REVIEW: Mesozoic Art II: Dinosaurs and Other Ancient Animals in Art (nonfiction book) edited by Steve White and Darren Naish

Mesozoic Art II is an art book. I bought my copy used, I think.

Review:

This was one of the books that caught my eye when I was on a Bob Nicholls kick. I haven't read/seen the first book, although I plan to.

This book features full-color artwork from 25 paleoartists. The full list: Andrey Atuchin, Rebecca Dart, Simone Zoccante, Brian Engh, Natalia Jagielska, Min Tayza, Bill Unzen, Beth Zaiken, Frederic Wierum, Simone Giovanardi, Curtis Lanaghan, Edyta Felcyn-Kowalska, Anthony J. Hutchings, Haider Jaffri, Lewis Larosa, Gaëlle Seguillon, Henry Sharpe, DJ Washington, Rudolf Hima, Stieven Van der Poorten, Ramón M. González, Maija Karala, Ashley Patch, Mattia Yuri Messina, and Bob Nicholls.

Each artist had a brief bio and then several pages of artwork, some of it full-page and some of it smaller, but all generally large enough to see everything well (there were only one or two pieces that I recall wishing were larger). Each piece included a caption that identified the species of animals and plants depicted, along with a little relevant info from recent research (aspects that the artist depicted particularly well, research that supports the artistic decisions made, etc.).

This was an awkward book to hold, but the large size meant that the artwork got a lot of room to shine. Much of it was intended to be realistic (sometimes to the point where it felt like you could reach out and touch feathers and scaly skin), although there were a few more stylized pieces. All in all, this was really enjoyable to look through.