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Description
South Dakota, western North America.
End Cretaceous period, 66 million years ago.
3 Hours to Impact.

First light across the plains of what will one day be known as the Hell Creek formation. The sun rises to bring the lush, fertile land to life. Another day begins. Just another day on the third planet from the sun, 66 million years ago. The usual daily routines of life and death in this ancient world begin to play out as they had during the previous day, and the day before that, and the one before that...

On this cool, clear morning, a female Ankylosaurus magniventris rises from her place of rest and makes her way toward a nearby river to drink and feed. The 30 foot long, 9 foot wide herbivore lumbers out of a sheltering stand of redwoods and palms, stopping at the top of a rocky rise covered with greenery. As she begins feeding on the low growing ferns, she looks around, getting a decent view of the river cutting its way through this part of the lowlands and the swathes of forest on either side of the bank. Just to below the feeding Ankylosaurus on the left bank, a small herd of Triceratops prorsus make their way to the water's edge to quench their thirst. Similarly, a large herd of duck-billed Edmontosaurus annectens emerge from the forest on the opposite bank to drink and forage. As the Triceratops file down to the riverbank, a trio of Stygimoloch spinifer- two females and a male -browse along the surrounding vegetation. Not far away from them, a trio of vicious feathered Dakotaraptor steini feast upon the corpse of a fallen Edmontosaurus. On the far end of the opposite bank, a flock of Struthiomimus take their morning drink while accompanied by a small group of Anzu wyliei. Overhead, a flock of presbyornithid birds fly through the air, as do a trio of giant azhdarchid pterosaurs off in the distance.

Yet, as the animals begin their daily routine, they are unaware of what is to come. For there is something peculiar about this day, something which separates it from the long chain of days that had come before it.

This day is different for one reason: It is the last day. The last day of a world. On this day, a whole era of Earth's history will come to a sudden, cataclysmic end and life will never be the same again. High in the sky above, a bright white star blinks on. Its been hanging overhead for days, if not weeks now, steadily growing larger and brighter in the night sky. Now, it can be seen in total daylight, and its getting bigger. This object is no star. It's an asteroid, some 6 miles in diameter, traveling at a speed of 40,000 miles an hour. And its on a collision course with Earth...

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Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't posted in such a long time. I've been busy with planning out a few projects plus also getting involved with some other stuff that I was super hyped for as well as some personal business. Anyway, here is the first in a series of drawings I'm calling "Cosmic Cataclysm". In this series, I will be depicting the Chicxulub impact/Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction event one moment at a time. I've been dying to do this for a long time. I actually got started with this series a little while back on Twitter, but I will also be posting it here on DA.

With this first piece, I wanted to start the series off with a moment of "calm before the storm". Among the last moments of true serenity before the disaster strikes. I wanted to capture both calm as well as tension. It felt necessary to start things off gentle before the hammer struck. This actually took about a day and a half for me to complete when I initially made it. I had to go back and start from scratch at least 7 times to get this scene right.

Additionally, I went back and made a few changes to the piece itself. Originally, I had a trio of Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis in the background. But upon doing some research, I found out that Pachycephalosaurus actually wasn't around anymore at the time of the K-Pg extinction. It actually lived in Hell Creek just a few million years earlier. Stygimoloch on the other hand, was from the very end of the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous, so I used that genus in place of the Pachy for the sake of accuracy. If it turns out that Pachycephalosaurus and Stygimoloch are the same animal as some have suggested, then I will correct this, but for now, Stigy stays.

Stay tuned for the next parts in this series, coming soon! Shit's gonna hit the fan soon...

Description
South Dakota, western North America.
End Cretaceous period, 66 million years ago.
3 Hours to Impact.

First light across the plains of what will one day be known as the Hell Creek formation. The sun rises to bring the lush, fertile land to life. Another day begins. Just another day on the third planet from the sun, 66 million years ago. The usual daily routines of life and death in this ancient world begin to play out as they had during the previous day, and the day before that, and the one before that...

On this cool, clear morning, a female Ankylosaurus magniventris rises from her place of rest and makes her way toward a nearby river to drink and feed. The 30 foot long, 9 foot wide herbivore lumbers out of a sheltering stand of redwoods and palms, stopping at the top of a rocky rise covered with greenery. As she begins feeding on the low growing ferns, she looks around, getting a decent view of the river cutting its way through this part of the lowlands and the swathes of forest on either side of the bank. Just to below the feeding Ankylosaurus on the left bank, a small herd of Triceratops prorsus make their way to the water's edge to quench their thirst. Similarly, a large herd of duck-billed Edmontosaurus annectens emerge from the forest on the opposite bank to drink and forage. As the Triceratops file down to the riverbank, a trio of Stygimoloch spinifer- two females and a male -browse along the surrounding vegetation. Not far away from them, a trio of vicious feathered Dakotaraptor steini feast upon the corpse of a fallen Edmontosaurus. On the far end of the opposite bank, a flock of Struthiomimus take their morning drink while accompanied by a small group of Anzu wyliei. Overhead, a flock of presbyornithid birds fly through the air, as do a trio of giant azhdarchid pterosaurs off in the distance.

Yet, as the animals begin their daily routine, they are unaware of what is to come. For there is something peculiar about this day, something which separates it from the long chain of days that had come before it.

This day is different for one reason: It is the last day. The last day of a world. On this day, a whole era of Earth's history will come to a sudden, cataclysmic end and life will never be the same again. High in the sky above, a bright white star blinks on. Its been hanging overhead for days, if not weeks now, steadily growing larger and brighter in the night sky. Now, it can be seen in total daylight, and its getting bigger. This object is no star. It's an asteroid, some 6 miles in diameter, traveling at a speed of 40,000 miles an hour. And its on a collision course with Earth...

-----------------------------------------------
Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't posted in such a long time. I've been busy with planning out a few projects plus also getting involved with some other stuff that I was super hyped for as well as some personal business. Anyway, here is the first in a series of drawings I'm calling "Cosmic Cataclysm". In this series, I will be depicting the Chicxulub impact/Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction event one moment at a time. I've been dying to do this for a long time. I actually got started with this series a little while back on Twitter, but I will also be posting it here on DA.

With this first piece, I wanted to start the series off with a moment of "calm before the storm". Among the last moments of true serenity before the disaster strikes. I wanted to capture both calm as well as tension. It felt necessary to start things off gentle before the hammer struck. This actually took about a day and a half for me to complete when I initially made it. I had to go back and start from scratch at least 7 times to get this scene right.

Additionally, I went back and made a few changes to the piece itself. Originally, I had a trio of Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis in the background. But upon doing some research, I found out that Pachycephalosaurus actually wasn't around anymore at the time of the K-Pg extinction. It actually lived in Hell Creek just a few million years earlier. Stygimoloch on the other hand, was from the very end of the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous, so I used that genus in place of the Pachy for the sake of accuracy. If it turns out that Pachycephalosaurus and Stygimoloch are the same animal as some have suggested, then I will correct this, but for now, Stigy stays.

Stay tuned for the next parts in this series, coming soon! Shit's gonna hit the fan soon...