Dinosaurs All Around: An Artist's View Of The Prehistoric World
In his studio Stephen Czerkas peers into the giant jaw of his partially finished Carnotaurus sculpture MAKING DINOSAURS Stephen Czerkas is a sculptor who specializes specializes in making realistic life-size models of dinosaurs He has created dozens of dinosaur models that are exhibited in museums museums all over the world The colors textures and action poses of his dinosaur sculptures make them seem so real that you can imagine them stepping off their platforms and wandering around the exhibit hall
Stephen Czerkas has been fascinated with dinosaurs all his life He made his first dinosaur sculpture with mud in his back yard when he was four years old As he grew older he read about dinosaurs dinosaurs drew pictures of them and made many original models He even made a short film using his own dinosaurs When he grew up his first job was making movable models of monsters and other animals that were used to create special effects in movies In the movie business Stephen learned many of the techniques that he now uses to make dinosaur models for museums Stephen’s wife Sylvia is also an artist and is his partner She has made her own dinosaur models in the past but now works with Stephen Together they have written several books about dinosaurs Sylvia has also organized three large dinosaur exhibits for museums Stephen moves the head of Allosaurus
Finished 1 10 scale model of Carnotaurus Getting Started Artists who make drawings or sculptures of ancient life forms are called paleoartists Paleo is a Greek word meaning ancient Paleontologists are scientists who study the remains of ancient plants and animals Stephen Czerkas is both a paleoartist and a paleontologist To learn everything he can about dinosaurs he reads scientific papers consults with other paleontologists and goes to museums to study their dinosaur collections He and Sylvia also go on fossil-hunting expeditions both near their home in Utah and around the world
Stephen usually begins a dinosaur project by making small sculptures For these he uses a soft modeling clay like Plasticene and attaches it to a wire framework called an armature Both the clay and the wire are flexible so Stephen can experiment with putting the dinosaur in various poses These first sculptures are done quickly and like the sketches an artist does in preparation for a large painting they help Stephen develop ideas that he can use later in his large finished models Sometimes Stephen also makes small-scale models that are finished pieces of art These are completed in the same way that he would do a life-size piece Stephen begins work on a small clay sculpture
