It all started with a reindeer skeleton. Michelle Annette Leveille had drawn one in college to illustrate a book on pack animals for the Royal Geographical Society. It was in her portfolio when she later worked in the art departments of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, and the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens. She gave Swiss army knives with USB drives containing her portfolio to people she admired, and to her surprise, Dr. Luis M. Chiappe of the Dinosaur Institute responded with a project for her.
Fruitadens bone map by Michelle Annette Leveille
The Natural History Museum was building a new Dinosaur Hall focusing on their world-class collection of Mesozoic fossils. Michelle created the bone maps, which are recreations of the skeletons of the dinosaurs and reptiles which show where the bones would be situated in the animals. Her bone map illustrations are displayed with over 400 specimens in the Dinosaur Hall now.
A Variety of Bone Maps illustrated by Michelle Annette Leveille for the Dinosaur Hall of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
To see more about the bone maps, you could physically go to the Natural History Museum,
or check out our blog posts about sauropods,
Samples of dinosaur paintings by Michelle Annette Leveille
Soon after completing the bone maps for the Natural History Museum, Michelle was inspired by the works of Charles R. Knight to create more images of dinosaurs using water-based oil paints.
Many of the paintings were created when friends brought plain landscapes to Michelle from their attics, and Michelle merely embellished them by adding dinosaurs.
Michelle keeps several landscapes in stock in case customers want her to add their favorite dinosaur to the background and have them framed.
You can read more about that process here.
More samples of dinosaurs in oil paintings by Michelle Annette Leveille
Some of the dinosaur paintings got sillier, with the dinosaurs being added to human landscapes or even interacting with humans.
Dinosaurs in human habitats by Michelle Annette Leveille
Michelle’s dinosaur paintings started to blend in more with the human world. Soon she created her Blue-blooded line of dinosaurs.
Blue-blooded Dinosaurs by Michelle Annette Leveille
Read more about Michelle’s Blue-blooded Dinosaurs here.
In 2017 it was announced that California would have its own official duckbilled dinosaur, named Augustynolophus morrisi. Michelle immediately created commemorative postcards. The design was purchased by the Natural History Museum Los Angeles County, which printed her artwork on shirts, mugs, and other souvenirs. Read our newsletter announcement here.
Hadrosaur Augustynolophus morrisi riding a wave of popularity
Long live Auggie!
If you would like prints or original artwork of Michelle’s dinosaurs, please contact Artifact Graphics using the form below. Thank you!
