Feature Friday: Pterrible Dinosaur Drawings
In need of a good chuckle? This month’s feature will inject some much-needed levity into your day.
Pterrible Dinosaur Drawings explores the gamut of life’s joys and frustrations through the lens of some very anxious and very adorable dinosaurs.
The webcomic is the brainchild of historic costumer Vincent Briggs, and when asked, “Why dinosaurs?,” he responded:
“I guess I like drawing dinosaurs to express annoyance or excitement or just to show a little scene from my day, but I think these days I'm drawing them mainly because so many people love them. I get so many comments from people saying the dinosaurs make them happy, which is very nice. I don't dislike drawing dinosaurs, and I do quite like doing occasional fancy ones with more detail and color, but most of the time I'm thinking about sewing.”
While the comics feature all kinds of scenes from daily life, this love of sewing shines through, making them particularly relatable for all sewists, historical or otherwise.
Who hasn’t justified that fabric purchase in the moment and then been vindicated nearly a decade later?
Not to mention the constant battle to remember your tea while working on a project.
Even better, Vincent has created a number of fabric patterns and designs with these delightful dinosaurs, as well as other critters too, and made them available on Spoonflower.
This Frog Toile print is completely charming, with its myriad of distinguished frogs in their 18th century garb, and would make a fun twist to use in place of a more traditional toile for either garments or home décor.
But Vincent shared that his favorite design to work on so far has been a replica of this truly bizarre and fantastic fossil pattern.
“One of my favorite prints is the one I copied from this 1760's teapot, and I also have a travel mug version of it that I bought from Redbubble because I didn't have a travel mug and thought this would be the funniest one I could get.”
If your fabric stash is already too full, but you still want a dinosaur of your own, you can find stickers, cards, prints, and more in his Redbubble shop.
The Overbooked Dinosaur is a good reminder that worth is not measured by productivity.
If you are as smitten with these cartoons as we are, you can find a full archive of his drawings on the Pterrible Dinosaur tumblr and follow the account on Instagram, @pterribledinosaurdrawings, for updates as well. Vincent also has a Patreon where you can get access to more comics and drawings featuring these silly and adorable dinosaurs.
For more sewing content, you can find Vincent’s historical costume work and historically inspired modern clothing, as well as his other drawings, on his personal tumblr, blog, and Instagram, @vincentbriggs1780.
He also has a YouTube with fun 18th century menswear videos and whimsical project like this leafkerchief tutorial: