#wayne barlow

An Ishtarian from Fire Time by Poul Anderson, as illustrated by Wayne Barlow

Oooh, this combines two of my favorite things: namely speculative evolution & birds! I'm surprised I've never stumbled on this site before. Thank you for pointing it out!

It's quite charming, even ingenious that someone would imagine an ecosystem so reliant on canaries. I adore their bizarre descendants. I am reminded of Dougal Dixon's After Man, where Dixon traces animal evolution in a world without humans. Like in Serina (notably with the Tentacle birds), the birds in Dixon's book evolve specialized beaks. The flower-faced potoo is a really neat example! It attracts insects through mimicry.

The illustrations on Serina are a nice accompaniment for the text. I especially like that they begin resembling a bestiary. Speculative evolution really flourishes as a genre with visuals. It's fascinating to watch the canary morph to fill vacant niches. The Pygmy Rainbora is precious. I'm also quite fond of quadrupedal species, like the Bumblebear :)

You might already be familiar with these speculative evolution books, anon, but I feel compelled to list them!

After Man by Dougal Dixon - Already mentioned this one, but it is probably the closest to Serina that I have encountered. Dixon's illustrations are also truly lovely, made with ink, graphite, and watercolor.

Expedition by Wayne Barlowe - Barlowe follows an illustrator who travels to the fictional planet Darwin IV to record alien life. I'm lucky enough to have a physical copy of this one. It is filled with gorgeous oil paintings:

There is also a CGI adaptation on Youtube from 9 years ago. It is a little outdated visually, but still fascinating!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVjYtZydMuo

Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials - This is a xenobiological bestiary, where Barlowe illustrates aliens from popular sci-fi novels.

All Tomorrows by Nemo Ramjet - A dark but rich story about human evolution. Emphasis on cosmic horror, so not for the faint of heart.

I really wish I could find a copy of Dougal Dixon's The New Dinosaurs. A friend of mine also suggested Amarant: The flora and fauna of Atlantis but I haven't picked it up yet.