who are your favorite modern book paleo artists?

[sauroid]

who are your favorite modern (active during the past 20-25 years) paleo artists? also discuss the books they've illustrated in.
mine are:
Luis Rey
Gregory S. Paul
Raul Martin
Todd Marshall
John Sibbick
Fabio Pastori
Franco Tempesta
Mineo Shiraishi
Julius Csotonyi
Peter Schouten

[Metallisuchus]

I like Luis Rey, and a lot of the newer artists, but sometimes I feel like they exaggerate the bird or crocodile qualities in dinosaurs too much.

Remember Crash? I used to love his stuff as a child, and I'd really like to see what he would do nowadays - with all the knowledge that has been gathered over the past 15 or 20 years.

[tyrantqueen]

I like
Nima (his art is very schematic styled but I like it)
Gregory S Paul (obvious one)
David Peters (back when he was illustrating....normal things)
Dougal Dixon (his watercolours are so elegant)
John Sibbick (an oldie but a goodie)
Franco Tempesta (although his work sadly is not very well known)
Our very own member, the lovely Himmpaan (although technically he is not a paleoartist either, but he should be)

Retro illustrations
Victor Ambrus (technically not really a paleoartist but his stuff is beautiful anyway)
Neave Burian
Anthony Rao (I have a colouring book by him and his line-work is drop-dead gorgeous)


Sorry I can't stand Luis Rey  *yuck*

[Takama]

Nirroot (Himapaan)     and Luis Ray

[Gwangi]

My all time favorite might have to be Douglas Henderson .







Just fantastic stuff, some look more like photographs than they do paintings. Check out his eBay page for some good pictures.

Other favorites would include Greg Paul, Raul Martin, Julius Csotonyi, Mark Hallett, John Gurche and William Stout.

[CM]

I really like Mauricio Anton, who mostly does mammal reconstructions.  I have a few books on mammal evolution (one on cats, one on dogs, one on European mammals, and one on African mammals) that he did some really great pencil drawings for.  I think he's also a fairly go-to artist for National Geographic.

[ZoPteryx]

My favorites are GSP


Luis Rey


Brian Franczak (retro as some restorations may be)


And many more, including some right here on the DTF.

[amargasaurus cazaui]

You said modern sadly, which leaves me without the option to name Zdenek Burian, perhaps the most talented dinosaur artist ever, or Zallinger, whose work is just stunning even today. If I chose from this modern crop they do not call out for attention so much, although I do have a fond eye for the work I see done in the National Geographic book, " Dinosaurs" by Raul Martin. For me the best dinosaur books have alot of photographs, rather than drawings.

[Patrx]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned John Conway:

His work is very natural - doesn't really try to make dinosaurs look "cool", just like animals that happen to be extinct. I wish more artists would pursue that.

[Yutyrannus]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned John Conway:

His work is very natural - doesn't really try to make dinosaurs look "cool", just like animals that happen to be extinct. I wish more artists would pursue that.

Me too. John Conway, Himapaan, Gryphoceratops, and Mauricio Anton.

[Chasmosaur]

Douglas Henderson
Raul Martin
Todd Marshall
Julius Csotonyi
Gregory S Paul

[JurassicGeek09]

Before I answer the OP, I figure this would be a good time to ask:

What the heck ever happened to Brian Franczak? I swear that he came and went overnight in the 90s when it came to paleoart.

[Silvanusaurus]

For me, John Conway easily stands out as an artist who best depicts dinosaurs as believable (yet still very speculative) animals, while creating incredibly beautiful imagery at the same time. Personally, I don't get the love for Luis V. Rey at all, I can barely stomach looking at most of his work; it's unpleasant from both a 'scientific' and an aesthetic perspective, and today looks overwhelmingly outdated. To each their own though of-course.

[MLMjp]

Julius Csotonyi
David de Bonadonna
Nobody has mentioned Emilly Willoughby?
Also in which category would be Scott Hartman?

[JurassicGeek09]

I'm not a fan of Emily, TBH. When I saw her Dakotaraptor portrait, I furrowed my brow. I thought the feathers were way overdone.

[suspsy]

Before I answer the OP, I figure this would be a good time to ask:

What the heck ever happened to Brian Franczak? I swear that he came and went overnight in the 90s when it came to paleoart.

Same goes for Mark Hallett. Jan Sovak also had a very cool style.

[MLMjp]

I'm not a fan of Emily, TBH. When I saw her Dakotaraptor portrait, I furrowed my brow. I thought the feathers were way overdone.

Actually sometimes I feel like you with some of her drawings. But most of his work goes from good to excellent for me. I really like her Utahraptor, for example.

[Takama]

Well Emily Wilingby is not for everyone.  I love her work.

I also like Larry Felder, and our own forum member Raptoress.       Of course we can't forget 3d artists like Jetoar and Kayakasaurus.   

[Newt]

I can't believe nobody's mentioned James Gurney - for my money, the finest painter working in paleoart today. Too many paleoartists have little grasp of the basic principles of color, composition, and storytelling. Burian and especially Charles Knight, among the old guard, were also painters first and paleoartists second, which is why their images became so iconic.

Willoughby and Brian Engh are among the younger paleoartists that I think are well worth watching. They're not among the greats yet, but are on the right path.

Bill Stout is the only paleoartist I've had the pleasure of meeting. He's a nice guy and a snappy dresser. He's also a great storyteller - as well he should be, considering how much work he's done in advertising and comics. Many of his works look outdated now, but that's inevitable. They're still well-drawn and memorable.

[Patrx]

Willoughby's obviously the go-to for maniraptorans in particular, you still see a lot of other artists being strangely sparse with the feathers - though that should change in time.

I also like the work of Martyniuk (another protobird expert) and Mark Witton, both of whom write informative books and blogs in addition to their images.

Going back to Mr. Conway, however, I think I should share my favorite bit of palaeoart, the piece that re-ignited my interest in the field:



When I saw the first version of this Deinonychus painting back in 2009 or so, I was struck by how much had changed about since my younger days as a palaeo-fan. and immediately started looking up as much info I could about the latest research and fossils. I still endeavour to keep my collection as up-to-date as possible