MEGALANIA REVIEW PAGE

GERATHS ILLUSTRATION AND SCULPTURE

All models and images thereof copyright GERATHS ILLUSTRATION AND SCULPTURE -- used with permission.

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A review of some of the resin sculptures available from Geraths Illustration and Sculpture.

A 1/1 scale half-body life restoration of Eoraptor, currently thought to be the earliest known dinosaur, sculpted by Dana Geraths.

This Megalania page has been visited times since March 16, 1998.

Dana Geraths in a paleolife artist producing illustrations and sculptures of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals. His work is extremely professional and very evocative of living animals. I am particularly impressed with his selection of subjects -- shying from the crowd of Tyrannosaur sculptors, Geraths corrects false impressions with his sculptures or gives us animals that represent significant advances in our understanding of dinosaurs. For instance, his Dilophosaurus in 1/10th scale shows the size and grace of this animal, the first known large theropod (predatory dinosaur). It bears only a passing resemble to the grotesque caricature presented as Dilophosaurus in Jurassic Park! Geraths has also sculpted a front-body Eoraptor (see above image), the earliest known dinosaur, and Oviraptor, a dinosaur until recently believed to be an "egg-thief" (hence the name); we now know that the specimen actually died over its own eggs instead of over the nest of another dinosaur!

Geraths works on subjects that "don't sell" such as Pleistocene mammals and marine reptiles, each of which are seen by many in the industry (correctly) as non-sellers. Accordingly, Geraths has in the works a Bison pursued by Smilodon fatalis! Worse yet, the Smilodon has its mouth closed! My favorite such "non-selling" piece is a stunning life restoration of Liopleurodon, a huge pliosaur (a short necked plesioaur, if that's not too much of an oxymoron). This tyrannosaur of the sea (or perhaps the tyrannosaurs were Liopleurodons of the land!) is portrayed in a dive, and is provided with a large and extremely heavy stone base (you must provide your own rod to mount the model to the base). I'm devoting a great deal of precious site-memory to this large image because it's so grand:

The model of the reptile is one piece molded hollow in resin. My casting arrived with teeth pitted at the points, which will not be easy to fix. Dana supplied another casting, a show of good faith, but it unfortunately suffered from precisely the same problem. Several of my friends in the sculpting profession have assured me that this is an endemic problem and sometimes just can't be avoided, particularly by the sculptor who molds his own pieces (large professional molding concerns apparently can overcome these technical hazards). Dana is trying to overcome this problem, but until then expect to do some work fixing the teeth.

I think it's well worth it. These casting problems can't hold a beautiful sculpture down. The large alert eye is flawlessly, crisply round. The flippers bear scratches as do extant marine animals -- a nice touch. Skin is smooth, as this is not a mosasaur so there is no direct evidence to indicate that they had scaly skin. Actually, return to the image -- it speaks quite nicely for itself.

Geraths has also made available resin models of a velociraptor skull and an allosaur skull. I am not a skull fella. Check his site if you're interested.

Page-relevant Links

Link and Pin Hobbies. I'd suggest ordering Geraths pieces through Link and Pin with a credit card. Call in the order and ask if they have the piece(s) in stock before placing the order.

GERATHS ILLUSTRATION AND SCULPTURE -- Dana Gerath's Website. Many nice images of his sculpture and some of his illustrations as well.

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