By Jack Shimon, Pikes Peak Pebble Pups
(Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society)
I met
Andrey by email this summer when I requested permission to use a piece of his
art in a story I was writing about Nasutoceratops. Of the images I found online his was my
favorite. When I was finding a way to contact him I discovered that he has a
whole online gallery of dinosaur artwork and it is very good1. I was fascinated by the idea that this was his
job. Andrey and his family, wife
Svetlana and son Daniil (probably the youngest dinosaur expert in Russia), live
in the provincial city Kemerovo, in South-Western Siberia, the center of
Russia, which is a country very different than my own, although we both have
dinosaurs. Being a curious 3rd
grader I asked if I could interview him about his job and how he got started in
such a remote part of the world (I looked at his hometown on Google Maps). Like me, Andrey was fascinated by dinosaurs
and science as a kid, but his career began with his imagination and love of art.
Andrey
calls himself a Natural History Illustrator because of the wide range of subjects
he illustrates. I have also learned that
his skills aren’t limited to traditional forms of art and that he also does ice
sculpting, makes polymer clay dinosaurs, and preserves beetles, among other
things. His official career began in 2004 when he got an offer from the British
publisher Anness to illustrate Dougal Dixon’s illustrated encyclopedias of
dinosaurs. He loved painting encyclopedias, where a variety of animals are
painted in the same style. And like many of us as little kids, like 5 and 6
years old, he had a fascination with dinosaurs and was given his first set of
plastic toy dinosaurs by his sister who found them in Moscow. After that he relied on books and articles in
magazines, although he didn’t have the endless choices like we do here.
Following
is my interview of Andrey conducted by email. He was very patient answering my questions,
and then a second round of questions after I read his responses, and I had a
lot of fun learning about what he does. I think you will really enjoy his story
and after you read it you should go online to his gallery and check out his
art.
---
What type of education did you have for this
job?
I
am a biologist by education. I graduated from university from the Department of
Zoology and Ecology. Originally, I wanted to work as a Paleontologist, but at
the university I had to study leaf beetles as there was no department of
paleontology or related professions.
Before
then I studied at an art school for children for a couple years. One day I
brought my drawings to the art school and showed them to the teachers. I drew
dinosaurs by pencil and gouache (paint similar to watercolor but the artist can
control the opacity) and I painted beetles, which I collected. The teachers
allowed me into the art school without an exam.
I also took personal lessons in drawing.
You mentioned a beetle collection, I
really want to hear more about that.
When
I was 13-14 years old I started to collect insects in the field. I liked to
find new species (new for my collection) and define them by using a special
book with a key. I mounted them on a pin and then I drew them with gouache
(beetles mostly): leaf-beetles (Family Chrysomelidae), longhorn beetles (Family
Cerambycidae), ladybugs (Family Coccinellidae), ground beetles (Family Carabidae),
and many others. I even engaged myself in growing larvae (mainly leaf-beetles
and ladybirds) and recorded in a notebook the dates and sketched larvae and
pupae.
How did you learn English?
I learned English in school. At first, I was making great
progress, but in high school we had a terrible teacher, a wicked witch. Because
of this, I stopped my knowledge of English. The result is that I got a bad
grade on the school certificate. Then I strongly improved my knowledge in
college. At university I was again out of luck with the teacher. However, I
have independently studied the language, read articles, and communicate on the
internet.
What was the first dinosaur you ever did?
Hmm… I really can’t remember now. But I remember how and
why I started to draw dinosaurs. The first drawings I made were in 1994 under
the impression of the film “Jurassic Park”.
I think it was the Tyrannosaurus that
attacks Ornithomimids. Translated
foreign books about dinosaurs began to pass in our country, probably on a wave
of popularity of dinosaurs after the movie. Encyclopedias! I love encyclopedias.
But Russian books about dinosaurs were a rarity, especially in provincial
regions. And in my town, I did not even know that there was such a wonderful
book with pictures by Zdenek Burian (a Czech painter and book illustrator whose work played a central
role in the development of paleontological reconstructions)2.
One day in the book store I saw an
amazing and terrific book - an illustrated encyclopedia of dinosaurs by Dougal
Dixon. I had never seen such a book. It included many different dinosaurs with
their Latin names, colorful images, description, and most importantly - the
figures of a skeletons and skulls. This book has been read so much by me that
it is falling apart.
So you can understand my feelings when I received the
offer to illustrate Dougal Dixon’s new illustrated encyclopedia of dinosaurs in
2004. I didn’t believe it… such an amazing coincidence. The lack of books
with quality illustrations prompted me to start drawing illustrations myself. I
just wanted to read a good book about dinosaurs and started drawing dinosaurs
how I wanted to see them in a book.
 |
Russian Edition-
Dougal Dixon’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs
What is your favorite dinosaur and have you drawn it for
publication before?
In fact, I do not have a favorite dinosaur. Rather, I
love groups of dinosaurs. I love Hadrosaurs,
Ceratopsians, and Abelisaurs and some others. I often and
gladly draw dinosaurs from these groups for publishing.
What do you use to make your art- paint, colored pencils,
water colors, or is everything digital painting?
Earlier, I used a pencil, ink (for skeletons, bones),
gouache, and watercolor. I did a lot of watercolor drawings for the books for
Anness publishing: dinosaurs, prehistoric creatures, insects and flowers. Now I
paint mainly in digital graphics, although I'm using a very similar style as if
I was painting with a brush and paints. Digital graphics gives me freedom, more
opportunities to do so as I would like, to correct some errors (watercolor does
not forgive mistakes and I have to repaint again). Also in my spare time I
sculpt dinosaurs by using polymer clay.
Since no one has ever seen a living non-avian
dinosaur do you work with paleontologists or other scientists to understand how
they look? Such as how tall they are, frills, horns or ridges, etc? Or
are you asked to illustrate a dinosaur and you have to figure out what you
think it looks like?
I believe that if someone wants to be a professional
illustrator then he must study the subject. For example, a good illustrator who
specializes in drawing birds should be an ornithologist or a biologist. That is
the best way to do professional artwork. My education helps me in my work as I
know well the animals, their anatomy, behavior, evolution, ecology, and more. I
study science books and original publication about dinosaurs. I also consult
with paleontologists to collaborate and work together with them. Sometimes I
study the real bones, take part in expeditions and excavations, and prepare
fossils. In fact I am a research scientist first and foremost, and I have
learned as an artist in the second turn to qualitatively depict animals. Often,
I will illustrate the dinosaurs based on my own speculation which is based on
my science background.
Where have you been on your
excavating trips? Just within Russia? Have you found fossils of dinosaurs
you have drawn?
Yes, just within Russia. I had never been abroad at all,
with the exception of one city in China, on the border with Russia. It is very
expensive for my budget to go abroad, and there are often difficulties with
visas. I participated in excavations in Blagoveshchensk, Far East Russia which
is the location of the bone-bed of Late Cretaceous dinosaurs, Hadrosaurs mainly. I drew dinosaurs from
that place – Amurosaurus riabinini
for example, Olorotitan arharensis
(from another location – Kundur), Kundurosaurus,
Tyrannosaurids. Also I studied the
bones of Amurosaurus and Olorotitan and reconstruct them by
making drawings of the skulls and the skeleton that appears in scientific
publications.
I took part in one digging in Sharipovo. It’s near the
border of our region and has Middle Jurassic bone-beds that contain fish,
turtles, crocodiles, mammals, Stegosaurs,
sauropods, theropods and ornithischians. Do you know the Kileskus – the huge Tyrannosauroid
similar to Guanlong and Proceratosaurus. I drew this one too.
Near my town we have the location of Early Cretaceous
fauna with Psittacosaurus sibiricus.
|
 |
| Excavations in Sharipovo
What about colors and design?
Who decides what coloring each dinosaur has? Color wasn't preserved in fossils
like the basic structure. Is it a guess? Do you ever want to do
something really crazy with the color or design? Sort of like the pattern on Sinoceratops
zhuchengensis (which we really like).
Excellent question. I use color exclusively for the more
lively and naturalistic perception of the viewer. The human brain is accustomed
to perceive the world in color, we see the colorful world. Therefore, colored
drawing will look more natural for us. When we picture an animal that has been extinct
for millions of years and it is not easy to find modern equivalent of it, it is
very important that the audience believe that this is a real animal, so it is
perceived plausible, natural and alive. To make the color more natural you can
explore how modern animals are colored, relatives of dinosaurs, crocodiles,
other reptiles, and birds. You can try to imagine what kind of lifestyle or
habitat led to such coloration of a dinosaur and paint it accordingly.
Ultimately this is a reconstruction of coloration- we still cannot claim it as
truth. The aim is to look natural, for
better perception as a once living animal. Also, I do color design so that the
animal looked aesthetically beautiful.
However, in recent years many publications revealed
remains of coloration of dinosaurs. For example the study of fossil melanosomes
can answer how feathered dinosaurs was colored, the presence of spots, a
striped tail and what color is it. It is also possible that patterns on the
scales of mummies of Hadrosaurs and
skin impressions may be indicative of color, and in this case they were striped
or spotted. Traces of color were found in one fossilized Psittacosaurus. In these cases we can reconstruct the color and
pattern and not only to look natural like a living being, but also to show the
real color pattern. That’s an amazing thing that science had brought to us in
recent years.
As for the crazy color, I still prefer a more natural
color and not too flashy, but with interesting design.
How many dinosaurs have you drawn?
Who do you do the artwork for?
Oh, it's very hard to count them all, hundreds of them. I
make drawings for books, encyclopedias, and magazine articles. Recently I
painted birds, amphibians, insects and mammals of the Red Book of my region.
Also, I create illustrations and murals for museums around the world. Sometimes
I create textures for 3D animals which are created by a colleague 3d modeler
and 3d artist Vlad Konstantinov3.
You said you have done murals for
museums- any in the United States?
Yes, I have one in the new beautiful Natural History
Museum of Utah in Salt Lake City. They made the mounted skeleton of the new
(unpublished) Tyrannosaur from Utah
and this exposition now has my new mural behind the skeleton4.
|
We looked at the image of Psittacosarus5 in Vlad's
gallery that you textured. It is AMAZING. But I do have a question about
the things on the tail... are those quills like a porcupine? How did you
know about those? I have a new appreciation for how you create and color your
dinosaurs after learning about the fossil melanosomes (my mom explained those
to me).
The fact is there is one great fossil Psittacosaur from China that has
bristle-like structures on the base of the tail. Therefore you can usually see
some Psittacosaurs from different
artists who drew it with such bristles. Maybe they are like bristles, maybe
like porcupine quills, but more thin and flexible I think.
The Psittacosaurus
sibiricus created by Vlad and I has bristles because the customer asked us
to do that.
Do you draw other things besides
dinosaurs and insects? What is your favorite thing to draw?
Yes. I draw other animals, ancient and modern. I even
painted Ediacaran organisms and Devonian fish, ammonites, trilobites, and much
more. Ironically, among other things I have grown fond of astronomy. I love
space, planets and stars. As a child I drew pictures on the theme of space.
This fascination came in handy when I was asked to draw a spaceship for the GEO
magazine. If you're an illustrator and live in Russia, then you should be able
to draw a lot of things far from your specialization otherwise remain out of
work and earnings.
How many drafts or works in progress
does it take to come up with the final design for your dinoart?
In fact, I start working in my imagination where I create
most of the sketches. There is a severe selection of sketches in my head. As a
result, the paper gets 1-3 sketches. Often I already know what I want to paint
and how, so I immediately start drawing a rough draft, which I continue to the finished
artwork. I have very limited space to work with. I just have nowhere to work
with a lot of sketches, so digital graphics - it's a good way out for me.
What would you like to tell kids
interested in natural history illustration?
Just do what you love and what you interested in, no
matter what. Be amazed at this world, love it, learn and study. Study nature,
watch, and be curious. And do not stop drawing. Drawing, drawing, drawing.
Perhaps you will become professionals, and maybe it will be only a hobby, it's
not important, as long as it makes you happy.
---
You can see why I had such a wonderful time
with my interview of Andrey. I told him the digital painting of his was my
favorite from his gallery and he sent me the image to share with all of you.
Thank you Andrey!
 |
| Liopleurodon By Andrey Atuchin used with permission |
About
the author: Jack
Shimon is a member of the Pikes Peak Pebble Pups in Colorado Springs, and is in
the Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society Unit. He is in 3rd grade and also enjoys
cub scouts, mountain biking and playing the drums.
Notes:
2.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zden%C4%9Bk_Burian
4.
Image
provided courtesy of Andrey Atuchin.
5.
http://swordlord.cgsociety.org/gallery/1090073/
