What does a scientist illusttaor do? I wanted to be one when I was little, and even though I have different dreams now, I still practice drawing plants and animal around me as best I can when I'm at parks and such.
This is going to be really silly, cuz I know objectively it's an important job, but like, um, what do scientific illustrators do for science aside from make realistic illustrations for animals? What exactly does the kob entail? Is it fun? Sorry my question was definitely worded rudely I'm not quite sure how to ask it I just genuinely want to know how scientific illustrator niche fits into the wonderful world of science!
[Velwyrm: Hello there! Scientific Illustration, although not outwardly impacting research, is a fundamentally incredibly important part of the school of science! I’m glad you asked, because there is SO many amazing things that you can do with this skill.
Scientific Illustration is the skill of drawing accurate, precise drawings of scientific diagrams (bio, chemistry and physics all use these). They can be very simple, such as those seen in textbooks, or incredibly detailed, like many of the dinosaur illustrators we see today that use the most updated information available to visualise what the animal would have looked like. This is very important in the context of museum specimens and paleobiology, as fluid preserved specimens quickly bleach & loose colour, and bones can only help people visualise an animal so much.
Scientific Illustration is also used outside of the context of scientific research (though it is used in various papers and posters to gain funding, e.g. in medicine). For example, in advertising, marketing, raising money for volunteering organisations (clearing invasive species — sometimes illustrations are vastly clearer than photographs when IDing) and childrens books, or animal dictionaries that I used to love reading as a kid!
If you or anyone else is thinking of pursuing this career or hobby, then helps to have a degree in biology or other sciences (especially illustrating for medical purposes), but you don’t necessarily need one if you’re very very lucky. There’s a few short courses on Skillshare for animal illustration if you want to give it a try, but I personally would recommend getting a degree in one of the sciences though as it would open a lot more doors and opportunities.
Art and science truly do go hand in hand!]
