How Do Paleoartists Create Dinosaur Drawings?

Short answer: Very carefully. Learn about the history and modern practices of paleoart in this episode of BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff.
Lauren vogelbam Here celebrated paleo artist Ray Troll told us
in an email, shared passion for an obscure topic is
what binds scientists and artists. They're both curiosity driven, and
he would know. Based in Alaska, Troll builds on scientific

(00:22):
findings to create art that depicts prehistoric life. Through paleo art,
fossils are revived. A single drawing or sculpture can define
how the public will visualize and extinct species, so paleo
artists strive to keep their work as accurate as possible,
a task that gets harder when the experts disagree. It's
a tough job, to be sure, but also a dream

(00:42):
job for loads of fossil fans and dinosaur enthusiasts. But
how do they go about creating it? First off, a
little history. A dinosaur renaissance changed the game. Paleo art
didn't always feature dinosaurs. All prehistoric organisms, from early palm
trees to wooly mammoth make worthy subjects. Nevertheless, the fascinating

(01:03):
reptiles were at the center of a significant period in
the history of this art form, called the dinosaur renaissance.
Prior to the nineteen sixties, dinosaurs were largely written off
as dimwitted, tail dragging hulks. Most paleo art from the
early twentieth century reflects that view, but in nineteen sixty nine,
Yale paleontologist John Ostrom published a new paper on Dano

(01:23):
Nikes and eleven foot that's three point three meter predator
akin to the Jurassic Park imagining of velociraptor. Noting its
long legs and sickle shaped claws, Ostrom claimed Dano Niicus
was an athletic beast who ran down its prey and
might have even hunted in packs. The scientist went on
to popularize the now widely accepted idea that today's birds
are descended from Mesozoic dinosaurs. Exciting hypotheses like these changed

(01:47):
the discourse about how dinosaurs looked and behaved. In the
nineteen seventies and eighties, A growing number of artists responded
by illustrating the creatures and active dynamic poses. What followed
was a renewed public interest in both the study of
dinosaurs and in paleo art itself, But there was a problem.
Bare bones and skeletons often don't tell you a whole
lot about the overlying soft tissue. Hence, some paleo artists

(02:11):
have chosen to reconstruct animals reptiles in particular, as lanky
beasts with ultra low body fat, skinny tails, and heads
that are largely devoid of cartilage or loose skin. This
practice has been called shrink wrapping, and if you couldn't
tell from the moniker, it's been contentious. Troll broke it
down for us quote. I think there are some really
valid points to be made about shrink wrapping. Many paleo

(02:33):
artists are reluctant to jump into more speculative reconstructions, preferring
to play it safer. So by keeping their animals lean
and mean, paleo artists can highlight known skeletal anatomy without
making conjectural guesses about an animal soft tissues that might
not have been preserved. Back in the dinosaur Renaissance, shrink
rapping was in fashion. That's no longer the case. Modern

(02:55):
critics point out that living animals tend to look a
lot different than you might expect if you had nothing
to go on but their naked skeletons. Troll pointed out
that things like trunks, ears, and blubber don't usually fossilize.
We also spoke via email with Matt Celeski, paleo artist
and museum exhibit designer, who also offered his thoughts on
the issue quote, today's paleo artists are looking more closely

(03:16):
at the extent of soft tissue in living animals. I
think this fleshing out of paleo art makes for heightened
levels of believability in the reconstructions and greater diversity in
the way artists approach their subjects. In other words, chunky
limbs and necks and not to mention, poufy dino feathers
have gone mainstream, but figuring out what those features might
have looked like takes some serious research. To scientists, the

(03:38):
skeletal drawing is one of the most useful forms of
paleo art. An animal skeleton is usually depicted in an
upright position that is standing or running, and juxtaposed against
a black silhouette that represents the creature's body profile. Unfortunately,
in the fossil record, complete skeletons tend to be rare.
When parts are missing or broken, scientists and artists can
only speculate about why those elements looked like Sluski said.

(04:02):
Every skeleton presents unique challenges, but I find the most
difficult thing is filling in the parts you don't know,
extrapolating the shapes of missing bones, or correcting the shapes
of bones that have been damaged or distorted by time.
Filling in each missing piece involves a complex mix of research,
inference and educated guesses, and I always wonder if they
are better choices than the ones I end up making.

(04:24):
But these efforts aren't new. Let me take you back
to eighteen fifty three, when sculpture Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins was
hired to build more than thirty full sized concrete models
of prehistoric animals for Crystal Palace Park in London, England.
The man really did his homework, consulting experts, scrutinizing fossils,
and reviewing the scientific literature. In short, he was a
dedicated paleo artist. One of hawkins guandon molds had a

(04:47):
carnivorous gut big enough to hold a table and some chairs,
so as a publicity stund for his project, twenty one guests,
including paleontologists William Buckland and Sir Richard Owen, were invited
to climb down into the belly of the beast. An
eight course dinner party, The Big Shindig, took place on
New Year's Eve in eighteen fifty three. Restoration projects have
helped these master works survived to the present day. The

(05:09):
beasts attract thousands of visitors every year, even though they're
no longer deemed accurate. Hawkins Megalosaurus, for example, stands menacingly
on all fours, but scientists now think the meat eating
dinosaur was by pedal. Nevertheless, the Victorian era giants capture
the prevailing wisdom of their time, giving them immense cultural value.
Prehistory matters, but so does our history. Today's episode was

(05:36):
written by Mark Mancini and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain
Stuff is a production of iHeart Radio's How Stuff Works.
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