Hallett may be responsible for one of the most graceful depictions of a dinosaur ever produced, but if people from the general public are familiar with his work, it's likely because of his "family portrait" illustrations commissioned for the children's nature magazine Zoobooks. Particularly recognizable are his dinosaur diversity figures from the Zoobooks of my youth, but he really hit his stride with his illustrations of mammal families. His rhinos, elephants, and in particular horses really jump off the page, in large part because he reconstructs them as active, living animals. Never was this more true than with his horses, which kick, buck, and gallop chaotically across the page (while forming a pleasingly symmetrical half-circle). These portraits are especially effective at driving home the simple paleontological truth that the modern diversity of any group is just the tip of the iceberg by eschewing the chronological "march through time" so often favored by illustrators (for the best and often most frustrating of these, stay tuned!). Instead, modern zebras and onagers occupy space right next to Eocene species barely recognizable as horses, making it clear just how much of horse diversity lies in the past and showing the enormous array of forms horses have evolved through time.
Want to see more? I learned today that Zoobooks is still being published (and by Ranger Rick, another childhood favorite of mine, no less!) and Hallett's illustrations have continued to appear in recent years.
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