#peter zallinger

[antiqueanimals]

Ranger Rick's Nature Magazine; March 1979 edition. Illustration by Peter Zallinger.

Internet Archive

[lachrimaestro]

I’ve been cleaning out a bunch of stuff I’ve had stored away in boxes for years. It’s always a bittersweet thing. I try hard not to reminisce, but you know something as innocuous as an old receipt, or a concert program can drag you back in time and have you living past lives all over again.

I found this amazing little dinosaur book from my childhood. It has the most distinctive illustrations that are probably too terrifying for the age range it was marketed for.  The dinosaurs are all have the color and texture of raw meat, and the rendering is beautifully done in crosshatched colored pencil.

This image stuck with me as a child. I like to imagine the original art was a lot more gory, and after several rounds of cat and mouse with the publisher the artist shrugged, muttered “fine”, and drew in two little scrapes to make them happy.

[antiqueanimals]

Dinosaurs and Other Archosaurs, written and illustrated by Peter Zallinger and published by Random House in 1986

[antiqueanimals]

From Prehistoric Animals, written and illustrated by Peter Zallinger in 1978.

[antiqueanimals]

Dinosaurs and Other Archosaurs. Written/illustrated by Peter Zallinger. 1986.

[thomastapir]

Yet another nostalgic childhood book illustration inevitably evoked by these cool, misty fall mornings, from Peter Zallinger’s Dinosaurs.