when it comes to showing people I know in real life my artwork.

Species shown here:
Anomalocaris canadensis
Haikouichthys ercaicunensis
Isotelus rex
Orthoceras regulare
Arandaspis prionotolepis
Pentecopterus decorahensis
Eurypterus remipes
Cephalaspis lyelli
A spiny shark from the Acanthodes genus (the one shown here is in fact based on Acanthodes bronni, a Permian species -- there are supposedly species from the Devonian that I couldn't find references for)
Tiktaalik roseae
Dunkleosteus terrelli