Dinosaur Art: The World's Greatest Paleoart Hardcover – September 4, 2012

Charles Knight died while I was still a young boy, leaving behind a series of paintings of dinosaurs and other extinct creatures which sustained me through my childhood (even my "dino-toys" aped Knight's reconstructions), but then something terrible happened. For almost 30 years, dinosaur art stagnated, with endless recyclings and reworkings of Knight's depictions, getting ever cruder and falling ever further behind the evolving dinosaur science. Then, in 1986, Dr. Robert Bakker, in "The Dinosaur Heresies", brought modern dinosaur science into the mainstream and, with it, he inspired a whole new generation of "paleo-artists" to pick up the cudgel (or brush or pen or computer stylus) and to start illustrating these new ideas, new interpretations, and the multitudinous new finds coming out of such previously ignored places as South America and China. This book reflects a compendium of select works from 9 of the "second generation" of the artists thus inspired, plus the work of Gregory Paul, who, if he is the least "artistic" of the group, is probably one of the most influential of this new wave of "dino-drawers". Almost all of the artists showcased acknowledge Bakker as their inspiration and Paul as their mentor, tho' their work differs extraordinarily in both technique and result, from the utterly "photo-realistic" (such as the works of Julius Csotonyi and Luis Rey) to the almost Japanese brushwork illustrations of artists such as John Conway. None of the artist's works are a disappointment and all are utterly compelling and intriguing, with an excellent (if necessarily limited) selection of works from each of the featured artists, all beautifully presented on high quality paper stock and in full color. Be aware, however, that this is NOT a book about ancient animals. It is a book about art, with the text, in each case, consisting of an interview with the featured artist, which only tangentially touches on the subject matter. As an art book, however, it succeeds brilliantly. Seeing the utter revolution in the depiction of extinct animals which has followed in the wake of Bakker's book (helped, in many cases, by evolving technology, including, particularly, the various means of creating "digital art"), one almost feels like Cosimo de Medici, watching as the new thinking and new techniques of the Renaissance displace the tired conventions of Medieval artwork and its increasingly degraded reiteration of Byzantine artistic conventions. If I have any bone to pick with the book (aside from the short shrift given to the animals depicted and the lack of much discussion of them) it is the exclusion of what really was the "first wave" of this paleo-art revival in favor of the "enfant terribles" who followed them. Where are the Czerkas brothers? Where is John Gurche (whose work provided the cover art for Bakker's book)? Where are David Peters and Mark Hallet? Leaving those artists out (esp. Gurche and the Czerkas) is like writing a book about the Renaissance without discussing Fra Angelico and Giotto or the Dutch oil painters, such as Van Eyck. All the artists featured deserved to be featured, but one wishes that, perhaps, a few more might have been tapped for inclusion. It is a relatively piddling gripe, however, and the book is a delight whether the interest is art or dinosaurs, the type of book one can visit and revisit over and over again without satiation. Well worth the price.

I can't think of enough superlatives to use to describe my opinion of "Dinosaur Art: The World's Greatest Paleoart." This is, quite simply, one of the most incredible books I've seen in many years. I first came across it, securely shrink-wrapped in plastic, in a bricks-and-mortar bookstore. The vibrant artwork on the cover attracted me from across the store, and when I felt the heft of the slim but heavy volume, I knew it was something special.What a book it is! The quality of the artwork between its sturdy covers just blew me away. The production values are absolutely first-rate. The images, including several multiple-page foldout panoramas, are razor-sharp and breathtaking. I found myself staring at each of them for literally minutes, trying to extract the maximum amount of information and marveling at the amount of work the artist put into creating each one. The colors are phenomenal--and, naturally, mostly speculative, since no one knows how dinosaurs were patterned and marked (with one exception that the book illustrates and explains). While the focus of "Dinosaur Art" is on the artwork, of course, the interviews with the artists are also fascinating. Some of them reveal exactly how certain works came to be, and how our understandings of the dinosaurs they illustrated evolved over the years. All are interesting and inspirational.Artistic media represented in "Dinosaur Art" include pencils, pen-and-ink, gouache, oils, acrylics and digital. Styles range from relatively loose to stunningly photo-realistic. And the subjects run the gamut from small bird-like dinosaurs to the biggest of the big sauropods. I had never heard of most of the creatures, but that didn't stop me from enjoying these remarkable images of them in the environments they inhabited."Dinosaur Art" is an amazing book. Anyone who has ever wondered what the earth might have looked like in the days before a six-mile-in-diameter asteroid slammed into the Gulf of Mexico 65 million years ago and wiped out most life on the planet, should find it of immense interest. If you have the slightest curiosity about dinosaurs, paleontology or gorgeous, cutting-edge speculative art, it should occupy a place of honor on your bookshelves. In my opinion, "Dinosaur Art" is the book of the century (so far).

I don't have any complaints about this, its exactly what it is supposed to be which is a book of paleo art.However, I do have 'regrets', lol.First, its a disappointingly short book for the money spent. Granted of course good art doesn't come cheap. Secondly.... it wasn't really what I was looking for myself, which was a book about dinosaurs with some great illustrations. This book stages the art and talks about the artists, not the dinos so much. It is however a good way for you to discover which paleo illustrators whose style you like.Just for the heck of it, I rated the top artists in the book according to my own taste. Granted of course when it comes to art, there is no "better" or "worse", its entirely up to what appeals to you personally. 5 being best.- Julius Csotonyi (5, probably my #1 pick)- Mauricio Anton (4)- Doug Henderson (4, great nature scenes)- Todd Marshall (5, but a bit surreal. The most 'wow' pics were these)- John Sibbick (4)- Luis Rey (5, great use of colors)- Raul Martin (4, nice detail but a little two dimensional)If you're going to collect dino books, this is probably a must have. Also its a dinosaur book geared specifically to adults, which seems a rarity although I have no idea why. I suppose it goes with the general assumption by mass marketing that as people 'grow up' they lose interest in just about everything except perhaps things like tools, staying young and complaining about politics, lol.