Christopher Montero's Portfolio

WELCOME TO THE PORTFOLIO OF CHRISTOPHER MONTERO!
The tropics are the supreme expression of life on Earth. The beauty of these exuberant ecosystems and their myriads of organisms are breathtaking and inspiring. As an itinerant naturalist, it is always a joy to share my passion about nature, and one way of expressing this fascination is art.

My illustrations have been used for educational and scientific purposes including posters, comic strips, books and magazines. Here you have a sample of my art. Feel free to email me with comments or inquiries and make sure you click the thumbnails to see larger images.

Black & White

Young Fer-de-Lance (Bothrops asper)
Ink on paper

Ocelot (Leopardus pardalis)
Ink on paper

Fishing Bat(Noctilio leporinus)
Ink on paper

Alston's mouse opossum (Micoureus alstoni)
Ink on paper

Peccaries (Tayassu tajacu)
Ink on paper

Umbrella bird (Cephalopterus glabricollis)
Ink on scratchboard

Tayra (Eira barbara) chasing a Central American agouti (Dasyprocta punctata)
Ink on paper

White-nosed coatis playing (Nasua narica)
Ink on paper

Central American bullfrog (Leptodactylus pentadactylus)
Pencil on paper

Cantil (Agkistrodon bilineatus)
Pencil on paper

Color

Giant Damselfly (Megalprepus coerulatus)
Digital art

Great Curassows - Male and female (Crax rubra)
Color pencil on paper

Proboscis bat (Rhynchonycteris naso)
Acrylic on illustration board

Baltimore oriole (Icterus galbula) & Blue-gray tanager (Thraupis episcopus)
Color pencil on paper

Central American Banded Gecko (Coleonix mitratus)
Mixed technique

Masked tree frog (Smilisca phaeota)
Acrylic on clayboard

Common boa (Boa constrictor)
Mixed technique on illustration board

Amphibians of Costa Rica
Acrylic on canvas

Varied Art

Sharp-shinned hawk (Accipiter striatus) Journal entry	Chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) Journal entry	Black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa) Journal entry
Dragons (Illustration for the TRPC ) Digital art	Characters (Illustration for the TRPC) Digital Art	Thurston Bigfoot. Mascot for the Energy Grant (Illustration for the TRPC) Mixed technique
Cover for regional Sustainable Plan (Thurston County) Digital art	Demographics in Transportation (Infographic for the TRPC) Digital Art	Commuters (Characters for the TRPC) Mixed technique
Puget Sound watershed (Illustration for the TRPC) Mixed technique	Carpooling characters (Illustration for the TRPC) Digital art	Where you live makes a difference (Infographic for the TRPC) Digital art

Tropical Trivia

I teamed up with David Norman, author and biologist, to educate people about nature through a humorous comic strip. Published in the Costa Rican newspaper The Tico Times and Ranger Rick magazine (February 1998, Vol. 32, No. 2).

Click here to visit the
Tropical Trivia gallery!

Author

Chirripo: journey to the magical mountain. This beautiful bilingual book is illustrated with photos by Juan Jose Pucci. Available here. (Fundacion Neotropica, 2001)

About the artist...

Photo by A. Doshi

I am a Costa Rican naturalist. My background is in biology, but my enthusiasm for nature began at an early age with a large focus on reptiles, especially snakes. In time, it expanded to other organisms like plants, insects, birds, mammals, and all related to their ecology and natural history. My travels in Latin America have shown me how spectacular tropical nature can be, but also how fragile.

The unique tropical habitats are highly vulnerable to human interference and today, at the turn of the 21st century, they face a tremendous danger of destruction. I believe in the power of art and education in order to bring awareness about the importance of biological diversity and the urgent necessity of preserving the natural processes that support the web of life in our planet.

For more than 15 years I have shared my passion about nature as a speaker, environmental educator, artist, writer and naturalist guide. In Costa Rica I had the privilege to work educating with different organizations, like the Fundacion Neotropica and the Organization for Tropical Studies.

I currently live in Washington State, my adoptive bioregion, but I periodically travel back to the tropics teaching different courses, like Tropical Rainforest Field Studies of the Sierra Institute in Belize and Guatemala, trainings for Biomimicry 3.8 in Costa Rica and more recently as a Wildlife & Conservation leader for National Geographic Student Expeditions in Ecuador and the Galapagos, Australia and Brazil.