John Berkey: Jurassic Park

considered by many as a giant in the history of science-fiction illustration, here is the late #johnberkey’s gouache prelim rendered on a crescent board for a #jurassicpark book cover project submission that unfortunately never came to fruition for the artist;

known for his iconic, yacht-like space ship paintings, berkey also illustrated publications for numerous landmark films, including the 1976 #kingkong and 1977 #starwars; i recall convincing some middle-school classmates to order a comp promotional kong mini poster from the canadian film distributor in toronto;

i always admired his recognizable style—abstract expressionist, qua impressionist that’s pure berkian; and evident in this prelim;

john was well celebrated, including an induction in the #societyofillustrators’ hall of fame in 2004; and he influenced many artists such as #drewstruzen and #michaelkaluta

thank you to fellow canadian oa collector dean reeves for offering this piece for sale, and shipping her safely