这个大男孩儿7岁自学画恐龙，21岁时作品登上英国《自然》杂志 | Recreating Dinosaur

A drawing of an extinct furry gliding mammal called the Volaticotherium antiquus made the cover of Nature magazine in 2006, making Zhao Chuang the first Chinese artist to have his work receive that honor. A sophomore at the time, Zhao became an instant sensation. 

2006年，赵闯的《远古翔兽》登上《自然》杂志封面，此前《自然》从未使用过中国人绘制的古生物图做封面。那时赵闯还在上大二，他就这样一炮而红。

Photo courtesy of Nature

"It started when I posted some of my dinosaur paintings on the BBS (online message board) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences," he recalled. "Professor Wang Xiaolin happened to see them and thought they weren't bad, before he contacted me to collaborate in the reconstruction of an ancient gliding mammal. That's how I got engaged in paleoart."

他回忆道：“起初，我在中科院的BBS上发过几张当时画的恐龙。所里的汪筱林老师看到以后，觉得这小孩画得可以，就联系我，说要复原一种会滑翔的哺乳动物。我就这样进入了古生物复原行业。” 赵闯抓住了这个难得的机会，因为他是“有准备的人”。

Zhao Chuang /by CGTN

Since childhood, Zhao has had affection for dinosaurs. Once he realized that they actually existed at one point in history, he said it felt like "Superman was real." He started gathering materials to create dinosaur fiction, comics, and illustration handbooks. During college, he found more pictures online of dinosaurs he'd never seen before, which inspired him to work on pictorial reconstructions.    

从小他就对恐龙情有独钟，当他得知恐龙真的存在过时，感觉就像“世上真有奥特曼”一样。从那时起，他就开始收集资料，写恐龙小说，画恐龙漫画和各种图鉴。上大学后，他在互联网上找到了更多从未见过的恐龙照片，便开始画复原图。 

Zhao Chuang's work on Microraptor, world's first discovered dinosaur with four wings /by CGTN

Zhao Chuang's work on Sinosauropteryx, the world's first depiction of the ancient creature  /by CGTN

"Any detail must be evidence-based, or you have to provide convincing deduction as to why they look like that with inadequate evidence. Given a dinosaur's forelimb, you should be able to tell how many fingers it had, how many joints there were, whether it was covered with skin or scales. Things like that are definitely required.”

“每一笔下去都要有证据，证据不足的情况下，就必须找到充分的理由，说明为什么这么画。比如恐龙爪子伸出来有几根手指头，每根指头有几个关节，表面是鳞还是皮，这些都得了解。”

CGTN Photo

Zhao Chuang's dinosaur collection /by CGTN

A paleo-artist is supposed to be truly knowledgeable, which may be the reason why this field has been "sparsely populated."

复原师的工作，对知识储备有很高的要求，这也许是从业者一直寥寥无几的原因之一。

Before the reconstruction, the paleo-artist must go through a sea of published literature in English, so knowledge of the language is indispensable. In addition to the prehistoric creatures, the artist also has to restore the environment that they inhabited, which is extremely difficult as there are few references.

首先，为了完成一部作品，复原师必须查阅大量英文文献，过硬的外语水平不可或缺。再者，除了要画动物，复原师还得复原风景。在没有参照物的情况下，这些复原工作十分困难。

"As some immature fictional works have stated, 'On the grassland there is one Brachiosaurus walking,' which is obviously wrong, because Brachiosaurus lived in the Jurassic Period when grass hadn't even evolved yet. So to prevent such mistakes, I have to do research on the geological conditions in certain periods. Moreover, how should I depict the details of the scales, when some dinosaurs had their whole bodies covered with them, and I don't have anything to refer to? That means loads of artwork," Zhao explained.

“像我们以前写文章，‘一只腕龙走在草地上’，这话张嘴就错了。因为腕龙生活在侏罗纪，侏罗纪没有草。那怎么办？我就得收集当时地貌的信息。另外，恐龙的身体需要大量的鳞片来表现，没有参照，我该如何去创造这些鳞片的细节？对于美术来说，这些工作量是特别大的。”赵闯介绍道。

CGTN Photo

Most important of all, the paleo-artist needs to master anatomy, because few of the fossils contain more than a couple of bones. To restore the creatures' appearances, one has to take into consideration their muscles, skin and physical features.

最重要的是，复原师还得熟知解剖学，因为他们得根据化石上的一、两根骨头，复原出肌肉，再还原出皮肤质感和古生物运动时的身体特征。

"You must figure out their muscle structures, as well as the chest movements when they were breathing in and out. Therefore, from modern animals that have similar structures, I would draw some references and deduce the dinosaurs' muscles and movements. This is really tough work, which I am still learning."

“这个动物的肌肉是什么样，呼吸时胸腔如何运动，这些你必须了解。我得参照现代的动物，看它们哪些结构和恐龙有类似之处，再反推恐龙的肌肉含量，分析它的动作。这个是硬功夫，我到现在都还在学。”

Though the job demands intellect and patience, Zhao's zest for it has never faded.

这份工作对智力和耐力的要求都很高，但赵闯的热情从未消退，反而更强了。

"When I was a child, I would spend a whole week gathering things about 5 of 10 dinosaurs, while ignoring the other five that were hard to get. Now, if I decided to draw 10 of them, I may feel the urge to draw 10 more during the process. And I have to do it, even without eating or sleeping. The only thing standing in my way might be the lack of beef."

“小时候是，有十种恐龙，我花一个礼拜收集了五种，后五种就那么地了。现在是，我想做十个东西，但在做的过程中，发现自己能做二十个，不吃不睡也要做完，唯一能拦住我的可能是体力不支。”

Zhao Chuang at work /by CGTN

What also makes Zhao stand out from his peers is his skill with digital art. "One of the things I like about Zhao Chuang's style is, first, the way he does his drawings. Because they are digitally done, they can be changed very quickly and modified very quickly. He can make things very realistic as well. So the animals look alive," Dr. Mark Norell, the chairman of paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History, said.

和其他同行不一样的是，赵闯擅长数字绘画。美国自然历史博物馆古生物部主任Mark Norell评价他说，“我最喜欢他作画的方式，他总是用电脑作画，作品修改起来特别快，而他也总能把动物画得像活的一样”。

Instead of drawing purely out of interest like when he was a boy, Zhao now draws out of a sense of responsibility.

赵闯觉得，“这是一个好的时代，但好的时代也需要有人把新的科技手段跟传统技艺相融合。希望科学家们能发现更多的材料，让复原工作更加精准”。跟小时候全凭兴趣画恐龙图鉴相比，现在，赵闯心中还多了一份责任感。

"In cooperation with the younger scientists, some of them would refer to my drawings as the 'textbook.' I must try to make it 100-percent accurate, avoiding the mistakes that could mislead the younger generations," he said. "Paleoart helps people see through the evolution of natural history and our rightful place on this planet. It's a great thing to do. There aren't many competent people in this field in China. I hope more of them will join us."

“跟一些科学家合作时，我发现有一些小孩会照着我的图画画、做东西。人家拿我的作品当资料，我绝对不能误人子弟，我会尽量接近‘百分百正确’。”他说，“古生物复原工作，让我们对自然历史的演化、对于人类在地球的位置有更清晰的认识，这是非常棒的。但在中国很少有人能做这行，希望做这个的人越来越多。”

At present, Zhao mainly focuses on the reconstruction of prehistoric skeletons and ecosystems, while holding paleoart exhibitions in collaboration with various museums. His works have been selected by a range of international journals. Prestigious museums like the American Museum of Natural History, Rijksmuseum and Beijing Museum of Natural History have also partnered up with him.

现在，赵闯主要从事骨骼、生态的复原工作，并与博物馆合作举办复原图展览。他的作品多次登上《自然》等国际期刊，并与美国自然历史博物馆、荷兰博物馆、北京自然历史博物馆等国内外博物馆建立了长期合作关系。

Director: Lei Rong, Zhou Yueqing

Cameraman: Li Xiangwei

Editor: Zhou Yueqing, Gao Xingzi

Animation: Liu Li

Story written by: Yao Xinyi

Copy editor: Henry Weimin

Producer: Wen Yaru

Cheif editor: Qin Xiaohu

Supervisor: Pang Xinhua

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