As I planned the journey for the characters in Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time, I realized that the ideal place for training pterosaur pilots would be in the canyon area on the eastern part of the island.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRNo3UrSgTlM_hV4Uqsn-N6-SqqO16y2zVquloHUs4UOuwfTYuPOBjrFQSUhubnTk8zVQknMClA2SjiZfOYGYiltatEYmDlsIBeEW68aOojZLfahLn6hxUt0DhP-g4mgB9-EhsXP0o0I4/s400/Dream+Canyon+James+Gurney.jpg)
Dream Canyon
I wanted the Canyon City to have natural stone arches spanning the gorge and dwellings sculpted into the walls of the chasm.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSSxKrFwIzcbn38jrPe3p5SAJy-Q8JDRJCxj_ykkW2Oc5sB0ChMcCueR7p7T-19-JkRCp2iOaurbrf5XqSGC7WGFsaf0rZ6xUjZgl1ZSV448VSZg98796TWVcNLKjgBGKyAlHcM0BCVnw/s400/Valley_of_Tombs.sm.jpg)
Valley of the Tombs, plein-air watercolor study
Some of the inspiration came from the rock-cut tombs that I had painted while on assignment in Jerusalem for the National Geographic.
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North rim, Grand Canyon.
While the Dinotopia book was still in the works, I made a research trip to the American west to paint on location. Photos by Tobey Sanford.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZV1ksgAxRmeGBpY9eLTxwdW-MjmXi45ep3cxLGLoqN7-LVHwzvKATU3mjpntaJIcsyIeArNGbsK3tDzzKyzzS381FV50eSPyCfGkwyR12QQYJ6Wx8xjuf5nEBRwBsFp6HDgDkcfNFhgU/s400/Gurney.Bryce+Canyon.vsm.jpg)
The weird landforms of Bryce Canyon in southern Utah also sparked some ideas. In this photo, I’m the guy standing (with wobbly knees) with a French easel near the edge of the cliff.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhLOGZ6FX2EoSVLu3bX0mAHW3oLiBjDxfK2BKjcU5GJ3EDkvXuJtklPnbuU5-Jb4wym_K6E8dlxy_vNXkGY4ZBsblsxLzMLRgga__LBmFYgYEgAAM4wZMgBUP23MeCxKfFn4naUfb8JVo/s400/Canyon+Monuments.vsm.jpg)
When I painted these flooded carvings in Dinotopia’s canyons, I was also thinking of the temple of Abu Simbel in Egypt. The story of how Abu Simbel was disassembled and moved for the Aswan Dam blew my mind when I was a kid.
This painting got me started thinking about Dinotopia’s deep history, something I would explore in the next two books. For me, fantasy world-building happens in stages. Ideas form around other ideas. An answer to a question leads to three more questions. As you can see, I didn't have it all written down in a binder in advance; it grew organically, based on chance encounters, as Brueggert observed in the comments yesterday.
As I painted the canyon world of Dinotopia in my studio, I tried to call up my memories of the real places. A few times I almost felt as if I was living inside my pictures. Once when I was painting Dinotopia’s canyon panorama, my wife called me for supper. I was so immersed in my imagination that when I heard her voice, it echoed off the canyon wall.
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More at these Links:
A collectible art print of the "Dream Canyon" panorama is available exclusively at the Dinotopia online shop.
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The new official Dinotopia website
This "making-of" story, illustrated with photos and sketches, is published in the Afterword section of the new 20th Anniversary Edition of Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time
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"Origins of Dinotopia" series on GurneyJourney:
Part 1: Childhood Dreams
Part 2: College Obsessions
Part 3: Lost Empires
Part 4: Dinosaurs
Part 5: Treetown
Part 6: The Illustrated Book
Part 7: Utopias
Part 8: Building a World
Part 9: Words and Pictures
Part 10: Canyon Worlds
Part 11: Putting it Together
Part 12: Book Launch
2 comments:
:D love all your work! This was very informative!
I really appreciate your advice on world-building--I, too, find that worlds sort of build themselves very organically, and sometimes even exponentially, as, like you said, the answer to one question leads to three (or more) other questions. I think that's one of the best parts of world-building, letting yourself go along with that wonderful ride.
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