This post is just an excuse for me to show off Brian Engh’s entry for the All Yesterdays contest (book here, contest–now closed–here). The title is a reference to this post, by virtue of which I fancy myself at least a spear-carrier in what I will grandly refer to as the All Yesterdays Movement.

Western University of Health Sciences

Matt Wedel

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[![Trust me, you want to click for the full
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Trust me, you want to click for the full effect.
:::

This post is just an excuse for me to show off [Brian
Engh's](http://dontmesswithdinosaurs.com/) entry for the *All
Yesterdays* contest (book
[here](http://www.amazon.com/All-Yesterdays-Speculative-Prehistoric-ebook/dp/B00A2VS55O),
contest--now
closed--[here](http://nemo-ramjet.deviantart.com/art/All-Yesterdays-Contest-Apply-Today-346618231)).
The title is a reference to [this
post](http://svpow.com/2011/11/28/accurate-vs-familiar-vs-usual-in-paleoart/),
by virtue of which I fancy myself at least a spear-carrier in what I
will grandly refer to as the All Yesterdays Movement.

Oddly enough, I don't have a ton to say about this; I think Brian has
already explained the thinking behind the piece sufficiently [on his own
blog](http://dontmesswithdinosaurs.com/?p=833). In the brave new world
of [integumentarily enhanced
ornithodirans](http://svpow.com/2013/02/27/get-down-get-fuzzy-speculative-juvenile-apatosaurus/),
these diamantinasaurs are certainly *interesting* but not particularly
outlandish (Brian's already *done*
[outlandish](http://dontmesswithdinosaurs.com/?p=471)). And it's pretty
darned hard to argue that sauropods never went into caves, although I
can't off the top of my head think of any previous spelunking sauropods
(I'm *not* counting Baylene in Disney's
[*Dinosaur*](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur_%28film%29); feel
free to refresh my memory of others in the comments). The glowworms are
not proven, but biogeographically and stratigraphically plausible, which
is probably as good as we're going to get given the fossilization
potential of bioluminescence.

I'm much more excited about this as a piece of art. I got to see a lot
of the in-progress sketches and they were wonderful, with some very
tight, detailed pencil-work. The danger in investing that kind of effort
is that then you're tempted to show it off, and if I had any worry about
the finished piece, it was that it would be over-lit to show off all the
details. But it isn't. I can tell you from seeing the pencil sketches
that the detail went all the way down, but Brian was brave enough to let
some of that go, especially on the animals' legs, to get the lighting
effect right. My favorite touches are the reflections in the water, and
the fallen pillar in the foreground--toppled by a previous visitor,
perhaps--with new mineral deposits already forming on it.

All in all, it takes me back to the best paleoart from my childhood,
which made me think, "Wow, these were not monsters or aliens, they were
*real* animals, as real, and as mundane in their own worlds, as deer and
coyotes and jackrabbits." \* \*\*

And that's pretty cool. What do you think?

----------

\* Okay, maybe not  in those exact words. I am translating a feeling I
had when I was nine through 28 years of subsequent experience and
vocabulary expansion.

\*\* My major discovery in the last two decades is that deer and coyotes
and jackrabbits are just as exotic as dinosaurs, if only you learn to
really see them. And before Mike jumps me for saying that, I said 'just
as exotic', not 'just as
[awesome](http://svpow.com/2011/12/13/best-exhibit-ever/)'.

**UPDATE the next day**

If you thought the glowworms were unrealistic--and at least one
commenter did--check these out (borrowed from
[here](http://mrietze.com/nz-otoro12.htm), pointed out by
[Brian](http://svpow.com/2013/03/07/the-diamantinasaurus-in-the-cave-definitely-unfamiliar-this-time/#comment-28798)):

[![NZ121877D6](https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/nz121877d6.jpg?w=1024&h=683){.aligncenter
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[![NZ121864D6](https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/nz121864d6.jpg?w=1024&h=683){.aligncenter
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orig-size="870,581" comments-opened="1"
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image-title="NZ121864D6" image-description="" image-caption=""
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large-file="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/nz121864d6.jpg?w=870"
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sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px"}](http://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/nz121864d6.jpg)

That's game, set, and match on the glowworm issue.


Trust me, you want to click for the full effect. This post is just an excuse for me to show off Brian Engh’s entry for the
<em>
 All Yesterdays
</em>
contest (book here, contest–now closed–here). The title is a reference to this post, by virtue of which I fancy myself at least a spear-carrier in what I will grandly refer to as the All Yesterdays Movement. Oddly enough, I don’t have a ton to say about this;

Messages de Rogue Scholar

The Diamantinasaurus in the cave: definitely unfamiliar this time