Lectures

James Gurney is available for public lectures at your venue. For over twenty five years, he has given inspiring presentations at a wide variety of venues, including elementary schools, universities, museums, arts organizations, public libraries, movie studios, and professional conventions. Last year he spoke at a dozen different art schools [link to http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/search/label/Art%20Schools] as part of their visiting artist programs.

Recommendation

One of the directors of last summer’s Guild of Natural Science Illustrators convention, wrote: “Your keynote was stellar. Your visuals were spectacular. You displayed your artistic process in a generously detailed manner very relevant to our group. You infused the whole address with modesty and delightful human warmth. We have been truly enriched by your compelling eloquence and your passion for imagination, paleontology, and artmaking.”

Lecture Content

Although every lecture is tailored to the needs of each specific audience, typically Mr. Gurney shares a lively and detailed digital slide presentation. He shows the making of Dinotopia from its origins in 1988 to the most recent book, Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara. At art schools the presentation shares the practical methods for visualizing imaginary scenes realistically in traditional media. The presentation is fun and lively, but it covers research, thumbnail sketches, reference maquettes, perspective, dinosaur reconstruction, step-by-step sequences, plein air painting, plus a little about worldbuilding and working as an author/illustrator. For art audiences, he also has separate lectures about color and light, and about the history of plein air painting.

The presentation for general audiences and children is non-technical, and often includes a live cartoon drawing demonstration with audience participation. After the talk, Gurney is available for Q and A and booksigning.

Upcoming Appearances

For current scheduled appearances, please visit the GurneyJourney blog and look for "Upcoming Appearances" on the left blogroll.