Carl Buell is a renowned paleo-wildlife illustrator who uses Photoshop to “paint” his masterpieces. (He posts about his process on his excellent blog, Olduvai George.) From an interview with Buell on Unscrewing The Inscrutable:
DS: When did the prehistoric beast interest develop, and how did that proceed to the forensic reconstruction?Like most kids I was fascinated with dinosaurs, but I also liked real live animals to the point of being an empath. I spent every spare moment (and more) in the woods surrounding my grandfather’s farm. Except for when I was playing baseball, I lived, breathed, and dreamed animals and the outdoors. Ned Colbert (from the American Museum of Natural History) and his wife wrote some wonderful books about prehistoric mammals and birds that I just ate up.
I mostly drew modern creatures however, until I got the job as natural history illustrator for the New York State Museum in 1978. I was only there a short time (bad life decision) but that Mastodon mount in the old museum really added gas to the fire.
