Paleo Art

Dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals have been part of me since I was a kid, begging my Mom to take me yet again to the Denver Museum of Natural History to see the dinosaur skeletons and at that time, the murals that surrounded the displays. It was only natural that I would jump head first into the garage kits of these animals and then into life size museum exhibits. I've met a lot of great people in the field of paleo art and am lucky to meet up with and learn from paleontologists as well. It really is exciting to try to bring realism to these fantastic sculptures and not just make another creepy monster. I won't lay too many photos on you but instead come back to this subject from time to time.

First up is Dimetrodon sculpted by Keith Strasser. I built the base as if it was sunning itself on a cool morning. For AFM magazine.

T-Rex attacking Triceratops by Sean Cooper.

Baryonyx, one of Shane Foulkes' early sculpts with added base.

Galimimus by Charles McGrady

Kronosaurus by McGrady. Cool photoshopping by Anthony Mestas

Gorgosaurus, "Judith" by David Krentz

Acrocanthosaurus by Shane Foulkes

Beginnings...

As with most people into this kind of thing the trip begins in the early to mid 1960's with the monster craze consisting of Horror Host TV, Big Daddy Ed Roth, Weird-oh's, Ugly Stickers, the Munsters, Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, too many toys to count or remember, and number one on my hit parade, the Aurora monster model kits. The Auroras were my introduction into building and painting model kits and once bitten, I had to have them all, or at least all I could with my weekly allowance money. Aurora monsters quickly gave way to Weird-ohs, which beget Big Daddy which beget Tom Daniel's custom hot rods, etc,..it was very cool how monsters, hot rods and surf music really were part of the same scene. Even now, when I hear classic surf music, besides Polynesian babes, monsters and cars aren't far out of the picture.

Here are some examples of these classic model kits starting with Aurora's Witch. This was originally seen in Amazing Figure Modeler magazine.

Another favorite is the Bride of Frankenstein. First up is a photo of the original kit followed by my customized version with a diorama style base.

Keeping with the Aurora vibe, for another article on AFM, I was asked to make a life size version of an Aurora model kit, The Forgotten Prisoner of Castle Mare. I was given a full size resin skeleton my wife and I went from there, second hand clothing, carved insulation foam castle wall, and Halloween rubber rats came together well to recreate a 1/1 version of a classic model kit.

Winding up this blast from the past, a few Weird-oh's. I still plan to build all my Aurora and Weird-ohs so knock on wood, it won't be too long before I post more photos.