Night at the Museum 0.1
A tyrannosaurus rex skeleton stalks a museum guard. The guard is sitting with his thermos and mug of coffee, reading the newspaper with his back to the t-rex.
Ian Gunn died many years before the movie Night at the Museum (2006) was made. The fact that the guard is reading A NEWSPAPER is a great big hint that this illustration dates back to last century!
However, I suspect Jurassic Park (1993) may have influenced this illustration.
The backstory behind these silly illos
Ian Gunn, creator of these silly illos (illustrations), was an award-winning artist based in Melbourne, Australia. Cancer took him too soon. But his legacy includes numerous illustrations for zines, books and even school textbooks.
We’ve published a veritable museum of Ian’s Silly Illos here. Many of these illustrations are available for sale.
Victoria’s science fiction convention, Continuum, occasionally presents the Ian Gunn Memorial Award recognising the ‘unsung heroes’ of fandom. Recipients work in obscurity for years without recognition. This award commemorates Ian’s selfless efforts to reach out to others, encouraging others and thereby building the science fiction community.
K’rin Pender-Gunn, Ian’s widow, gave Dark Matter Zine permission to republish Ian’s artwork. Thanks, K’rin!
