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By: James Gurney,
on 11/15/2015
Blog:
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Here is a one-of-a-kind prototype of a Bix puppet. It was made by Hasbro for a proposed line of Dinotopia toys that was stalled when the Hollywood film went into turnaround in 1997.
The front half of Bix emerges through a piece of black cloth behind an arched door. Her skin is molded in flexible latex or silicon over a skeletal framework.
The operator is able to control the movement of her mouth, the tilt of her head, and the movement of the eye ridges by means of a set of levers in the back.
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The
Philadelphia Inquirer recommends the Dinotopia art exhibition as one of the best things to do with families.
"It’s nice to think that if the dinosaurs had survived that comet (or meteor, or earthquake, or visit from the Rigelian Empire, or whatever did them in) and continued to coexist with us, we’d be pals. That’s part of the appeal of “Dinotopia,” artist and author James Gurney’s delightful series about a 19th-century explorer visiting an island where gentle humans and smart dinos share an idyllic life. The other appealing aspect is Gurney’s gorgeous, detailed paintings for the books."
The exhibit ends Monday. Check it out 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13 and Monday, Nov. 16 at the University of Arts von Hess Illustration Gallery, Anderson Hall 717 (333 S. Broad St.).
Thank you, Michael Harrington at the
Philadelphia Inquirer
It doesn't take very long to do a preliminary tonal study, but the time spent pays big dividends. Here's a small pencil sketch that I did in preparation for a painting in
Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara
.
For example, the tonal study helped me plan the dark area behind the light feathered dinosaur in the lower right, and it helped me work out the chiaroscuro of the bearded farmer.
Once I get into the details of the painting, I'm making decisions at a more micro level. Without that tonal study, it's hard to see the big picture.
The original pencil tonal study appears in
The Art of James Gurney exhibit at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia through November 16.
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 |
| Illustrated initial capital, brush and ink. |
I drew this illustrated capital to begin one of the chapters of
The Hand of Dinotopia
by Alan Dean Foster.
Trusting the universe I created to someone else's imagination takes a leap of faith, but this was a leap I made with a lot of confidence, knowing that Alan was accustomed to writing within established intellectual properties. Among many other projects, he ghost-wrote the novelization of Star Wars for which George Lucas took the entire credit.
 |
| James Gurney and Alan Dean Foster in Tunisia, 2008 |
He is also a friend of mine, and we traveled together to Malta, Tunisia, and Morocco in 2008.
By: James Gurney,
on 10/1/2015
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This painting is from my 1992 book
Dinotopia, A Land Apart from Time. Will and Sylvia visit Levka Gambo in his Tibetan-inspired hideaway at the top of the Forbidden Mountains.
The technique is a thin, transparent wash of oil over illustration board that has been sealed with acrylic matte medium. To dramatize this scene, I set up a light source behind Levka to silhouette him against the background.
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Dinotopia, A Land Apart from Time: 20th Anniversary Edition
When I painted this Dinotopia image I wanted to do my own spin on the famous "infinite stairway" optical illusion invented by Lionel Penrose and M.C. Escher.
If you walk around the stairs clockwise, you proceed infinitely downstairs, and if you walk counterclockwise, you go upstairs forever without gaining in altitude.
 |
| "Scholar's Stairway," Oil on board, 12 x18 inches. |
The way I painted it, the illusion is fairly subtle, and I wondered if other people even noticed the illusion, and if so, whether their eyes moved systematically around the stairs.
To find out, I asked vision scientist Greg Edwards, president of Eyetools, Inc., to run some eye tracking tests using this image as the subject.
Dr. Edwards had fifteen subjects look at my pictures on a computer screen for fifteen seconds each while a sensor tracked their eye movements in real time. Below is the eye track of one subject's experience. The colored line shows the pathway of the eyes, beginning randomly at the green circle. The numbers in the black squares show where they eye traveled at each second of the fifteen second session.
One can’t know for sure without a follow-up interview, but evidently this particular observer didn’t notice the optical illusion.
The second image shows the "heatmap," which aggregates data from all fifteen observers. The red and orange blobs are the areas of the image received nearly 100% of people's attention. The rider on the brachiosaur took attention away from the central illusion. The dark blue and black areas received almost no attention.
What can we conclude from the heatmap image? Viewers definitely looked at the figures, wherever I placed them. Beyond that, we can't say much because we didn't design a very thorough experiment. I would love to work with a larger sample size and to gather followup interview data, and ideally collect simultaneous fMRI data set to see if we could correlate cognitive behavior with eye movement. That way we could understand better what happens when people "get" the illusion. If there's any vision scientist who has the equipment and wants to try an experiment like this, please contact me.
"Market Square" and the archway maquette I built for lighting reference are both now on view at "
The Art of James Gurney" exhibit at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia through November 16.
A new exhibition of my original art has just opened at the museum of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
The Art of James Gurney includes more than 25 oil paintings from the Dinotopia books, as well as natural science science illustrations, preliminary sketches, and maquettes.
One of the featured images is "Waterfall City: Afternoon Light" from
Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara. This is the only image that overlaps from the
Delaware Art Museum exhibition a few years ago; the rest are all different.
The Art of James Gurney will be on view at the The Richard C. von Hess Gallery of Illustration is at 333 S Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA through November 16.
In connection with the exhibition, I'll be doing a public presentation on Thursday, October 29: 1 - 2:30 pm at Levitt Auditorium with a reception following.
The time has come for the final episode of Dinotopia: The World Beneath. You can hear the episode at this Soundcloud link, or by pressing the play button below.
The dramatic conclusion with biomorphic walkers and apex predatory dinosaurs is brought to life through audio alone, which has more imaginative power than movies — though it's done on a budget.
 |
| Will and Arthur Denison, from Dinotopia: The World Beneath |
This audio adventure was produced by
ZBS Productions. Producer Tom Lopez and composer
Tim Clark created many layers of sound to make Dinotopia come alive to the ears.
Close your eyes, open your imagination, and travel to Dinotopia. It's time for Episode 14 of Dinotopia: The World Beneath. You can listen to the track by clicking on the play button below, or by following the direct link to SoundCloud.
The explorers find the treasure of the lost city of Poseidos.
Who are the king and queen of the World Beneath?
This audio re-creation was produced by
ZBS Productions. Audio producer Tom Lopez and composer
Tim Clark created many layers of sound to make Dinotopia come alive to the ears.
It's Tuesday, time for Episode 13 of the serialized audio dramatization of Dinotopia: The World Beneath. You can listen to the track by clicking on the play button below, or by following the direct link to SoundCloud.
Arthur and Oriana leave the comparative safety of Bonabba....
....into the wilds of The Rainy Basin, where they are met with two
strange meateaters....
....and then they discover a secret held by Tyrannosaurus (left)
and Giganotosaurus.
This audio re-creation was produced by ZBS Productions. Audio producer Tom Lopez and composer
Tim Clark created many layers of sound to make Dinotopia come alive to the ears.
It's Tuesday, time for Episode 11 of the serialized audio dramatization of Dinotopia: The World Beneath. You can listen to the track by clicking on the play button below, or by following the direct link to SoundCloud.
A scene of the pod village of Bonabba, where Will is learning more about piloting skybaxes. Arthur tries to sell the locals on the mechanical strutters that he found in The World Beneath.
But they have a way of getting out of control, as these robot dinosaurs have a mind of their own. When I did these paintings in 1993, I had no idea we would see semi-sentient autonomous walkers within two decades.
This audio re-creation was produced by ZBS Productions. Audio wizard Tom Lopez and composer
Tim Clark created many layers of sound to make Dinotopia come alive to the ears.
It's Tuesday, time for Episode 11 of the serialized audio dramatization of Dinotopia: The World Beneath. You can listen to the track by clicking on the play button below, or by following the direct link to SoundCloud.
The dino-strutters emerge in the Rainy Basin, which is inhabited by tyrannosaurs.
ZBS producer Tom Lopez extends the story of the illustrated book into the audio dimension, adding layers of mood and emotion, greatly enhanced by the composer
Tim Clark.
It's Tuesday, time for Episode 10 of the serialized audio dramatization of Dinotopia: The World Beneath. You can listen to the track by clicking on the play button below, or by following the direct link to SoundCloud.
As they search for the legendary treasure of King Ogthar, Arthur, Oriana, Bix, and Crabb find a mothball fleet of biomechanical walkers, whose design is based on trilobites and dinosaurs.
Back in the early 1990s, when I was painting these images, not many people called such things "steampunk," but they were definitely inspired by Victorian mechanics.
It's Tuesday, time for Episode 9 of the serialized audio dramatization of Dinotopia: The World Beneath. You can listen to the track by clicking on the play button below, or by following the direct link to SoundCloud.
Arthur, Oriana, Bix, and Crabb explore further into the caverns, and in the process, each of them discovers more about their own inner lives.
By: James Gurney,
on 3/24/2015
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It's Tuesday, time for Episode 8 of the serialized audio dramatization of Dinotopia: The World Beneath. Here's the link to the MP3 file on Soundcloud, or you can click the play button below:
Will Denison prepares his skybax for a dangerous mission into the Rainy Basin.
It's time for Episode 7 of the serialized audio dramatization of Dinotopia: The World Beneath. Here's the link to the MP3 file on Soundcloud, or you can click the play button below:
While explorer Arthur Denison is leading an expedition to the ancient caverns beneath the island of Dinotopia, while his son Will is above ground learning to fly on a skybax.
Will's adventures take place in the pod village of Bonabba.
In this flying scene, note the speed blur effect in the clouds in the lower right.
The acting troupe presents a puppet show called "Little Simon and the Tyrannosaur."
A flock of ammonoids drifts toward shipwrecks of galleons. In the right, the submersible cruises toward the entrance to the World Beneath.
In keeping with the authenticity of the creatures of Dinotopia, several of the animals that Arthur Denison notates in his sketchbook are actual fossils from the
Devonian Burgess Shale. The animal on the right is a eurypterid, also known as a sea scorpion, an extinct form that sometimes grew larger than a man. This is the New York State fossil.
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| "Doorway to Mystery" from Dinotopia: The World Beneath, oil on board. |
"At the top of the steps was massive, ancient door...." For this painting I stayed within the narrow color gamut of this entire sequence, and contrasted the blue ambient light with a greenish upwash lighting on the side columns and warm light on the doorway.
Yes, it's Podcast Tuesday! Here's the newest episode of the serialized audio dramatization of
Dinotopia: The World Beneath.
In the upcoming issue of
International Artist magazine (April/May 2015, Issue #102), I'll present an article about how to establish the eye level line in a scene, and why it's important.
If you were standing in front of an ocean or a flat desert, the eye level would be the same thing as the horizon. But in many scenes, the horizon is not visible. So you can think of the eye level as the line of your level gaze, where the horizon line would be if you could remove everything in front of it.
 |
| Layout sketch for Dinosaur Boulevard, pencil on tracing paper, 5 x 10 in. |
When I planned the painting "Dinosaur Boulevard" for Dinotopia, I did a lot of small layout studies like this one. The eye level is drawn right through the whole scene, and marked "EL." The eye level is important here because it establishes the height of the viewer in relation to the scene. The line intersects all the forms—human and saurian—about five and a half feet.
 |
| Dinosaur Parade Layout, pencil layout, 7 x 14 inches |
Here's an early sketch for
Dinosaur Parade, drawn in pencil from my imagination, before I sought out any references. The actual ground plane shifts as the figures descend the stairs, but the eye level is still essential for the construction of the perspective and the placement of the figures.
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This will be my 34th consecutive article for
International Artist, the magazine which
GurneyJourney readers rated #1 overall.-----
The paintings in the article are all
currently on view in Stamford, Connecticut through May 25.
I cover this topic in
Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist
It's also covered in
How to Draw by Scott Robertson
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It's Podcast Tuesday! Here's the newest episode of the serialized audio dramatization of Dinotopia: The World Beneath.
You can listen to the episode with the play button above or by following this
link to Soundcloud.
"Trust old Crabb," says Lee as they approach Black Fish Tavern by the light of the moon.
Oriana proves herself to be a valuable member of the expedition. Producer Tom Lopez had fun elaborating the colorful characters.
The Podcast SeriesThis acoustic adventure was produced by Tom Lopez, mastermind of the ZBS Foundation, with an original music track by composer Tim Clark.
The Christian Science Monitor called this production "A dazzling soundscape that does full justice to Gurney’s wondrous lost world… perfect family listening.”
Episode 5 arrives in a week. Each short episode will only be live online for one week, and then it will disappear.
If you'd like to purchase the full two-hour World Beneath podcast right now and hear all fifteen episodes back to back in a feature-length production, check out
The World Beneath at ZBS Foundation website for the MP3 download.
It's also available as a CD.The BookYou can also
order the original printed book from my web store and I'll sign it for you. (It ships via Media Mail within 24 hours of your order. US orders only for the book, please). The book is also available
from Amazon in a 20th Anniversary Edition with lots of extras.The Museum Exhibition is now on viewMany of these paintings are now on view at the
Dinotopia exhibition at the Stamford Art Museum and Nature Center through May 25. I'll be in attendance at events on Feb. 28 and March 1. Gentleman-cartoonist
Jared Cullum is organizing a gathering of GurneyJourneyers for sketching and coffee before or after the events on Sunday.
Read more about the events here on this blog.
Yesterday we visited the Dinotopia show in Stamford, Connecticut in preparation for the events that are coming up in a couple of weeks.
Over 50 original paintings are presented in several big rooms of the museum. For those who saw the Lyman Allyn show in eastern Connecticut a couple of years ago, this is a completely different show—all different artwork.
Most of the major paintings are here, such as Dinosaur Parade, Dinosaur Boulevard, Skybax Rider, and Waterfall City. Some of the paintings are paired with the original reference maquettes.
Throughout the exhibition are display cases showing some of the Museum's fine collection of dinosaur bones and trackways, Pleistocene mammals, and invertebrate fossils, as well as fossilized plants (above). Throughout the exhibition, you can see original specimens similar to the ones that inspired the fantasy world.
At the Farm to Table Supper on February 28, I'll be taking guests through the show on a private tour, telling some of the stories behind the creation of the paintings. This will be an informal event (with very delicious artisanal food), and will be a memorable event for a fantasy or art fan of any age.
On Sunday, March 1, I'll be leading a hands-on
Fantasy Drawing Workshop. We'll be drawing with water-soluble colored pencils. Materials will be provided. I'll do a very brief digital presentation and demo, and then let the attendees get to work.
Curator Kirsten Brophy took us behind the scenes to select specimens and still life objects that we will borrow from the museum's collection and set up in the workshop room. This will be a rare chance to draw from real specimens.
They have also got some exquisite bisque sculpts by
Jonas Studios of mammals, and we'll borrow a few of those, too. If you're interested in the workshop, you might want to act today, because I'm told there are only two spots left.
If you want to see a Dinotopia exhibition in your region, please contact your local art museum's curator or director and tell them you want to see "
Dinotopia: The Fantastical Art of James Gurney" travel there, and that you'll rally your friends, too. A couple of GurneyJourney readers have actually done this and we're in discussions with their city's museums, so it can really happen.
Info and links
The exhibit will continue until May 25.
Purchase tickets for the Feb. 28
Farm to Table Supper at this link or call Madeline Raleigh at 203.977.6546.
By: James Gurney,
on 2/11/2015
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Last week we began airing the first episode of the serialized audio dramatization of Dinotopia: The World Beneath. Now it's time for Episode 2.
You can listen to the episode with the play button above or at the
Soundcloud link.
In this episode we meet Lee Crabb again, who offers Arthur some advice about traveling into the World Beneath. I painted the standing portrait of Oriana from a live model in my studio. Both are in oil.
When Arthur calls a Round Table meeting, the humans sit on high chairs to be at the height of the dinosaurs. Producer Tom Lopez did an amazing job of creating the strange sounds of all the dinosaur voices.
Enit the librarian operates the pedostenograph machine.
Arthur shows a part of a key that he believes will get him back into the caves.
The Podcast SeriesThis acoustic adventure was produced by Tom Lopez, mastermind of the ZBS Foundation, with an original music track by composer Tim Clark.
Episode 3 arrives in a week. Each short episode will only be live online for one week, and then it will disappear.
If you'd like to purchase the full two-hour World Beneath podcast right now and hear all fifteen episodes back to back in a feature-length production, check out
The World Beneath at ZBS Foundation website for the MP3 download.
It's also available as a CD.The BookYou can also
order the original printed book from my web store and I'll sign it for you. (Ships via Media Mail within 24 hours of your order. US orders only for the book, please). The book is also available
from Amazon in a 20th Anniversary Edition with lots of extras.The Museum ExhibitionMany of these paintings will be on view at the upcoming
Dinotopia exhibition at the Stamford Art Museum and Nature Center, Feb. 14-May 25. I'll be in attendance at events on Feb. 28 and March 1.
Read more about the events here on this blog.
Last week we finished airing the last of the Dinotopia podcasts, but now I have another treat for you: the serialized audio dramatization of Dinotopia: The World Beneath.
You can listen to the Soundcloud file at this link or click the play button above.
The scene opens in Waterfall City as Arthur talks to his son Will about test-piloting his newfangled Dragoncopter on its maiden flight.
Producer Tom Lopez and composer Tim Clark pulled out all the stops to immerse us in the acoustic environment, with the roar of the falls, the chugging steam engine, and the crowds on the ground.
We then follow Will into Arthur's laboratory, where they wonder about the mysterious stone that Arthur found on his journey below ground.
The Podcast SeriesThis acoustic adventure was produced by Tom Lopez, mastermind of the ZBS Foundation, with an original music track by composer Tim Clark.
Episode 2 arrives in a week. Each short episode will only be live online for one week, and then it will disappear.
If you'd like to purchase the full two-hour World Beneath podcast right now and hear all fifteen episodes back to back in a feature-length production, check out
The World Beneath at ZBS Foundation website for the MP3 download.
It's also available as a CD.The BookYou can also
order the original printed book from my web store and I'll sign it for you. (Ships via Media Mail within 24 hours of your order. US orders only for the book, please). The book is also available from Amazon
:
Dinotopia, The World Beneath: 20th Anniversary Edition (Calla Editions)
.
The Museum ExhibitionMany of these paintings will be on view at the upcoming
Dinotopia exhibition at the Stamford Art Museum and Nature Center, Feb. 14-May 25. I'll be in attendance at events on Feb. 28 and March 1.
Read more about the events here on this blog.
By: James Gurney,
on 1/27/2015
Blog:
Gurney Journey
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The TV reality show
King of the Nerds asked permission to include a print of Dinotopia's Waterfall City in the set, called "Nerdvana." This is the third season of the program, which premiered last Friday night on TBS.
The final episode of the Dinotopia Podcast has arrived. You can listen by clicking on the Soundcloud play button below, or by following this direct link.
The beginning of the episode finds Will and Sylvia in their crashed airship near Sauropolis.
Preparations are underway for a big springtime parade.
Will pilots a skybax to meet up with Arthur, who hints at marvelous discoveries in The World Beneath. We'll begin that podcast next week.
The Podcast Series
This acoustic adventure was produced by Tom Lopez of the
ZBS Foundation, with an original music track by composer Tim Clark.
Each 10-minute episode will only be live online for one week, and then it will disappear.
If you'd like to purchase the full two-hour Dinotopia podcast right now and hear all twelve episodes back to back in a feature-length production, check out
Dinotopia at ZBS Foundation website for the MP3 download.
----
You can also order the original book from my web store and I'll sign it for you. (Ships via Media Mail within 24 hours of your order. US orders only for the book, please).
The Dinotopia book is also available from Amazon.
----
There will be an exhibit of
Dinotopia originals at the Stamford Museum and Nature Center in Connecticut from February 14 - May 25, 2015. I'll be giving an illustrated lecture there on Sunday, March 1, 2015 at 1:00.
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