Christopher Montero's Portfolio

WELCOME TO THE PORTFOLIO OF CHRISTOPHER MONTERO!
Tropical nature is one of my greatest passions and I always enjoy sharing about its beauty, complexity and amazing natural history. The exuberant tropical ecosystems and their myriads of organisms always have been a source of inspiration to me. I express this fascination in my art, seeking a balance between creative vision and scientific accuracy.

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

Peccaries (Tayassu tajacu)
Ink on paper

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

Sac-winged bat (Saccopteryx bilineata)
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

Great Curassow - Male and female (Crax rubra)
Mixed technique

Gian Damselfly (Megalprepus coerulatus)
Digital art

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

Proboscis bat (Rhynchonycteris naso)
Acrylic on illustration board

Fer-de-lance (Bothrops asper)
Colored ink on paper

Central American Banded Gecko (Coleonix mitratus)
Mixed technique

Jaguar (Panthera onca)
Acrylic on board

Masked tree frog (Smilisca phaeota)
Acrylic on clayboard

Common boa (Boa constrictor)
Mixed technique on illustration board

Amphibians of Costa Rica
Acrylic on canvas

Sketches

Sharp-shinned hawk (Accipiter striatus)	Great blue heron (Ardea herodias)	Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus)
Chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta)	Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa)	Black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa)
Copan ruins I, Honduras	Coral reef wildlife, Belize	Copan ruins II, Honduras

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...

I am a Costa Rican naturalist. My enthusiasm for nature began 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, including some of the Organization for Tropical Studies field stations.

I currently live in Washington State, my adoptive bioregion, but I periodically travel back to the tropics as field instructor for the Sierra Institute in their course Tropical Rainforest Field Studies in Belize and Guatemala, as a local naturalist for the Biomimicry Guild in Costa Rica and more recently as a trip leader for National Geographic Student Expeditions in Ecuador and Australia.