Utah Tech professor for dinosaur art and holistic view – St. George News

ST. george – Alex Chamberlain’s 12-year-old dreams unfolded in 1993 when “Jurassic Park” came out of a dark theater.

“I can create pictures that love to express what’s inside,” said the young Chamberlain, standing in the bright St. George’s sun. mine head?”

Now, nearly 30 years later, Chamberlain is chair of the art department at Utah Tech University. As a professor, he teaches 3D animation and photography, and regularly creates, donates and sells dinosaur art, both digital and physical. Chamberlain recounted his grueling journey to get to where he is now.

Computer animation was still in 1993, which made education in the field very difficult and expensive. At the time, Chamberlain liked to dip his toes into computer animation with a computer that cost more than $3,000 and had a 210 MB hard drive. And even that machinery wouldn’t give him the tools he so desperately needed.

Adolescent Chamberlain develops his computer animation skills and develops and seeks connections with professionals.

“A local TV studio let me edit late at night on their linear editing machines, which I did until 4:30 in the morning,” Chamberlain said. “A friend’s older brother worked at ‘the college’ so he would take us to Ron Woodland’s computer graphics lab in the evenings and make us play video games. Instead, I would launch StrataVision 3D and poke and prod until it told me how to do something interesting.

“Does this all smell a little disturbing? It wasn’t. It was more – it was despair.”

Over time, that desperation will help the innovation merge with modern technology.

“Today, I use open-source 3D modeling and animation creation tools that surpass the cinematic creation tools of 1993 by a ridiculous margin. It’s an amazing time to be creative,” he said.

Chamberlain’s love of dinosaurs influences more than his art and hobbies—it inspires his understanding of life.

“I’m drawn to things that remind me of my smallness and how fleeting life is,” he says. “I think that’s why I photograph the Milky Way at night. I love the feeling of seeing that there is a bigger, deeper universe than I can ever fathom.

“Dinosaurs do that to me. A lot of them are big, powerful beasts that I can’t see in real life. They were around a long time ago. To me, it feels the same way. As much as I think I am, I’m just a drop in the bucket.”

Chamberlain says his artistic goals in reconstructing dinosaurs have changed. He would create what he thought “looked cool.” Now he wants to create accurate and up-to-date models of what dinosaurs looked like.

Chamberlain grew up in Tocqueville, Utah. He lived in Utah most of his life. He received his BA in History from Southern Utah University and his MFA in Media Design from Full Sail University. Chamberlain began teaching full-time at Utah Tech University — formerly Dixie State University — in January 2013.

Last semester, Chamberlain joined forces with a biology professor and an associate professor of arts and sciences to teach a mix of paleontology, paleontology, and art. This art class allowed students to create pieces that drew on sciences such as paleontology and biology to inform and inspire new art products.

“Students had to come up with research ideas, give scientific research proposals, present research,” Chamberlain said.

These paleoart projects have taken many forms, including 3D animations, traditional-style paintings, paintings, graphic posters and sculptures.

It was a dream for Chamberlain to lead such a class. He recommends the textbook he used for the class to anyone interested in paleoart: “The Paleoartist’s Handbook: Artfully Recreating Prehistoric Animals,” by Mark Wheaton.

“This is probably the Paleoorth Bible now,” says Chamberlain. “It’s fun to read, it doesn’t dry up, and it lets you know what you don’t know and what questions to ask to get started.”

Chamberlain’s main source of income is teaching at Utah Tech University, but he also earns a living in night sky and landscape photography, selling pieces in photo galleries and on it. website. He spends the rest of his artistic time creating his own paleo art.

Recently, Chamberlain completed a life-size sculpture of a Tyrannosaurus rex skull. He made the skull with many textures and media such as styrofoam and drywall mud. Chamberlain donated the skull to the George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm.

“Compared to yours, the scale of the T-rex’s skull is amazing,” Chamberlain said. “Everybody needs that experience, to remind us we’re not as important as we think we are.”

Currently working on paid commission. Utahraptor.

“I’m a one-stop shopper for my customers,” he said. I render, animate, flash – I do it all myself.

Because of his habit of working alone, Chamberlain admits that his skills count on large 3D dinosaur projects as well as documentaries devoted to specific aspects of digital graphics as full teams.

Chamberlain enthusiastically advises people interested in 3D animation and paleoart. People need to realize that phones are amazing creative tools, and instead of simply consuming media or creating based on pre-made social media structures like Tiki Talk videos and Instagram reels, we should use them to intentionally create art from scratch, he said.

“You have to be very thoughtful about everything. You have to increase creative control,” he said. “You have to get precision in every detail, like a T-Rex doesn’t have the energy to understand. Read it.”

He also advised dinosaur enthusiasts and artists to contact academic dinosaur experts.

“Meet the paleontologists and ask them your questions. They are experts, not celebrities. Most of the ones I’ve met are very generous with their time and give me tips on how to improve my paleoart. They are willing to participate and lend a helping hand.”

Photo gallery

Alex Chamberlain stands in front of a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, St. George, Utah, July 8, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Alex Chamberlain, St. George News.

Photo by Alex Chamberlain, St. George, Utah, July 8, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Alex Chamberlain, St. George News.

Illustration of Allosaurus By Alex Chamberlain, St. George, Utah, July 8, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Alex Chamberlain, St. George News.

3D rendering of a Brachiosaurus among the sequoia trees, St. George, Utah, July 8, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Alex Chamberlain, St. George News.

Ceratosaurus specimen by Alex Chamberlain, St. George, Utah, July 8, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Alex Chamberlain, St. George News.

T. Rex cartoon illustration by Alex Chamberlain, St. George, Utah, July 8, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Alex Chamberlain, St. George News.

Alex Chamberlain stands next to the Tyrannosaurus rex skull he created, St. George, Utah, July 8, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Alex Chamberlain, St. George News.

3D image of a T-Rex by Alex Chamberlain, St. George, Utah, July 8, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Alex Chamberlain, St. George News.

In the program Blender, St. George, Utah, July 8, 2022 A view of Alex Chamberlain’s digital creation process | Photo courtesy of Alex Chamberlain, St. George News.

In the program Blender, St. George, Utah, July 8, 2022 A view of Alex Chamberlain’s digital creation process | Photo courtesy of Alex Chamberlain, St. George News.

Alex Chamberlain captures the Milky Way, St. George, Utah, July 8, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Alex Chamberlain, St. George News.

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