It’s still summer where I live (though not for long – we’re at 7200′ in elevation!). The bees and wasps are honing in on crab apples falling in my yard and arugula bolting in my garden. A bumble bee I spotted the other day reminded me of some bees I drew a while back, and I went digging for my sketchbook. Continue reading Sketching Tip: Insects
This is a simple short cut for situations when you have a complicated landscape to draw, and you don’t feel up to it, or don’t have the time.
I recommend a wet-erase marker (like the ones that used to be standard equipment when using an overhead projector). These markers will enable you to re-use your window, along with ensuring that your sketch doesn’t smudge (as might happen if you use a dry-erase marker).
The basic idea here is to “trace” the scene outside your window. Really, that’s it. 🙂 What you get from drawing on a window, though, is a bit more nuanced.
When you are looking for great images to communicate about science, the internet is a treasure trove. But it is easy to overstep legal and ethical boundaries.
This article is the first in a series aimed at helping you enhance your #scicomm and #sciart by avoiding #visualplagiarism. It will do so by laying out some best practices for dealing with images (which are, by their nature) visual intellectual property protected by copyrights.
NOTE: I am not a lawyer, and no part of this article or series should be construed as legal advice.
Please chime in, in the comments or by contacting me, if you have suggestions for how to enhance this article or the series.
After all, something like 50% of our brains are keyed in to visual stimuli. And, more than ever, compelling images are easy to find on the internet. That makes the internet a powerful #VisualSciComm tool.
However, like most tools, how you use the internet to source images can have serious implications — in this case for your outreach, reputation, and efficacy. Continue reading Tips for ethical and legal use of images in science presentations and other science communication (Using Images-A Best Practices Primer, Part 1)
In October 2018, I published a commentary in Nature which synthesizes many of the key points in the guide below. You can view that open-access commentary here.
Click to download PDF version.
I’m collaborating with the coordinator of a series of undergraduate Animal Biology labs this semester.
She is interested in integrating drawing more fully and effectively into the work that instructors and students do in those labs. The rest of this post provides context on what we’re aiming for, as well as a lot of resources I’m sharing with her. Continue reading Suggestions for integrating drawing into university-level biology courses
