Today’s entry is rather similar in concept to the later Dinosaur Park, which I reviewed back in 2020, but quite unlike the DK ACTION PACK (in spite of the rather similar title). It would appear to be a straightforward book at first glance, but upon opening an instruction is immediately given to prise out the staples and then remove all the pages. What’s this, a book that wants you to destroy it?! Of course not – well, sort of, actually,…
Ever since the first (non-avian) dinosaur fossils were identified as such, humans have pondered on what it would be like to live alongside such awe-inspiring creatures. Could we keep them captive? Would we want to? Might they even make good beasts of burden, or pets? This year, we’re celebrating the 30th anniversary of a film that brought dinosaurs crashing into the modern world, placing them in an incredible zoo that inevitably failed to contain them. But ten years before that,…
We’re back on the trail of the dinosaurs with Mike Benton and Graham Rosewarne, two giants of the extremely niche genre of Popular British Dino Rennaissance Books (always well-represented on these pages). Last time, we looked mostly at Rosewarne’s panoramic compositions and found ourselves maybe a bit less than extremely impressed. But Rosewarne is at his best when drawing dinosaur profiles, and fortunately, this book allows him to do plenty of that. One of Rosewarne’s most famous and well-remembered creations…
Because at least a couple of people requested it, here’s a third outing for The Big Golden Book of Dinosaurs (not that one). And this time, Heterodontosaurus would like to give you a lovely big hug. Christopher Santoro’s Heterodontosaurus follows in the proud ’80s and ’90s tradition of giving the animal rather unsettling arms and hands – oddly humanoid, with gnarly, grasping fingers and claws. Of course, this illustration can’t come close to Neil Lloyd’s Hetty as featured in Dinosaurs!,…
Having already covered Peter Zallinger’s theropods – or at least, the non-avian ones – we should probably turn our attention to the various Other Dinosaurs that populate Dinosaurs and Other Archosaurs. We’ll start with some basal sauropodomorphs which are, yet again, green and tan. Or is it tan and green? Once again, these are reconstructions that are exceptionally well-observed for the time in terms of anatomical details, but also rather skinny – particularly for herbivorous animals, which would have had…
Right, it’s time for one last round of The Great Dinosaur Atlas (see part 1 and part 2), the greatest book that John Sibbick ever illustrated by proxy. Again, I must apologise for using (dodgy) photographs rather than scans, but the book is so Great that squeezing it under my scanner is an issue. At least we’re able to fully appreciate such double-page spreads as… …this stegosaur page, featuring the skeleton of Toujiangosaurus as it is mounted (as a cast)…
When I first spotted the art of Kuzim on Twitter, I was immediately struck by his unique style. “Low poly” is an art style that deliberately invokes the asthetics of early 3D video games. The recent revival of this style has, so far, mostly been the domain of indie video games, but Kuzim has taken this quirky flavour to the prehistoric realm. The bold colour schemes, the dynamic compositions and the deceptive simplicity make him a unique voice among the…
A new decade begins, and once more we’ll wrap up the past month in Mesozoic news. In the News A non-pterodactyloid pterosaur trackway was discovered and hit the scientific press this month, an important new insight into their locomotion on the ground. Possibly made by a rhamphorynchid, it indicates that these little aerial archosaurs were perfectly capable walkers, thank you very much. There is a gorgeous piece of Mark Witton paleoart to accompany the paper, as well. New 'holy-grail' pterosaur…
As promised, here’s some more from Dinosaur, part of the Eyewitness Guides series, on the occasion of its 30th anniversary – and not a Diplodocus in sight. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, the emphasis of this book is definitely not on life reconstructions, which always play second fiddle to gloriously large photographs of fossil specimens. It’s an approach that I doubt a publisher would encourage these days, and indeed the most recent edition of Dinosaur leans far more heavily on (often…
There are certain books that you’ll be absolutely certain you’ve seen before, but just can’t quite place where or how. This was just such a book for me. T. R. (Tyrannosaurus rex) & Friends was published in 1988, and would’ve still been hanging around in bookshops when I first got into dinosaurs as a child, only 4 or so years later. When reader Elsie Swann sent over images from TR&F, the distinctive illustrations instantly rang a bell, but I didn’t…
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Chasmosaurus belli silhouette in custom bulleted list by Scott D. Sampson, Mark A. Loewen, Andrew A. Farke, Eric M. Roberts, Catherine A. Forster, Joshua A. Smith, and Alan L. Titus, CC BY-SA 3.0. Sourced from PhyloPic.