The Artists

One of the things we're proudest of with this game is the high quality of the art. A card illustration is a very tiny window through which to bring the past to life, but our artists were up to the challenge. The Dino Hunt cards are not just beautiful . . . they are scientifically accurate.

Pat Ortega

Pat Ortega began drawing animals, both real and unreal, over 25 years ago. Her professional career began in 1978 with an illustration for Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. Next was the first of many book covers for Baen Books. Her first color cover was for the book Blue Bloods. Since then, her science fiction and fantasy art has appeared in Omni, Epic and Smithsonian Magazines, as well as Fritz Leiber's The Ghost Light, Philip Jose Farmer's The Grand Adventure and Ardath Mayhar's Place of Silver Silence.

Always a student of paleontology, Pat began to focus on scientific illustrations in the mid-1980s. Her first paleo-art to be published was in Rand McNally's Children's Atlas of the Earth Through Time in 1990. Since then, her work has been featured in Terra Magazine, Encyclopaedia Britannica, and Natural History Magazine, to name only a few.

Her current work on Dino Hunt represents her largest project to date. It has given her the opportunity to illustrate some animals that are rarely studied, and to give new life to some old theories.

Bob Walters

Bob Walters is an internationally known dinosaur reconstruction artist whose paintings have appeared in numerous books and magazines. His work is also on permanent display at the Smithsonian, The American Museum of Natural History, The Creative Discovery Museum, and The Academy of Natural Sciences, and in the traveling exhibit, "The Dinosaurs of Jurassic Park," sponsored by the Dinosaur Society. It has also been seen on dinosaur television specials on PBS and the Learning Channel.

He is currently working on a book for Random House entitled Bigger than T. rex, painting some of the first reconstructions of Giganotosaurus, the largest meat-eating dinosaur ever found.

Dan Smith

For years, Dan has been the freelance mainstay of the Steve Jackson Games art department. Card-game fans know him as the principal artist for the award-winning INWO (Illuminati: New World Order) game. He cheerfully admits that he's no dinosaur expert, but as the illustrator for most of the Gadget and Expert cards, he worked diligently with up-to-date references to create creatures like the angry Pteranodon on the Jet Packs card.

Coloring and Graphics

The artists submitted their work in black-and-white inks. They were then "painted" on the computer by three talented colorists: Byron Taylor, Brent Ferguson, and our own Derek Pearcy. Ortega supplied detailed coloring instructions for each of her inks; Walters looked at some of Byron Taylor's finished work on Ortega's cards and said "He understands this. Let him do what he wants!" And Byron rose to the challenge.

Coloring to professional standards is no trivial task. The colorists were a vital part of the project, and each card carries coloring credits as well as the name of the artist!

The Dino Hunt dinosaur logo was created by Jeff Koke, working from Ortega's very first T. rex illustration for the game. Derek and Jeff also designed the game's overall graphic "look and feel," working closely with Steve Jackson to make sure the cards and other game pieces were both attractive and easy to use.