Inspired by archaeology, lost civilizations, and the art of illustration, James Gurney’s children book Dinotopia creates an extraordinary place where humans and dinosaurs live in harmony. “The thing I love about dinosaurs is that they are on that balance point between fantasy and reality,” says Gurney. “It might be hard to believe that mermaids and dragons really existed, but we know that dinosaurs did—we can see their footprints and skeletons but we can’t photograph them or see them, except in our imagination.” The Dinotopia storyline chronicles the adventures and remarkable experiences of Professor Arthur Denison and his son Will on Dinotopia, a mysterious “lost” island inhabited by dinosaurs and shipwrecked travelers.
Source: “Dinotopia”: The Fantastical Art Of James Gurney
Dinotopia, A Land Apart from Time: 20th Anniversary Edition
Hardcover – Illustrated, 1 September 2017
By James Gurney
When James Gurney’s Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time first appeared in 1992, it was immediately hailed as a fully imagined world of the calibre of J. R. R. Tolkien’s. Gurney’s premise – of an undiscovered island where a race of mystical humans co-exists in harmony with intelligent dinosaurs – has been since reiterated over and over in numerous films and by scores of other writers.
Now, Calla Editions brings Gurney’s spectacular artistry to a new generation in this 20th-anniversary edition. Digitally re-rendered from the original transparencies, Gurney’s dramatic panoramas of Dinotopia and close-up character studies of its inhabitants – both human and saurian – take on new vitality. And as a tale of high adventure and discovery told as entries and sketches in journal form, Dinotopia presents a shipwrecked visitor’s glimpse into an imagined social order, a culture, and even a cooperative interspecies technology that will satisfy lovers of fantasy and science fiction of all persuasions.
This edition includes a new Afterword written by author James Gurney as well as a special section of behind-the-scenes studies and maquettes he used in developing his paintings. AGES: 12 and up AUTHOR: Before writing and illustrating Dinotopia, James Gurney painted reconstructions of ancient civilizations for National Geographic magazine. He has illustrated seventeen stamps for the U.S. Postal Service, including The World of Dinosaurs. His Dinotopia artwork has won the Hugo, Chesley, Spectrum, and World Fantasy Awards and has been exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution, the Norman Rockwell.
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