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 Batchelor's degree in physics and in 1978 he received his Master's degree from the University of Toledo. Despite earning his 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.

When he's not drawing snarling prehistoric reptiles or painting swirling galaxies, Joe spends his time with his wife Jennifer and their two little girls April and Lily.

Artistic Resume

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 and CG animation sequences have appeared in many 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:

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 digital video animation sequences are produced using the Electric Image Animation System, enhanced with plugins by Northern Lights. The rendered animations are modified with Adobe After Effects. All of this is done on Macintosh computers.