Royal Mail stamps celebrate Dinosaur discovery in UK

The consultancy worked with illustrator John Sibbick on the stamps, which feature the likes of a Megalosaurus and an Iguanodon.

Why Not Associates designer Gustavo Fernandes says the consultancy chose to work with Sibbick as he was able ‘to bring an incredible amount of detail to each dinosaur.’

For this reason the background has been left blank so as not to ‘distract or confuse’, according to Fernandes, who says the composition is such that ‘some of them look almost look like portraits.’

Fernandes says, ‘With features like long necks dinosaurs aren’t suited to being enclosed in small frames’ and so the design shows them ‘breaking out’ – a decision that was also taken ‘to catch their big movements.

The earliest discoveries of dinosaurs in the UK are recorded as having taken place during the early 1800s.

This early archeological work is associated with the work of pioneering fossil hunter Mary Anning in Dorset, and her contemporaries who made other discoveries in the Isle of Wight, Oxfordshire, Surrey and Sussex.

Dinosaurs discovered in these areas have been selected for the series which features Polacanthus; Ichthyosaurus; Iguanodon; Ornithocheirus; Baryonyx; Dimorphodon; Hypsilophodon; Cetiosaurus; Megalosaurus and Plesiosaurus.

The stamps will be available to buy from 10 October.