Exploring the Mesozoic era in science, art, and pop culture
Having examined the changing image of Tyrannosaurus in 2023 s The Tyrannosaur s Feathers, Adam Smith, Jonathan Emmett and Stieven van der Poorten have returned with a similarly-themed follow-up book – only this time, featuring a whole range of prehistoric animals. That s right – in spite of the title, this book isn t confined to our favourite Mesozoic reptile pals (it s just that Great Dinosaur…
In this slightly-delayed-by-the-heatwave episode, Gemma, Marc and Natee finally get around to discussing some of the best-known and most widely reproduced and copied palaeoart of all time – Neave Parker s monochrome saurians as published in the Natural History Museum (or rather, British Museum (Natural History)) s 1960s book entitled Dinosaurs. Then, Marc interviews American artist and author…
Following my first post on Usborne s Children s Encyclopedia of Prehistoric Life (aka Prehistoric Life, part of the In School and At Home series in Russia in the 90s), at least four people wanted me to carry on and review some of the non-Mesozoic, non-dinosaurian illustrations. So here we go! Rather than start with the smelly mammals of the Cenozoic, I d prefer it if we could first go back to a…
Seaton Tramway operates narrow gauge heritage trams between Seaton, Colyford and Colyton in East Devon s glorious Axe Valley, according to their website, providing superb views across the wetland habitats of curlews, lapwings, egrets, shelducks, swans, and many more. But just in case you d rather see Mesozoic dinosaurs, Seaton Tramway (Enterprises) Ltd. also operates Jurassic Discovery, a venue…
In the decade before the Normanpedia appeared and all and sundry decided to slavishly copy John Sibbick s work, Giovanni Caselli s illustrations for Halstead s The evolution and ecology of the Dinosaurs were often held up as the gold standard. Or so it would seem, based on the number of imitators. (Incidentally, did you know that there is a greater timespan between my review of the Halstead book…
Gregory Wenzel s gorgeous Giant Dinosaurs of the Jurassic is well deserving of a second entry, especially as I showed my terrible theropod bias last time. Given the predominance of carnivores in the previous post, why not kick off with the completely harmless, very innocent and almost certainly meek and impeccably well-behaved Dryosaurus this time? While certainly not a Giant Dinosaur, Dryosaurus…
Last time, we took a look at some of the many theropods illustrated by Tim Bradley for the now-defunct Jurassic Park Institute Dinopedia. Let s check out a few more of those before moving on to the sauropods. Thanks again to Tim for providing these illustrations, it s a real pleasure to be able to see them again after all these years! I foolishly neglected to include a tyrannosaur last time, so…
In this no-doubt pivotal 50th episode of the somewhat irregular LITC podcast, Gemma and Marc interview Tim Haines about his latest televisual venture featuring CG recreations of prehistoric animals in photogenic settings – Surviving Earth! But before that, a short preamble packs in Isle of Wight shoutouts, Thai-ropods (or something like that), and Gemma s boundless flair for the dramatic. In the…
Episode fifty minus one is finally here, and we re back looking at some non-traditional forms of palaeoart! Gemma, Marc and Natee discuss the beloved animatronics made by the Dinamation company in the 1980s and 1990s. Then, Natee and Gemma interview the unsung Sean Hennesy, whose dinosaur comics under the name Speed Thief combine art with comedy. We discuss how cartoons can inspire curiosity, and…
As regular readers will hopefully be aware, our sole criterion for Vintage Dinosaur Art is that the art in question must be at least 20 years old. (We re also aware that vintage is not synonymous with old , but you don t mess with the brand.) Now that we are – rather frighteningly – well into the 2020s, that means works from the 2000s now fall within our purview. Unfortunately, the era immediately…