“Extreme dinosaurs” and the continuing evolution of dinosaur paleoart

Humans have made visual representations of what they think dinosaurs looked like since before the term and concept of “dinosaur” were first published in 1842. Over the next 175 years, these images have varied widely. The current era of dinosaur paleobiology began in the late 1960s and emphasized scientific and artistic conceptions of dinosaurs as more active and diverse in their metabolism, ecology, and behavior than previously thought. Over the past 25 years in particular, the rise of computer-generated images and the discovery of spectacularly preserved fossils from the Early Cretaceous of China and elsewhere have further revolutionized our understanding of the biology and external appearance (especially integument) of dinosaurs. Yet despite these innovations, dinosaur paleoart is still fundamentally shaped by the same basic set of influences that affected previous, now-discarded, images. These include (1) the fossils; (2) debates about which modern animals are the best bases for uniformitarian comparison with extinct taxa; (3) extrapolation (i.e., how far can we go from the known to the unknown); (4) the enabling effects of new artistic techniques; and (5) the ever-present pressures of the marketplace.