A 17-year-old girl’s intricate dinosaur art is drawing attention from across central Alberta — including from Drumheller, home of the Tyrrell Museum.
From textured reptile skin, to teeth and horns, the detailed drawings produced by Evelyn Oddsson, a Grade 11 student at Lacombe Composite High School, would not be out of place in paleontological journals.
Evelyn said she’s long been fascinated by prehistoric reptiles, ever since receiving dinosaur books as a child.
She started hand-drawing them during the pandemic, using a pencil to capture every skin fold and nodule. She then scans these drawings into a computer and colour enhances them digitally.
The Lacombe teenager recalled being inspired by the Jurassic Park movies. She said she often uses detailed collectible dinosaur models, produced by companies such as Schleich, as reference material for her art.
Her parents, Paul and Wilma Oddsson, recognize something special in Evelyn’s artistic abilities. Paul said their youngest child has been drawing for most of her life, following in the footsteps of other artists in the family.
Evelyn’s late grandmother won a B.C. art teacher of the year award, and her late uncle, Warren Oddsson, designed for Hollywood movies, for novels as well as the Vancouver Sun’s editorial page. Warren even designed an arm patch for one of the Space Shuttle missions, said Paul.
As a child, Evelyn started out by sketching the family’s cat. She then moved on to wolves, dolphins and whatever wildlife captured her interest.
The detail in her dinosaur images was so exceptional that Wilma wondered whether these drawings would attract any community interest. She put Evelyn’s images of Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, and Ceratosaurus, on Facebook Marketplace — and was bowled over by the response.
Sixty people asked if they were for sale in the first hour, said Paul. And in the first 24 hours, Evelyn’s art drew more than 300 inquiries.
The family has since figured out how to accurately reproduce and ship Evelyn’s art prints to a growing number of admirers.
People in the Drumheller area seem particularly interested, said Wilma — undoubtedly because of their community’s association with paleontology.
Paul noted Evelyn was invited to add her dinosaur images to the Tyrrell Museum’s Instagram. Several bed-and-breakfast operators from that area also plan to feature her art, which is also available on T-shirts, hoodies, coffee mugs and water bottles.
Evelyn hopes to put aside proceeds of her art sales to purchase a 3-D printer. Her latest dinosaur figures — including some new imaginative fantasy creatures — are sculptural.
The young artist said she would love to have an artistic career someday.
lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com
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