About the Artist
Joseph Michael Tucciarone was born in Youngstown Ohio on June 19, 1953. His parents encouraged his early fascination with dinosaurs and his interest in art. Like many other children growing up in the early sixties, he was also captivated by rockets and outer space. At the age of eight he was enrolled in Saturday art classes at the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, where he promptly created his first space and dinosaur paintings.

Joe graduated Summa Cum Laude from Youngstown State University in 1976 with a Bachelor's degree in physics and in 1978 he received his Master's degree from the University of Toledo. Despite earning advanced degrees in science, Joe always wanted to be an artist. In 1978 he began a professional career as a space artist at the Memphis Museum planetarium. Although he had produced a steady stream of astronomical art throughout his life, Joe hadn't created a dinosaur painting since his childhood. That changed in 1995 when he wrote, produced and illustrated a planetarium show about dinosaurs. After a lapse of more than thirty years he was once again illustrating the prehistoric creatures that were his first and favorite subjects.

In March 2000, the Board of Trustees at Youngstown State University bestowed an honorary Doctor of Science Degree upon Joe in recognition of his lifetime achievements in the field of science illustration.

Artistic Resume
Joe's video animations have been featured in a number of documentaries including:

"Deadliest Space Weather" series on the Weather Channel; 2012
"How the Universe Works" series on the Discovery Channel; 2012
"Alien Mummies" on the History Channel; 2012
"Ancient Aliens" series on the History Channel; 2011-2012
"The Universe" series on the History Channel; 2009 and 2012
"Preventing Armageddon" on the National Geographic Channel; 2010
"Hunt for Aliens" on the National Geographic Channel; 2010
"When Aliens Attack" on the National Geographic Channel; 2009
"Mars; Making the New Earth" on the National Geographic Channel; 2009
"Mega Disasters; Asteroid Apocalypse" on the History Channel; 2006

Joe's dinosaur paintings have been published in magazines such as Time, Discover, and Science. His 'Extinction' image appeared in the DreamWorks movie 'Deep Impact'. His dinosaur illustrations have appeared in TV documentaries on the History Channel, the Discovery Channel and the Turner Broadcasting System. His astronomical artwork has been commissioned several times by National Geographic magazine, and his space art has often appeared in Sky and Telescope, Astronomy and The Planetary Report magazines. Book cover illustrations include:

"The Wishing Star"; Rita Salter (iUniverse Inc., 2004)
"Dinosaurs!"; Dr. Paul Sereno & Angus Carroll (Crazy Little Books, 2003)
"Discovering Dinosaurs" (Byron Preiss, 2002)
"The Way the Universe Works" (Dorling Kindersley, 2002)
"The Dinosaur Handbook" (Herbig Verlag, 2002)
"Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs" (Publications International, 2001)
"Night Comes to the Cretaceous"; James Powell (Harcourt Brace, 1999)
"Hey Mom, What About Dinosaurs?" (WinePress Publishing, 1999)
"When the Sun Dies"; Roy A. Galant (Marshall Cavendish, 1998)

Joe's list of clients also includes Encyclopedia Britannica, Microsoft, Discovery Channel Online, World Book Encyclopedia, Scholastic, Walt Disney World, Harcourt Brace and the U.S. Department of the Interior.

He is a longtime member of the International Association for the Astronomical Arts, and his paintings are owned by private collectors and museums throughout the world. Novaspace Art Gallery, the world's largest distributor of space art laser lithographs, carries Joe's limited edition prints and original space art paintings.

Tools and Techniques
Joe uses Liquitex acrylic paints, Crescent illustration boards and Fredrix canvases to produce all of his space and dinosaur illustrations. He paints with both traditional bristle brushes and an Aztek airbrush. The paintings are scanned and the resulting images are managed with Adobe Photoshop.

All of Joe's video animations are produced using the Electric Image Animation System, enhanced with plugins by Northern Lights. The animations are modified with Adobe After Effects and all of this work is done on Macintosh computers.

Joe Tucciarone
2403 West Friday Circle
Cocoa, Florida 32926
USA
email: joe@joetucciarone.com
telephone: (321) 482-0571 between 8 AM and 5 PM Eastern Time only, please

The Dinosaur Art Gallery of Joe Tucciarone | The Space Art of Joe Tucciarone

The Mythology and Fantasy Art of Joe Tucciarone