If da Vinci Painted a Dinosaur Launches

"If da Vinci Painted a Dinosaur", the follow up to last year's hit "If Picasso Painted a Snowman" is now printed and we received advance copies a few days ago. This one was also a collaborative project written by my talented wife Amy Newbold and illustrated by yours truly.

Opening up a box of new books and holding one for the first time is always a satisfying experience. I hate to make an unrealistic comparison, but it's a bit like the illustration equivalent to holding your newborn baby for the first time. It's magical and you love it in spite of the pain it took to get it there.

This new book follows the same premise as our last book, posing the question, "what would a dinosaur look like if painted by (fill in the name of a famous artist)"? We really beat ourselves up this time by increasing the number of artists from seventeen to nineteen.  I bit off a little more than I wanted to chew from a work required standpoint, but I got it accomplished and visually it works well.

Our guide Max the hamster makes a command performance as we tour how a new crop of famous artists might have depicted a dinosaur. Included are imaginative works in the styles of well known artists such as Andy Warhol, Mark Rothko, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Henri Matisse and Edvard Munch.

We also found several lesser known artists that were no less worthy of recognition, such as Aaron Douglas, Alma Thomas, Lois Mailou Jones, Qi Baishi and Marguerite Zorach to include in the mix. Of course da Vinci bookends the tour with playful depictions of "Vetruvian Microraptor" and "Dino Lisa".

Both of our books are an invitation for kids to make art without the constraints of what someone else might perceive as the right or the wrong way. All the artists depicted became famous for their own unique ways of seeing the world and creating art. If da Vinci Painted a Dinosaur is a celebration of creativity and an extrapolation of individual style that we hope gives kids permission to express in art what they see and feel in whatever way they choose. That's what art is all about.

COME JOIN US!
Our first official book signing will be Saturday, September 29, 2018 at the Barnes & Noble Authorpalooza event from 2-4 pm. The store is located at 330 East University Parkway in Orem, Utah. If you are in the area, please join us!