I had the pleasure of attending my very first TetZooCon this year, and I must say, it exceeded all my expectations! I wasn’t quite prepared for just how warm and welcoming the atmosphere would be, nor for how enriching the conversations were with the incredible creators and visitors who filled the event.
In this post, I want to share a glimpse of my experience at TetZooCon 2024!
I arrived at Bush House in London early on Saturday, the 28th of September, just after 9:00 a.m. The official registration wasn’t until 10, but I wanted to get a head start and finish hanging my artwork before the doors officially opened.
My artwork at the TetZooCon art exhibition
Once I had my artwork up and finished registering, I prepared my label to let everybody know that I am Karimoloephysis, which is a fun little detail.
Besides all the engaging talks and the amazing stalls, I enjoyed the paleoart workshops the most. The open “show and tell” was a great opportunity to learn about about Zid and Zniw and paleostream vol. 3 by Joschua Knüppe. Plus, the talk on bad paleoart held by Gemma Hazeborg, Marc Vincent, and Natee Himmapaan had everyone laughing while also delivering some fascinating insights on “old” and very recent bad and not so bad paleoart.
Perhaps the most exciting thing for me was how John Conway gathered a room full of eager artists for a (dinosaur) drawing session. Using skeletal reconstructions as references, we experimented with new art mediums and were challenged in creating some “bad” paleoart, focusing on everything we wouldn’t want to see in modern reconstructions. The workshop ran throughout the entire convention and was always quite busy.
It was a space where creativity thrived and experienced artists and newcomers came together.
Crowd is paintingNew mediumBad paleoartParticipants’ artworkPaleoart workshop
Though this was my first TetZooCon (and the last in that form), it certainly won’t be my last convention of that kind. I’m already looking forward to 2025 for the very first DinoCon!
