Michael Skrepnick

{{Short description|Palaeoartist and illustrator}}

{{Notability|Bio|date=May 2021}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Michael W. Skrepnick

| nationality = Canadian

| education =

| alma_mater =

| years_active = 2001-present

| known_for = Paleoart

| website = {{URL|http://www.dinosaursinart.com/}}

}}

Michael W. Skrepnick is a Canadian palaeoartist best known for his illustrations of prehistoric animals. He has produced illustrations featured in natural history museums, scientific journals, books and magazines. He lives and works in Alberta, Canada.{{cite web|url=http://www.enslow.com/authors/michael_w_skrepnick/ | title=Enslow Publishing: Michael W. Skrepnick | accessdate=August 21, 2018}} Skrepnick is noted for his acrylic paintings of dinosaurs, such as his rendition of the 2016 discovery of the ceratopsian dinosaur genus Spiclypeus.{{cite web | url=https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/art-deciding-color-dinosaurs-part-paleontology-part-palette/story?id=39227262 | title=The Art of Deciding What Color Dinosaurs Are is Part of Paleontology, Part Palette-ontology | author=Avianne Tan|date=June 15, 2016|accessdate=August 21, 2018}}

Skrepnick's dinosaur art is recognized for its masterful use of color and imagination, particularly in environmental composition. Some of his most important contributions include cover illustrations for books like the Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and The Dinosauria. He was a long and close friend of John Lanzendorf, whose famous paleoart collection contained many of Skrepnick's original paintings.{{cite book| title=Dinosaur Imagery: The Science of Lost Worlds and Jurassic Art: The Lanzendorf Collection | last=McCarter Jr. | first=John W. | publisher=Academic Press | date=2000 | isbn=978-0124365902}} He was awarded the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology's Lanzendorf PaleoArt Prize in 2001.{{cite web|url=http://vertpaleo.org/Awards/Past-Award-Winners.aspx#lazendorf | title=Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Past Award Winners: Lanzendorf PaleoArt Prize|accessdate=August 21, 2018}}