Date Born/ Age: 1949

Length:  5'11"

Weight:   195

Favorite Food:   Fettucini carbonara

Family: Yes

Genus: Homo

Species: sapiens

Place of Origin:  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Habitat: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Favorite Movie:    2001, A Space Odyssey

Favorite TV Show:    I Claudius

Favorite Dinosaur:   whatever I'm researching at the time - lately, Triceratops

Favorite Sport:   swimming

Exercise:   Mambo Lessons

Hobbies:  percussion

Distinguishing Features:   Not going there

Dino Dish - Bob Walter's Forum

Students? Pay Attention! Be sure to check out that is to say, investigate, (humph), certain other useful pieces of terminology at the 7V-WOW Archives.

Bob Walters was born in 1949 in Philadelphia, but moved to 
the banks of the Brandywine in Wilmington, Delaware with his mother and grandmother shortly afterwards.  On September 7, 1953, when he was four years old, Bob saw the LIFE magazine with Rudolph Zallinger's "Age of Reptiles" painting on the cover and decided he wanted to be a dinosaur artist.  In the Brandywine River Valley, when mothers hear their offspring want to grow up to be illustrators, their hearts leap, so Bob was immediately shuttled off to museums and the studios of friends where he drew dinosaurs (and spaceships) pretty much non-stop. He did his first dinosaur mural when he was in the third grade. 

         Attending art school at The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art in Philadelphia, (America's first Art School) Bob earned his Bachelor's Degree.  In the late '60s he worked for a number of clients including the underground magazine, "Yarrowstalks" along with cartoonists R. Crumb and Charley Parker.  He also worked as assistant elephant keeper at the Philadelphia Zoo, (shoveling elephant dung and making studies of animal anatomy) and played drums for a psychedelic rock band up and down the East Coast during this time. He was asked to do t-shirt designs promoting pop and rock bands, such as Blue Oyster Cult and Poco, among others, for Columbia Records, and continued to do freelance art for magazines, and scientific illustrations for medical textbooks throughout the '70s.

       "Dinosaurs, the Terrible Lizards" from E. P. Dutton was his first full color dinosaur book in 1979, .  He met his partner, Tess Kissinger in 1980 and they have been working together ever since.  He has done hundreds of science fiction and fantasy illustrations, both covers and interiors, for Asimov's, Analog, Amazing Stories and numerous book publishers.  He won 4 Chesley Awards for best science fiction art of the year in a number of categories. He was asked by NASA to send several paintings for their 25th Anniversary Space Art Show entitled "Visions of Other Worlds", which hung along with works by artists such as Norman Rockwell and Bob McCall at the Lewis Research Center.   He had work in a number of exhibits, including "The Dinosaur Show" a traveling paleo art exhibit illustrating the history of the field from works by Charles R. Knight to Mark Hallett, Bill Stout, and Steve Czerkas and other contemporary artists. This exhibit was sponsored by the Boston Museum of Science and the National Science Foundation. 

         Other major exhibits featuring Bob's work include; "Dinosaurs Alive" at the Cranbrook Institute of Science, "Pavilions of Wonder" at The Canton Museum of Art, "The Art of Fantasy and Science Fiction" at the Delaware Art Museum, which also included works by Frank Frazetta and Michael Whelan, among others, and in the famous exhibit at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, "Fantasies of the Sea".  In the mid-'80s, Bob was hired by the Academy of Natural Sciences to be the chief exhibits illustrator for the 2.5 million dollar re-do of their dinosaur hall, which opened to the public in 1986.  (He was again hired to be an advisor, the chief illustrator and muralist for the new hall at the Academy which opened in 1998.) Bob also  illustrated and art directed a number of books during the eighties, including The Dinosaur Poster Book, The Dinosaur Postcard Book, and The Dinosaur Hunter's Kit  all from Running Press, The Complete Book of the Dinosaur, and The Age of Dinosaurs,  both from Publications International, and Discovering Dinosaurs from Ottenheimer Press.

        In 1990, Bob was hired by the National Museum of Natural History, (Smithsonian,) to do a glass mural for the "Life In the Ancient Seas" Exhibit and began a close association with that institution with whom he has worked steadily ever since.  He was asked by the NMNH to do a speaking engagement on reconstructing dinosaurs, and also did a number of other lecture series including a guest lectureship at Princeton University on reconstructing dinosaurs as part of the Woodrow Wilson Scholarship Foundation, a talk on animating dinosaurs entitled "Jurassic Art" with Ray Harryhausen, and a panel discussion about dinosaurs in popular culture moderated by Ray Bradbury. 

       Bob's long-enduring interest in  technology and animation began to be reflected in the projects he worked on.  In 1987 he did work on the Quantel Paintbox for  "Dinosaur Update" which won the silver medal at the International Film and Video Festival in the Science Education category. In 1989 he worked on one of the first scientifically accurate 3 dimensional computer animations of a dinosaur for the PBS Special," Dinosaurs, Creatures of Time," which was nominated for an Emmy that year.  He worked with the Encyclopedia Brittanica Films animation department on the 4-part multi-million dollar PBS production, "Dinosaur".  His artwork was featured in numerous Discovery Channel "Paleoworld" episodes and he appeared in, and contributed artwork to the Emmy Award-winning Dinofest? TV special produced by PBS and Knight-Ridder.  His dinosaur artwork was also used in the Microsoft "Magic School Bus" project and Encarta Encyclopedia.

        In 1995 he and his partner, Tess Kissinger officially formed the partnership of Walters & Kissinger and bought the Victorian-era studio and house near the Art Museum in Philadelphia where they live and work now. The studio consists of Bob and Tess, 
artist-paleontologist Bruce J. Mohn, and sculptor Paul Sorton.  Bob completed the mural "Giants In the Earth" and he and Tess did the entire paleo graphics program for the Creative Discovery Museum in Chattanooga. They also provided illustrations for the Universal 
Studios Jurassic Park theme ride pre-show video. They contributed to the Universal Studios/Dinosaur Society Jurassic Park exhibit and the Lost World exhibit, as well as consulting at ILM in 2000 for JP3.

        Bob illustrated a number of books during the '90s - two from Franklin Watts; The Great Hunters by Drs. Jim Farlow and Ralph Molnar, and Pterosaurs by Dr. Christopher Bennett.  Also, he illustrated Bigger Than T. rex by Don Lessem and contributed 
illustrations to The Complete T. rex by Don Lessem and Jack Horner.  He painted the cover, contributed illustrations to and art directed the multi-author classic, The Complete Dinosaur. He did illustrations and art editing for Peter Dodson's  The Horned Dinosaurs.  He and Tess curated the very popular and critically acclaimed dinosaur art exhibit, "Designing Dinosaurs", for the The Bruce Museum in Greenwich, CT. which then traveled to to Yale Peabody Museum.  They were also the curators of the Dinofest?  art show in 1998. They were part of the team putting on Dinofest? in 1998 and 2000, contributing images and designing the logos for both events.  They designed and recreated a  160' wide, full-scale Cretaceous environment for the US Geological Survey and Natural History Development Company at Dinofest? 2000 in Chicago. Bob created all of the digital illustrations for the "Explore Time" multi-media exhibit for the USGS.

        Recently, he has done a number of illustrations for the National Geographic Society, including a children's book, Dino Finds for National Geographic Books, and illustrations of Acrocanthosaurus and Sonorasaurus, and a poster of prehistoric sea reptiles for National Geographic World.   He also contributes regularly to Archaeology's DIG Magazine.  He did a poster session on reconstructing Giganotosaurus  carolinii at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting in 1996, and gave a talk on his work with Ralph Chapman and others at the Smithsonian to reconstruct "The Virtual Triceratops" at the SVP meeting in Mexico City in 2000.

Bob Walters is a member of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology and the Delaware Valley Paleontological Society.

BOB WALTERS: CURRENT PROJECTS (JUNE 2001)

In addition to the JP Institute Field Guide, Bob has two other books  coming out from Random House this year in association with the Jurassic Park Institute, both of them sticker books of his artwork for children.

His book, The Big Book of Dinosaurs , will be released from Running Press this summer (2001).

Bob was exhibit illustrator for the new Triceratops exhibit at the NMNH, (Smithsonian) which opened this May. He continues his work reconstructing a digital version of Triceratops  with the Smithsonian scientists, and is working to produce 3D digital dinosaurs with computer animator Harry Saffren at Space/Time Ltd. (NFL Films)

Bob is working on 3 new murals for a new exhibit hall at the Ft. Myers Historical Museum which he and Tess are designing on the Pleistocene and Paleo Indians of Florida, scheduled to open in January.

Bob worked with the paleontologists at the University of Pennsylvania, MPH Entertainment and Rainbow Studios, to produce reconstructions of the new dinosaur, Paralititan stromerii, also Spinosaurus, Aegyptosaurus, and Carcharodontosaurus for the upcoming production by Cosmos Studios, "The Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt" which airs this fall on A&E, and will be accompanied by a book released from Random House.

Bob's mural, "Hatcher vs. Stan"  is being enlarged and will be on display in the "Tricerashop" at the NMNH, Smithsonian beginning this summer.

The Walters & Kissinger studio is working on two large public sculpture projects, a Hadrosaurus foulkii  by Bruce Mohn commissioned by the town of Haddonfield New Jersey, and a life size Triceratops by Paul Sorton for the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, CT.

Links

 
Official Dino Art Studio Website
 

ART PORTFOLIO

Selected Artwork - Soon!

Books by  (sometimes with others )

Look for these books at your Public Library!

Some of these books may be purchased (instantly) online through our relationship with Amazon.Com. All purchases support D.I.G.

NON-FICTION
Includes books and magazines

Dinosaur Field Guide : Jurassic Park Institute
                     by Michael Dr Brett-Surman, Robert Walters (Illustrator), Thomas R., Jr. Holtz
                                 List Price: $10.99
                           Reading level: Ages 9-12
                     Paperback - 160 pages (June 12, 2001) 
                     Random House (Merchandising); ISBN: 0375812938 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.43 x 9.05 x 5.99 

The Great Hunters by Drs. Jim Farlow and Ralph Molnar

Pterosaurs by Dr. Christopher Bennett. 

The Complete Book of the Dinosaur
The Age of Dinosaurs,  both from Publications International

Discovering Dinosaurs from Ottenheimer Press.

Dinosaurs : The Biggest, Baddest, Strangest, Fastest  by Howard Zimmerman, George Olshevsky. School & Library Binding (May 2000)  List Price:$12.56

Dinosaur Imagery : The Science of Lost Worlds and  Jurassic Art (The Lanzendorf Collection)
                     by John Lanzendorf (Creator), Philip J. Currie, Michael Tropea   (Photographer), Charles R. Crumly (Editor)
                                       List Price: $49.95
 Hardcover - 200 pages (April 26, 2000) 
 Academic Press Limited; ISBN: 0124365906 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.79 x 8.79 x 11.31 “Monsters” (Scintilla Editorial) 

The Scientific American Book of Dinosaurs
 by Gregory s Paul (Editor)
 List Price: $32.95
Hardcover - 432 pages 1 Ed edition (November 2000) 
St Martins Pr (Trade); ISBN: 0312262264 ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.29 x 9.55 x 7.84 

Les Fossiles (Gallimard) 

DK Guide to Dinosaurs
                     by David Lambert, Steve Hutt
                                   List Price: $19.95
                Reading level: Ages 9-12
                Hardcover - 64 pages 1st edition (March 1, 2000) 
                DK Publishing; ISBN: 0789452375 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.48 x 14.06 x 10.80 

2001

Dinosaur Encyclopedia
                     by David Lambert, Darren Naish, Liz Wyse
                                   Our Price: $29.95
                                   This item will be published on October 1,
                                   2001. You may order it now and we will ship
                                   it to you when it arrives. 
                     Hardcover - 376 pages 1 Amer Ed edition (October 1, 2001)
                     DK Publishing; ISBN: 0789479354