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Gurney Journey
This daily weblog by Dinotopia creator James Gurney is for illustrators, plein-air painters, sketchers, comic artists, animators, art students, and writers. You'll find practical studio tips, insights into the making of the Dinotopia books, and first-hand reports from art schools and museums.
Latest posts
Figuring Out the Format of Dinotopia
I first mocked up Dinotopia as a “Grand Tour of a Lost World,” structured like a travel guide. I was inspired by the lavishly illustrated books from the Dutch artist Rien Poortvliet. (His are ALL good.) But novel-length picture books were rare in the book business. And I kept hitting the same problem: how do you frame a lost continent story? More on Substack
How I Learned to Fly
I was obsessed with flying machines in my younger years. Before I graduated high school I had built and flown: radio-controlled gliders, hot air balloons, a variety of paper gliders, rubber-band powered balsa models, a welded steel glider that “flew” underwater, model rockets, hot air ballooons, rising parachutes, and various kites and kite-string-climbers. -- More at my Substack post.
Wordsworth's Idea of Childhood
Poets and philosophers have imagined childhood as an awakening from the sleep before life, or the sleep between lives. Companions, was auctioned at Heritage for $21,250.00 on Nov. 4, 2025] Some see it as a transitional phase between the sleep of non-existence and the waking sleep of modern life. I love the way William Wordsworth put it: "Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: The Soul that…
Painting the Pre-Electric Night
Before electricity, nighttime seemed a lot brighter. That’s because electric lights constrict our pupils, making the darkness darker. Read more on my free Substack.
Four Paintings to Be Auctioned on November 4
At the November 4 Illustration Art Auction at Heritage Auctions , four of my paintings will be offered for sale. The Tartarus Incident paperback cover comp, oil on board. This is the comprehensive sketch for the cover of the 1983 science fiction novel by William Greenleaf, published by Berkeley/Ace. This was my first paperback cover as a freelance illustrator. After finishing the background…
Living With Mammoths in Dinotopia
The partnership with mammoths began modestly, with villagers gathering the tufts of wool that the gentle giants shed in spring. Later, when orphaned calves were taken in and successfully reared, the community recognized their potential as companions and helpers. This gave rise to organized “mammoth nurseries,” where young calves and human children grew up alongside one another, playing games…
Marty Owings Reviews Books on Sketching
Marty Owings: "If you read the book it will unlock many secrets to being a better sketcher." Marty Owings on YouTube Direct link to my bookstore
First Contact with Mirrors
Svetlana at fortune-telling by K.Bryullov, 1836 Mirrors have a powerful effect on people who have only seen their reflection in stll water. Individuals recognize themselves immediately, but that's just the beginning. Anthropologist Edmund Carpenter presented mirrors to indigenous people in New Guinea, and noted that they were intensely curious about them, and they underwent a series of shocks.…
Advice I'd Give My 24-Year-Old Self
Jeanette and me, age 24 The part of my recent YouTube video that attracted the most interest was my answer to Andrew’s question about what advice I'd give myself when I was 24. If I could give my 24-year-old self advice, I’d say: Maintain your independence of vision and work for yourself. But honestly, I didn’t need that advice back then—I was already on a solid path. I had worked as a background…
What I Learned from Painting this Boat
This blue boat catches my eye as I explore an island in Maine. It's beached at an odd angle above the high tide line. Not far away, a flock of birds gathers on the wires. As I paint the picture, I answer your questions about the gouache technique, the overcast light, and the composition. But I still wonder about the story of the sailboat, so I ask my friend Clayton Bright, who lives nearby, to…
Which Colors Are Primaries?
Which of these colors are primaries? One of the most basic art questions turns out to be not so simple. Full story on Substack today.
I'm Editing a Video, and I'd Love to Include Some of Your Questions
I’m editing a YouTube video, where I paint this little plein-air study of a stranded sailboat: It’s painted in gouache over a casein priming. If you have a quick question about the process, you can ask it here in the comments. Or, even better, you can ask a voice question on this Speakpipe link .
Painting from Imagination
The key to painting imaginary subjects is to hold onto the dream image as long as possible, even if it's hazy and tentative. Then you work like crazy to find analogues in the real world, and gather references of any kind. Be like a sponge, and "fill the bucket." More in my Substack post " How to Visualize a Dream ."
'You should be sketching always, always'
Abbey wrote to an art student: "You should be sketching always, always. Draw anything. Draw the dishes on the table while you are waiting for your breakfast. Draw the people in the station while you are waiting for your train. Look at everything. It is all part of your world. You are going to be one of a profession to which everything on this earth means something." More on Substack
Is the Computer a "Bicycle for the Mind?"
Steve Jobs wanted the personal computer to be like a “ bicycle for the mind .” Has it worked out that way for you? More on my Substack .
Cesare Tallone's Sight-Size Paintings
Cesare Tallone was an Italian painter born on August 11, 1853, in Savona, Italy . After losing his father at a young age, he moved to Alessandria, where he began his artistic training under decorative artist Pietro Sassi , and then he continued his study at the Brera Academy in Milan. During his time at the academy, he gained access to Francesco Hayez's studio . Tallone's career flourished as he…
Reflecting on My Dad
I was never sure what my dad did for a living, because I never got to visit his workplace. He was in mechanical engineering jobs that were either highly technical or top secret. Once he mentioned that he was in “high vacuum technology.” To my grade-school imagination, that meant he drove around in a giant Hoover vacuum cleaner. He came home at 5:30 every day. I would wait for him on my red bicycle…
Painting a Monkey Skull
The Akin Free Library in Pawling, New York is like a time machine that takes you back to a different way of organizing and presenting knowledge about nature. It's worth a visit, but it's only open Saturdays and Sundays 1:00-4:00d, May - October. Ask to make sure, but it's usually OK to bring stools neat sketch supplies, such as pencil or watercolors. LWatch this painting bbeing made Here's a link…
Remote Control Models
When I was a teenager I was obsessed with remote-control airplanes and boats. This is high-school-age me with a Hobie Hawk, a two-servo glider with elliptical dihedral. The kit was invented by Hobart Alter, same guy who created the Hobie catamaran. It had heavy wing loading, so was a fast flier. But I didn’t fly it much because I lost it in a forest of poison oak while slope soaring in Pescadero.…
Flower Pastels of Laura Coombs Hills
Laura Coombs Hills (1852-1952) On Substack today, a look at the Life and work of Laura Coombs Hills . Laura Coombs Hills (1852-1952) On Substack today, a look at the Life and work of Laura Coombs Hills . Wikipedia Laura Coombs Hills
Dark Mirrors
For centuries artist have used darkened mirrors and smoked lenses to help them view a real landscape in simplified tonal values. More on Substack
You're Not Allowed To Imagine Thaat
What are the implications of an AI model that refuses to cooperate? What happens when it tells me that I’m not supposed to imagine something? What if it becomes illegal to imagine something without using a safe-certified AI? More on Substack
Drawing Moving Objects
Drawing moving objects is a whole different challenge compared to drawing things that hold still. Sometimes I like to analyze a common motion such as putting on a jacket by drawing different stages of the action. Here I'm looking for the long curving lines describing the forms. I draw these with simple, graceful strokes of the sable brush. (from The Artist's Guide to Sketching)
Gilbert Gaul's 'Return Home'
Gilbert Gaul was born in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1855. He studied art at the National Academy of Design in New York and worked as an illustrator for multiple newspapers including the New York Daily Graphic and the New York Herald. A young soldier returns to find his boyhood home and hearth in ruins. Oil painting by Gilbert Gaul in the Birmingham Museum of Art Later, he took formal art lessons…