James Gurney (born 1958) is a contemporary American artist, illustrator, and author, best known for his meticulously painted, world-building masterpiece, the Dinotopia book series, and his profound contributions to art education.
Gurney’s background uniquely prepared him for his career in “imaginative realism.” He studied archaeology at the University of California, Berkeley, and later illustration at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. In the 1980s, he and his friend Thomas Kinkade traveled across America on freight trains, sketching and writing The Artist’s Guide to Sketching (1982). Gurney subsequently built a career painting background scenes for animated films (including Fire and Ice) and producing highly researched, archaeologically and paleontologically accurate illustrations for National Geographic magazine.
His work for National Geographic inspired him to create a panospheric, utopian world where humans and sentient dinosaurs coexist. In 1992, he published Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time. The book was a massive international success, winning numerous Hugo, World Fantasy, and Chesley Awards. He followed it with three major sequels, all painted in vibrant, detailed oil and watercolor.
Beyond his narrative work, Gurney is a towering figure in contemporary art education, particularly among digital and concept artists (CG artists). His two instructional books, Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn’t Exist (2009) and Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter (2010), are considered essential foundational texts in the animation, video game, and illustration industries.
Today, he is also a passionate advocate for plein air (outdoor) painting, documenting his process of sketching everyday life using gouache, casein, and watercolor on his highly popular blog and YouTube channel.
Active in others filds : Author (Art Instruction and Fantasy), Art Educator, YouTuber, Paleontological and Archaeological Illustration.
