Dinotopia

Dinotopia is a fictional utopia created by author and illustrator James Gurney. It is the setting for the book series with which it shares its name. Dinotopia is an isolated island inhabited by shipwrecked humans and sentient dinosaurs who have learned to coexist peacefully as a single symbiotic society. The first book was published in 1992 and has "appeared in 18 languages in more than 30 countries and sold two million copies."Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time and Dinotopia: The World Beneath both won Hugo awards for best original artwork.

Since its original publication, over twenty Dinotopia books have been published by various authors to expand the series. A live-action TV mini-series, a brief live-action TV series, an animated film, and several video games have also been released.

The name "Dinotopia" is a portmanteau of "dinosaur" and "utopia". In Greek "Dinotopia" (Δεινοτοπία) means "terrible place" or "land of suffering" (cf. "dinosaur" (δεινόσαυρος), which literally means "terrible lizard").

Gurney's assignments for National Geographic magazine required him to work with archaeologists to envision and paint ancient cities that no one alive today has ever seen. This inspired him to imagine his own, so he painted "Waterfall City" and "Dinosaur parade". These were originally done as "art prints for collectors". He later decided to create an imaginary island based on these paintings.

Rather than digital tools, Gurney used "plein-air studies, thumbnail sketches, models photographed in costume and original cardboard or clay maquettes" to create 150 oil paintings for his 2007 Dinotopia book.

Many have claimed that some scenes in the film Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (particularly those in the city of Theed on Naboo) unfairly copy images from Gurney's books. Gurney acknowledges the resemblance but has remained positive about it. In 1994, director George Lucas had met with producers to discuss some of the concepts and visuals behind a Dinotopia movie that was never made.

...
Wikipedia