A Feathered Dinosaur
I don’t know about you, but I remember my visits to the Natural History Museum when I was young vividly: I often was more fascinated by the wall murals or wall backgrounds depicting the natural habitat of the main displays in the exhibition than the actual displays themselves. I especially loved those habitat representations that are long gone, those that we do not have the opportunity to see in real life or at least could reference a photo of. In regards to pre-historic times, like the mesozoic including the Tertiary, the Jurassic and the Cretacios periods, we do not even have those beautiful artist drawings that have become so well known from the mid-ages onwards and especially since 18th and 19th centuries. So how were artists able to bring these wall murals and those landscapes they drew to life?
When I first was fascinated by it, there was no book, no mention, no (real) famous artist attached to the topic. I believe it wasn’t even an art form then, let alone have a name attached to it.
But now it does. And the last 5 years or so more and more books, discussions, topics and with it artist names have sprung up. Probably made even more popular through movies like Jurassic Parks and their sequels, people have started to not only take a renewed interest into Dinosaurs and pre-historic mammals but also in the representation, the art of them. Now we have books dedicated to what is now known as “Paleo Art” (paleoart), books and articles dedicated to its art form, its artist, its history and development and even first books on how scientifially founded dinosaur art can be drawn.
I am no scientist, I am no paleontologist, I do not know much about paleobotany either. But I am still fascinated by the art form of creating something that looks so real as if we could visit it by going to the next valley. There are more modern art forms dedicated to both pre-historic real worlds based on scientific knowledge and research advancement as well as those dedicated to real looking yet fantasy worlds. These are art forms now called “concept art” often sub-divided into something like “creature art” or “environmental art”. The result of these we all see nearly daily: They are the backdrops of major movies like Lord of the Rings and they can be found in pretty much any elaborate game release these days. We also often see these beautiful creations in anime movies and TV series.
I love these backdrops and concept art. I belong to those buying the art book of “World of Warcraft” or Mononoke – while, I have to admit, I do not actually play the games or watch each anime episode.
My Instagram account and my digital art for Paleo Dinosaurs Art is inspired by these two worlds. And the result is kind of a merging of both. I am – as mentioned above – not a scientist, however while I try to keep my Dinosaurs as real as possible (to the current standard of scientific knowledge), I will – at times – take creative liberties with their color, company and surroundings.