The Mammal that Ate Dinosaurs – Behind the Art by James Gurney

In this workshop, renowned illustrator James Gurney invites you to join him in the process of creating two illustrations for Scientific American magazine. The illustrations feature two mammals that coexisted with dinosaurs: the Repenomamus, a badger-like creature that fed on baby dinosaurs, and the Volaticotherium, a flying squirrel-like mammal that Gurney develops for the magazine’s cover.

Throughout the workshop, Gurney shares his expertise and experience, working closely with scientific experts and the art director to bring these prehistoric creatures to life. He takes you through all the stages of development, starting from thumbnail sketches and color comps, to creating maquettes and conducting field research, all the way to the final oil painting. Gurney’s voiceover provides practical explanations of his methods, along with the artistic reasoning behind them.

This video not only reinforces concepts covered in previous videos, but also introduces new material, such as the use of air-dry foam clay for quick maquette building, techniques for rendering fur textures, and ways to suggest rainy day conditions. The production is packed with valuable information that will be of interest not only to dinosaur artists, but to anyone who paints creatures of any kind. The fast-paced editing makes it worth watching again and again, allowing you to absorb the wealth of knowledge shared by James Gurney in this workshop.