Hi, I'm Hannah from Planet Tuna,
and I'm here to tell you a bit about what it takes to be a scientific illustrator. In our previous video I took you on a tour
of the field; and in this one I'm going to give you
a bit of an insider's view of the profession in case you think that scientific illustration
might be for you. I'll start with my own journey. As a little kid I loved to draw,
and I loved nature. And then at the end of high school I just
couldn't decide whether to study Biology or to study
Art, and in the end I studied Studio Art,
I got a bachelor's degree, and the truth is that at the time I had no idea that there
was such a thing as Scientific Illustration, and had I known, I probably would have double-majored
in Biology and Art. Later on I found out that this was pretty
typical: let's look at the field -- as a field, with an open gate to get in. This side is the art side, and this is the
science side. You can come from either one. I started over here, and took some botany
and
zoology classes after college, but mostly I've learned a tremendous amount of science
from the work itself. Or you might be someone with a science degree
and a passion for visualization. In that case if you need more illustration skills, there are many courses and workshops that you can take. Luckily, things have changed a lot since
I was in college. Now there are programs that specifically teach
scientific illustration. If you go to the web site of the Guild of
Natural Science Illustrators, and
go under Education, they have a really good list of
schools that teach scientific illustration worldwide. There's a link in the comments. Now it doesn't matter how you get into the field, there are some very basic requirement, ok? The first is excellent artistic skills, obviously. Whether they're digital or on paper doesn't matter; the issue is whether you've trained your eye and you can render something accurately
and with a good sense of design, composition, balance, color, and so on. Second
is communication skills. You have to be able to communicate well; either with a scientist who's explaining some tricky concept, or with a client -- an art director
at a journal, for example, or the education specialist at a hospital. And your art is also all about communication. Can you put yourself in the shoes of the person
looking at your illustration? Will that person understand
what you're trying to convey? The third requirement is a good toolbox of
technical skills to give you flexibility.
I personally stick to traditional media, but
if I were starting out today, I'd want to be very comfortable creating work digitally. Besides the basics like Photoshop and Illustrator,
if you're attracted to 3D-modeling programs or animation, they can expand the range of
what you can offer. And having basic graphic design skills is
also important. There's a lot to be said for knowing the traditional
media as well. There's nothing like paper for field sketching,
and I love watercolor for plants. T
his a drawing of mine of some creatures
from the Cambrian, done in india ink and fine point marker. Here you see a researcher I know who studies
tiny cave-dwelling crustaceans and draws them using an attachment to the microscope
that's called a camera lucida. Fourth and last, you have to enjoy researching a topic. Curiosity is a must! In my case I'd say that half or two thirds
of my illustration time is spent doing background research for an image and emailing back and forth with scientists. In
this example from a book I did, I read some papers, I sent preliminary sketches, they sent their corrections, I redid the sketch,
more comments, then the final artwork, one last check with them... and finally it was
ready for publication. Also know that science advances,
which is wonderful... and a bit frustrating when you just drew something
and then you have to change it. Here's an example: I drew this cartoon
about giant bugs and included the huge spider Megarachne. I even saw a replica of th
e fossil at the
museum in Denver and it sure looked spider-like. Well guess what: no sooner had the book
been published, than the scientists said "oops! We blew it,
it's actually a eurypterid!" Their language was a bit more academic.... anyway, luckily I was able to change it in
a later edition of the book. I'm very careful not to copy somebody else's
artwork, obviously, but I also always try to come up with my
own interpretation of a subject, because what if another illustrator has made a mist
ake,
and then I perpetuate it? And what does the business end of things look like? I highly recommend taking a course in the
business of illustration if it's something that's new to you, and you'll learn about negotiating contracts,
about copyright law, about what fees to charge, what's fair and
what isn't, what rights to sell to clients and a lot more. And who are our clients? Well one of my clients is Planet Tuna, obviously, which is a project of the Spanish Oceanographic Institute, and I'm al
so doing images for an
exhibit about evolution at UC Berkeley in California. But there's a huge range: researchers, parks,
zoos, hospitals, universities, museums, publishers of books, textbooks and on line resources,
and private clients and companies of various sorts, and even the entertainment business;
I know of several paleo artists who were hired to do preliminary sketches for Jurassic Park! And how to reach the clients,
and how to get work? Well, if you're just starting out, it's a
good ide
a to try to get an internship or do some volunteering in some area that you like. For me, that would be a Natural History museum. It's a way to get some experience and also to meet scientists
and to expand your network, because word-of-mouth is still one of the
best ways to get work. And if you have an idea for a personal project,
then go for it. When I was doing paleo books for kids, I asked a whole bunch of paleontologists
to be my advisors and they were extremely helpful,
and then since then
some of them have also become clients of mine. You might need a day job or some sort of financial backup,
especially at the beginning. I actually started out as a general-purpose illustrator, and illustrated all sorts of different things, and then gradually worked towards getting
more and more natural science illustration. I've always been a full-time freelancer, but some illustrators freelance part-time
and also have a day job. Some diversify their income by teaching, selling
original work or p
rints, or selling reproduction rights on line. And some have full-time staff positions at
research institutions or universities, or in private companies. As for self-promotion, it's a big a topic,
I can't really get into it here to get into here. Basically, people normally have a web site
with samples of their work, and it's also important to be active
on social media and on LinkedIn. There are also on-line illustration directories
out there that showcase people's work, and printed directories t
hat get sent around to
potential clients. Finally, I think it's really helpful to be
part of a community. And for me, that community has been the
Guild of Natural Science Illustrators. They have a yearly conference, they teach courses, and they're a group of people who are just really generous
with their collective knowledge. They're based in the US but have members
in many countries. There are others, like the AMI
for medical illustration, for example. And perhaps you can find a group of
like-m
inded illustrators right where you live. I hope this was useful, and hope to see you
again soon on Planet Tuna! Stay creative!
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