John Walker recently completed this illustration for National Geographic's children's division for a story about footprints left behind to fossilize and become archeological evidence of the dinosaurs who roamed the Earth. The idea was to show a "slice of life" type of scene, in a way that was both realistic and time period correct, but also colorful and eye catching.

The great thing about painting dinosaurs is the freedom an artist has to push the color/pattern barrier. No matter how high the mountain of fossilized remains may be, no matter how accurately the internal structure may be reconstructed, no one has any proof of what the dinos' exterior actually looked like. Who's to say? Maybe John's colorful renderings are as accurate as an Audubon bird painting!