Andy Frazer’s Aquilops, and DinoCon 2026

Life restoration of Aquilops by Andy Frazer. Andy is the creator and rightsholder, and I’m posting this small version with his permission. Go see his Instagram feed for more.

One of the highlights of DinoCon 2025 for me was getting to meet Andy Frazer, who you may know from Dragons of Wales, Novosaurs, and his numerous and mind-blowing life restorations of dinosaurs. We had a few minutes for an unhurried, one-on-one conversation, and I bought some prints, a no-AI-in-paleoart button, and his book EX|TINCT, a hardcover omnibus of his EX|TERRA art books.

My three-toed box turtle, Easty, modeling kertain in direct sunlight. Sadly this photo does not do her justice.

Here’s why Andy’s art sings to me: I’m kind of a keratin junky. F’rinstance, I have been around turtles all my life. Caring for turtles, watching turtles, thinking about turtles. Turtle shells are made of bony plates, including enlarged and expanded ribs, covered by thick scutes of keratin (except for softshells, leatherbacks, and a few other random perverts, who are still clad in keratin, but not the hard, glowy kind). Especially when it’s clean and wet, the keratin of turtle scutes has a degree of translucency, and at certain angles it can appear softly luminous. That interplay of light and keratin is a subtle thing to notice, and from everything I know (and don’t know) about art, a real challenge to achieve artistically.

Are you freaking kidding me? What a flex!

I already had some degree of familiarity with Andy’s work, but flipping through EX|TINCT I kept thinking, “Dang, this is a guy who knows his keratin!” I was also riding high on the 2025 Aquilaissance, and I saw in Andy’s Etsy shop that he accepted commissions. So, bing bang boom, I commissioned Andy to draw Aquilops, and he shipped me the original of this lovely pencil drawing:

But that’s not all! Andy told me that in the process of doing the drawing, he got a little obsessed with Aquilops, and decided on his own steam to make the full-color photorealistic rendering you see at the top of the post. I can certainly understand the phenomenon of becoming obsessed with Aquilops, and if that obsession leads to more gorgeous artwork, even better.

And furthermore, if you like either or both of Andy’s Aquilops restorations then I have good news for you: both of them appear in his new book, Ab Antiquo, along with a shedload more new, amazing art. I don’t have a copy yet, but I aim to correct that in the very near future.

I bring all this up in part because DinoCon 2026 is this coming weekend, July 25 and 26. Mike and I will be there, yapping about our very atypical careers in the Careers Panel Saturday afternoon, and otherwise catching up with old friends, making new ones, prrrrobably lightening our wallets in the vendor hall, and generally soaking up all the dinorifficosity. I’d say go buy your DinoCon tickets, but my understanding is that they’re all sold out for this year. Man, do I have good timing or what?

Anyway, Andy Frazer will also be at DinoCon, selling and signing books and prints and, I feel quite certain, being smart and interesting and fun with talk with. You can also find Andy on Instagram, Etsy, and at his own site, andyfrazer.com.