Emily Willoughby/Stocktrek Images Art

Emily Willoughby has been drawing and sketching since she first learned to pick up and firmly hold a pencil. Her childhood interest in paleontology was rekindled in the late 1990s when new feathered dinosaurs that were coming out of China were discovered. Her early “works” mostly focused on animals, especially predatory mammals, dinosaurs and birds. Despite her love of drawing, she intended all throughout her childhood to be a scientist, and she graduated in 2012from College with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology Emily has always loved birds, she also loved to learn about the connection between birds and dinosaurs, especially on their evolutionary connection. This was really fascinating to her and acted as an inspiration for her to get back into and illustrate dinosaurs. Her solid scientific background coupled with her strong passion for the arts has been a huge benefit for her when it comes to reconstructing the animals to get images that are as accurately as possible. The starting point for her reconstruction is often a skeletal diagram, if there’s none, and then she examines the original research and any published fossil photographs. From there, she also does her own research. Her first notable inspirations in paleoart while in high school were Luis Rey and Gregory Paul: She loved the bright liveliness and painstaking accuracy in their works. Framed Emily Willoughby art are mainly found in museums and art institutions. They are also found in homes and public places. Later on, she decided that pursuing paleoart as a fusion of art and science was the best way to utilize her abilities and interests.