Visual Artist – James Gurney ✔Certified
Waterfall City (1988) Skill Mastery 🟨+ Creativity🟦: 88.5%
James Gurney’s Waterfall City is an oil painting depicting the center of learning in the fictional island of Dinotopia, a utopia where humans and dinosaurs coexist. Painted in 1988, the work shows a grand Italianate city built around a massive waterfall, with canals, fountains, and waterslides surrounding the harbor where visitors arrive by boat. Giant pterosaurs called skybax catch updrafts in the center of the gorge as they fly around the city. The city’s architectural wonders include the One-Earth Globe, which depicts the world as it looked 120 million years ago. The painting was created before Gurney wrote his Dinotopia books, representing the original vision that would inspire the New York Times bestselling series published in 1992. To create the painting, Gurney traveled to Venice, Italy, and Niagara Falls for inspiration, making studies on location to capture the power of the falls and create spectacular lighting effects. The original painting has been exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution, the Norman Rockwell Museum, the Royal Tyrrell Museum, and museums throughout the United States and Europe. The Dinotopia book has been published in 32 countries in 18 languages and sold over two million copies.
Here’s how this rating breaks down using the Consistent Multi-Criteria Rubric method:
Technical Skill and Execution (25% of total score): 9/10 = 2.25 points Exceptional oil painting technique combining academic realist methods with Golden Age illustration traditions, skillful rendering of complex architecture and water effects.
Composition and Design (25% of total score): 9/10 = 2.25 points Strong compositional structure balancing massive architectural elements with dramatic natural features, creating sense of scale and wonder through careful perspective.
Originality and Creativity (20% of total score): 9/10 = 1.80 points Highly original imaginative vision creating entirely believable fantasy world, inventing distinctive visual language that launched multi-million copy book series within fantasy illustration genre.
Color Use and Harmony (15% of total score): 9/10 = 1.35 points Sophisticated atmospheric color with effective lighting effects capturing power of waterfalls, warm architectural tones balanced against cool water and sky.
Emotional Impact and Expression (15% of total score): 8/10 = 1.20 points Strong emotional impact creating sense of awe and wonder, establishing visual foundation for world that captivated millions of readers worldwide.
Total: 88.5%
