James Gurney

James Gurney (1958 – ) is an artist and author from the USA. He is best known for his illustrated book series Dinotopia, which presents a 19th-century explorer’s journal from an island utopia cohabited by humans and dinosaurs. This work showcases his distinctive art style, which combines realistic renderings of fantastic scenes, often painted in oil using methods similar to the academic realists and Golden Age illustrators. Gurney is associated with the paleoart movement, which involves art on the depiction and restoration of extinct fauna such as both avian and non-avian dinosaurs. His technique involves painting realistic images of scenes that can’t be photographed, using various materials including gouache, watercolour, casein, and oils.