Vintage Dinosaur Art: Triceratops (Dinosaur books from The Child’s World)

It’s been a bit quiet around here lately, hasn’t it? Personally, the first half of this year felt like a good 2 years in itself, such were the Life Events that happened. Things have settled down now, though, so I’m hoping to get back to more frequent posting. Why not start with another in The Child’s World dinosaur series (because I have it handy)? Triceratops was published in 1988, written by Janet Riehecky (of course) and illustrated by Diana Magnuson once more. I hope you like brown, grey, and grey-brown!

In spite of the rather limited earthy colour palette, I do enjoy Magnuson’s style, which relies on painterly (sorry) shading and carefully blended colour while eschewing superfluous lines and fine detailing. It’s stylised in a manner that we don’t really see these days. The backdrops, with their deliberately simplistic foliage and impressions of mountains, are quite lovely; this isn’t the conveniently empty and barren prehistoric world of lesser books from the period. The dinosaurs themselves are pretty typical in that they are reminiscent of work by the likes of Burian and Sibbick, although direct copies are avoided. There are also some interesting depictions of animals interacting, like…

…this rather cute Triceratops herd. The heads on the adults definitely remind me of Burian, and the adults’ chunky tails seem a little retro for ’88, but at least the babies are duly given stubby little horns and frills. Adorable! Where’s my plushy Triceratops baby, eh? Someone should get on that. The foliage in the background here becomes almost childlike in its simplicity, but I find it very charming. The whole thing has a rather cosy air. Where’s a marauding tyrannosaur when you need one?

Ah, here he is. Rexy’s not having a good day, though, and seems to be the victim of yet another Benard Robinson homage, hitching up his skirt and screaming while being nastily impaled in the leg. (At least it’s not between the legs this time.) I do wonder if, Robinson aside, that pose was partly inspired by a certain Bakker-directed mount in which the animal appears to have joined a chorus line. Rexy suffers from an awkwardly-positioned tail and misshapen, puffy face, but never mind. It’s not always all about the tyrannosaurs, even if I’d much rather it was.

“The Triceratops didn’t go around starting fights, but if somebody else started one, it was ready.” Like a lager-swilling Wetherspoons punter. Tri-Stella-tops, anyone?

Rexy reappears for the ‘circle around the young’ scene that was seemingly obligatory back in the late ’80s and early ’90s, before falling out of favour (perhaps because it was too obviously a behaviour copied and pasted from a mammal?). Tyrannosaurus is trying very hard at delivering a menacing Clint Eastwood squint, but just looks a bit goofy. The Triceratops are rather round ‘n’ retro, but at least they’re consistent; we don’t have any individuals with horns sprouting from unlikely places or faces going in three directions at once.

When not fighting Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops occasionally fought each other, as depicted in the above piece. Triceratops didn’t go looking for a fight, but the other Triceratops said something really awful about his favoured football team after a few bevvies, and so now It Is On. Triceratops didn’t have pint glasses or chairs to throw at each other (or any police officers to riot with), so they clashed horns instead. In this illustration, the Triceratops appear notably more svelte, muscular and long-legged than before, and the individual in the foreground has a suspiciously mammalian-looking limb. Never mind, though – that picture-book foliage is still lovely.

In addition to the expected fight scenes, Magnuson provides a rather unusual illustration of nesting Triceratops – in fact, communally nesting Triceratops. Riehecky admits that this is a mere hypothesis without a great deal of supporting evidence, but it’s not like it’s terribly outré. It’s not a bunch of ceratopsians lazing around in a tree or some mad shit. The scene as a whole has a very peaceful air, and the sky in particular is quite lovely.

The Triceratops may be rather retro in appearance for 1988, but they don’t come close to some of the other creatures mentioned (or, alluded to) earlier in the book. The pose of the Allosaurus-looking fellow in the above piece is a little awkward, but the fact that it’s perched on the waterborne carcass of a sauropod lends the whole thing a very Zallingerian air. I do really like the water here, and the amusing way the sauropod’s head is tucked behind that palm tree, even if the allosaur’s finger-toes are only becoming more disturbing the longer I spend examining the piece. Moving on…

For real retro points, you’ve got to have a snorkeling brachiosaur. And here he is, complete with text implying that that’s why they had nostrils on top of their heads! Fantastic. On the other hand, one could argue that this sauropod appears a little too buoyant to be a true throwback-o-saur – Burian’s original snorkeling sauropods seemingly had cast iron skeletons. This one could just be going for a swim.

And finally…a gangly dork Parasaurolophus with a crest-flap that would be right at home in a Zallinger painting or Fantasia. Hey, there’s a Parasaurolophus book in the series! Must find out if I have it – I left most of my stack of these over 100 miles away…