Saturday, September 10, 2011

Meet the Artist

Keen readers (and there are a few of you left, I know) will remember a post last month in which I shared artist Niroot Puttapipat's interpretation of a number of unlikely 'dinosaur battle' scenarios that David wanted to see. Niroot also illustrated Giraffatitan winning a fight through the power of sheer awesomeness, which sauropod luminary Mike Taylor (for it is he) lauded as "the single greatest work of art ever perpetrated" and reblogged under the headline 'The most awesome piece of art EVER'. Meanwhile, the appreciation was also shared at io9.

Well, here's the man himself, looking absolutely delighted to have his photo taken in front of (or rather, behind) the Natural History Museum's Diplodocus carnegii cast, 'Dippy'. Ain't he handsome?



The 'Godly Giraffatitan' piece was completed over a period of two days (not of continuous work, obviously, rather in-between other things), and Niroot was genuinely thrilled with the praise it attracted in the dino-nerd-o-blog-o-sphere. Although an illustrator by trade (currently working on Kipling's Just So Stories, a task he is naturally relishing), Niroot is yet to draw dinosaurs in a professional capacity, and tends to err towards silliness due to time constraints.

Nevertheless, while the animals in his dinosaur 'cartoons' tend to have slightly anthropomorphised facial expressions, he also takes great care to make them as anatomically correct as possible. I was fortunate enough to receive a birthday card from him last year that could also be 'conservatively described' as the BEST EVER - check it out.

I can't help but feel - and I know I'm not alone in this - that Niroot's stunning style, extreme attention to detail at often tiny scales, and genuine passion for the subject matter would make him perfect for any dinosaur book. Publishers - ditch your shoddy CG art and commission this guy, quick!

5 comments:

  1. I totally agree Niroot should be illustrating dinosaur books!

    By the way, he has a new dino blog called Himmapaanensis at http://himmapaanensis.blogspot.com/

    Cheers!

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  2. Ack, morbleu! *Hides from picture of frightful self* On the other hand, I somehow manage to look about sixteen there, which I suppose is no mean feat...

    Seriously though, thank you so much for this post and for such kind words. I hardly know what to say. Except that I'm probably going to need a good word like this. I have a feeling some folk may think I don't do any serious dino stuff for all the daft things I've so far done... :P

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  3. "Serious." Meh. If this is daft, I'll take it any day.

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  4. fantastic art. I wish Dinosaur books would have more traditional artwork in them. The CG has got to stop being so prevalent. I would buy a book with Niroot's artwork any day, whereas now I don't buy the new books at all. Lovely artwork Niroot.

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  5. You shall have it, David; soon!

    And thank you again, Peter! I've just seen your comment.

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