#SciComm100 for Science Borealis
It’s rare that I volunteer my professional time, but when I do it’s for a cause I really believe in, and science communication is just that. Science Borealis, a Canadian science communication platform, approached me to illustrate a few quotes for their #SciComm100 project, where they collected 100 quotes from 100 science communicators across Canada, and tweeted two daily for 50 days. There was also a concurrent francophone project called #100LaScience.
I was able to find the time to illustrate two quotes, one by fisheries scientist Natalie Sopinka:
“Science is a wondrous process fueled by creative thought. So too must the communication of science be thoughtful & enriched with creativity. Sketch, rhyme, or dance your science because creativity is the bi-directional conduit between audience and scientist!” —Natalie Sopinka
…and the other by beloved Canadian astronaut Col. Chris Hadfield:
“Science communication is vital to our quality of life. It helps everyone understand the problems that we face, and shares the ideas & solutions that can improve life for us all.” —Col. Chris Hadfield
The majority of the illustrations were done by Peggy Muddles @ The Vexed Muddler, including the wrap up illustration below, which featured all of the artists involved in the project superimposed over the Science Borealis logo.
Artists of #SciComm100, by The Vexed Muddler
Client Work: Who’s Reading Science Blogs?
Who’s Reading Science Blogs?
This was an amazing project to work on with Researcher and Science Communicator Dr. Paige Jarreau of Louisiana State University. Her research with Dr. Lance Porter, funded on Experiment.com, had some budget left over after the results were in. Paige hired me to create a fun infographic to make the research more accessible to the viewer. She would be able to use it on social media and on her blog, From the Lab Bench, to share the results of her study with the public.
One of the challenges was… how do you make an individual generic enough but also interesting?? It became obvious to us that we could not use a human shape, because… yeah, let’s just not go there. From the world of birding, the epitome of generic is the “little brown jobby” and so I drew inspiration (pun intended) from the shape and colouring of a female towhee. Then I decided to go with a small owl (a Saw Whet Owl) to represent the researchers and academia. Using pen and watercolour, I created the drawings and then composited them together and cleaned everything up using Adobe Photoshop. I added the text using Adobe InDesign, and Paige and I co-edited the text used in the illustration to make sure that it would all fit the layout but still express the original intended message.
I was also able to give Paige each component of the illustration separately, so she could use them in her blog and in a slideshow when she speaks publicly about her research.
This was a super-fun project, and Paige was delightful to collaborate with. I would absolutely love to work with her again.
Illustration Internship at Beaty Biodiversity Museum
I finished my classroom studies at California State University Monterey Bay in summer 2015, and in fall I returned home to Vancouver to begin my capstone internship in the exhibits and design department at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum.
Beaty Biodiversity Museum Entrance
My main project was to illustrate a representative of each of the six collections at the museum: Tetrapods (vertebrates excluding fish), Insects/Arthropods, Marine Invertebrates, Fish, Herbarium (plants), and Fossils. I was to illustrate each representative in a variety of ways for the education department, to make handouts for their school programs.
My first day was a Monday, and the museum was closed. I set out into the empty museum to survey the contents of the cabinets, and come up with a short list of subjects that my supervisors would help me to narrow down. In the end, we chose the hawksbill turtle, tarantula, chambered nautilus, white’s seahorse, salmonberry, and ammonite.
Over the next ten weeks, I worked at a spare desk in the design lab on my illustrations. For each specimen I made a colouring page, a how-to-draw page, a labelled scientific diagram, and in some cases a more fully rendered illustration. I drew some using ink, some graphite, and some I digitally rendered. Each was then formatted using a program called InDesign to add the museum’s logo and accompanying text.
I was also able to receive training in specimen handling, to participate in the opening of a major art exhibit, and to attend several events, such as a book launch for author Briony Penn, and a lecture by NatGeo photographer Paul Nicklen. It was such a privilege to work alongside the professionals who work at the Beaty. Now that my internship is finished, I am officially a graduate. I look forward to my upcoming freelance projects in 2016.
Here are a couple of my internship’s works in progress. The finished versions can be found on my B&W portfolio page.
