Your Charmosaurs crew is here again with a cool new episode. This month, we’re discussing the works of the late, great Brian Franczak as it appears in The National Audubon Pocket Guide: Dinosaurs. Rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? Mark, Natee and Gemma discuss the merits of an unfairly forgotten palaeo master of the ninetes. Then, old familiar voices Steve White and Darren Naish come on the show to discuss their new palaeoart compendium, Mesozoic Art II. Who is the ninetiesest palaeoartist? How excited are we about the new Prehistoric Planet? Has Gemma been spoiled on rubber dinosaurs? Is there such a thing as dinosaur-themed spirituality? And has anyone outside of the UK ever heard of Gorgo? All shall be revealed in episode 44!
In the News
- Autumn is dinosaur times at the zoo, and Burgers’ Zoo in Arnhem has a dino event going on right now. If you want to know what Gemma thought of the one in Cologne earlier this year, here’s the scoop.
- Gemma finished a big project revewing the Marie Hubrecht murals in Amsterdam. Here are part one, part two and part three.
- The first look at Prehistoric Planet Ice Age, the upcoming third series, has been made available on YouTube.
- Tears of the Mountain is a short animated film directed by Luke Ashworth, Yehor Bondarenko, Alp Kurdoglu, Romane Talva and Ange Yajima. Read the review at Dino Dad Reviews here.
- To fans of dinosaur pulp: Little Shoppe of Horrors is a long-running fan magazine on cult British horror and monster movies. Their 52nd issue will be completely dedicated to Gorgo, Britain’s 1961 contribution to the man-in-dinosaur-suit genre. The website is a real blast from the past!
Vintage Dinosaur Art
The National Audubon Pocket Guide: Dinosaurs is a 1993 volume published by Alfred A. Knopf and illustrated by a host of artists, including Douglas Henderson, Donna Braginets, Jan Sovák, Eleanor Kish and Vladimir Krb. We are focusing on the work of Brian Franczak (1955-2020), who produced 45 illustrations for the volume.
Albertosaurus
Anatotitan
Saltasaurus
Avimimus
Ornithomimus
Oviraptor
Troodon
Velociraptor
Lesothosaurus
Coelophysis
Compsognathus
Carnotaurus except it’s Allosaurus really
Baryonyx
Parasaurolophus
Lambeosaurus
Rhabdodon
Scutellosaurus
Stegoceras
Stegosaurus
Yunnanosaurus
Interview
In honour of the publication of Mesozoic Art Part II, reviewed by Marc here, Marc interviews its two editors, palaeontologist Darren Naish and artist Steve White. Both of them are old friends of the podcast, of course.
Mesozoic Art II is available through Bloomsbury here.
Darren’s famous blog, Tetrapod Zoology, can be found here, while Steve White’s website can be found here.
Thank you for listening to the podcast! Our music was generously provided by Rohan Long. You can purchase his music at Bandcamp, and follow him at Twitter.
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2 Comments
Grant Harding
November 9, 2025 at 10:20 pmI love Brian Franczak! I was introduced to his work through the CD-ROM “3D Dinosaur Adventure,” which used many of the paintings from this book in its encyclopedia section. I’ve also always thought of him as combining Paul’s animals with Henderson’s environments, the best of both worlds.
Chuckschwa
November 14, 2025 at 9:41 pmHis Albertosaurus painting is my favorite paleoart. Was also introduced to his work through 3D DINO ADVENTURE (my first cd-rom game) as well as the hefty, Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs book (1991 Smithmark Publishers) from my first visit to the Smithsonian in the early 90s. The binding in my original copy has fallen apart from years of love, which gave me the opportunity to frame some of his full pages. Totally agree on your comparison of his work to GSP and Henderson. Truly one of the greats