“A Brachiosaur's Eye View”
In this Jurassic scene from about 150 million years ago, U.S. paleoartist Brian Engh imagines a brachiosaur’s eye view of an ancient flood channel in Utah. “I try to show the environment from a view that is personally relatable to the animals in it,” Engh says. “I constructed and photographed small posable models of the animals. This gave me the lighting and perspective reference I needed to execute the final illustration.”
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How dinosaurs are brought back to life—through art
These artists use scientific rigor to show how prehistoric life can still be connected to the modern world.
The fact that dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus rex, Triceratops, and Brachiosaurus are instantly recognizable to you is a small miracle, considering that none of these prehistoric behemoths have walked the Earth for more than 66 million years.
That we can conjure images of long-extinct animals in our minds is down to the discipline of paleoart, or paleoillustration, which is vital for constructing the most accurate possible depictions of dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures as they looked when they were alive.
“Paleoart offers people a powerful and immediate way to connect with the deep history of life on this planet,” says Matt Celeskey, a research associate with the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque, who is
