James Gurney
@GurneyJourney
Creator of Dinotopia and artist/author of Color and Light and Imaginative Realism.
...or, as George Orwell said, “At fifty, everyone has the face he deserves.”
Why do we sketch? Sometimes it's to connect with an animal, like this chimp, who totally played it cool, but wanted to see my progress. open.substack.com/pub/jamesgurne…
Edwin Austin Abbey’s advice to art students was to focus first on learning the basic skills and science of their craft, and wait until later to explore the artistic or creative side. open.substack.com/pub/jamesgurne…
Steve Jobs imagined the personal computer as a “bicycle for the mind.” Has it worked out that way? open.substack.com/pub/jamesgurne…
Frank Brangwyn and notan open.substack.com/pub/jamesgurne…
A strange tree I saw on a forest hike. At the link, four explanations. open.substack.com/pub/jamesgurne…
Looks like a label design for a strange brew that an explorer found along the Orinoco.
I'm sketching fedoras, using an aquarelle colored pencil, waterbrush, sepia watercolor, and brown flex pen. open.substack.com/pub/jamesgurne…
I try to achieve a finished impression as quickly as possible, and then refine the details. youtube.com/shorts/-AuuNF6…
A landscape painter named Konstantin Kryzhitsky (1858-1911) took his own life when it was revealed that he copied from a photo. We're grappling with other ethical issues now, but the pressures are still real. open.substack.com/pub/jamesgurne…
For centuries artist have used darkened mirrors to help them view a real landscape to look like art. open.substack.com/pub/jamesgurne…
Goat eyeballs have elongated pupils so they can scan the horizon for possible prey, but did you know that their eyeballs can also rotate in their sockets? open.substack.com/pub/jamesgurne…
Pitfalls of virtuosity: What's good technique, and when does it go too far? open.substack.com/pub/jamesgurne…
In these turbulent times, each of us needs to find that peaceful center, that happy place, where we can be our best selves.
I Called a Meeting of the Owls open.substack.com/pub/jamesgurne…
What are the implications of an AI model that refuses to cooperate? What happens when it tells me that I’m not supposed to imagine something? What if it becomes illegal to imagine something without using a safe-certified AI? open.substack.com/pub/jamesgurne…
What popcorn technology did your family use when you were a pre-teen watching movies on the TV at home? For me it was a Farberware saucepan, with Wesson oil and a lot of shaking. Too much corn and the lid lifts. And don't let it go too long and burn it onto the pan!
"If you believe the newspapers, you would be led to suppose that the craft of painting was knocked in the head by [the daguerrotype], and we have nothing to do but give up the ghost . But painting is in no danger of being superseded by any mechanical contrivance." —Thomas Cole