The Flying Trilobite

Skeptically Speaking Podcast #94 - Art and Science

In case you missed last week's Skeptically Speaking Podcast with host Desiree Schell:

This week, it’s an hour on the intersection between science and the creative arts. We’ll speak to Lauren Redniss, author and illustrator of Radioactive, a visual narrative about the work, life and love of Marie and Pierre Curie. Art historian Jenna Marie Griffith explains the historical influence of science on the visual arts. And we’re joined by Glendon Mellow, painter, illustrator, and author of the blog The Flying Trilobite, to discuss the tension between creativity and scientific accuracy.

My thanks to producer K.O. Myers and host Desiree Schell for the interview. A lot of fun, and great questions - one of them is edited out, and Desiree asked a question I was stumped to answer. Total brain freeze. The interview is also a good overview of the topics I raised at ScienceOnline11, though you'll have to wait for the video to see how David Orr, John Hawks and I handled even more than that.

After I speak, the segments with Jenna Marie Griffith and Lauren Redniss are fascinating.

- - - - - - - -

Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow

under Creative Commons Licence.

Sunday, 16 January 2011

5 steps to proper image use on blogs - a #scio11 tutorial

Something that David, John and I brought up today in our session about Science-art - and elsewhere here at ScienceOnline - is the need to properly credit images used on blogs. Here are my quick tips on doing it properly, to give image creators the credit they deserve.

This stuff is my opinion after a number of years as an image-maker online. I don't think there's a gold standard anywhere or a law that the Internetz Police will bust you over.

Go beyond Google Images or Wikipedia to the original photographer, illustrator or artist.
Check for a Creative Commons Licence*.
Ask. Just ask if permission is unclear.
Credit the photographer, illustrator or artist by name.
Link back to their site.

Saying "Credit: Google Images" is like saying "Credit: Someone on Earth".

If you search for more than 10 minutes online and cannot find the original creator and are desperate to use that specific image, perhaps put it up and ask your readers for help identifying who created it. A knowledgeable blog readership on a niche topic will often know.

Be prepared to take an image down if asked.

*A note about Creative Commons Licences: it means some sort of sharing is allowed, but the most restrictive licence still says a) You must credit the artist b) You must not alter the image in any way and c) You must not make any money from it. It's one of the reasons an artist may allow free use on a blog, but ask for money if it will be in mainstream media.

These are my opinion on the subject of credit: thoughts?
#scio11

- - - - - - - -

Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow

under Creative Commons Licence.

Wednesday, 12 January 2011

Science-art at ScienceOnline11

This weekend I'll be tweeting and blogging from ScienceOnline11 in North Carolina. It's my third year participating and continuing the discussion about science-related visual art.

The first year I raised the idea of science-art being somewhat parasitic on science - it's rare if ever that artwork directs the course of research. The group in session convinced me that much of art's value is in contributing to an atmosphere of inspiration.

Last year, I was joined by my co-moderator, Felice Frankel. We discussed the value of metaphor in science comprehension, and exploring visual metaphors as thought experiments.

This year, the session will be moderated by anthropologist-artist John Hawks and graphic designer, dinosaur-dynamo David Orr of Love in the Time of the Chasmosaurs and myself. You can see our official wiki page here.

David has posted an interesting starting point I want to explore a bit more. Wheels are spinning.

In his post David says,

But looking back at LITC as it has evolved, I realize that much of what I write about has to do with the line between the two. Glendon approaches it from a fine art background. I approach it from a design background and lifelong love of illustration.

This has me thinking a bit about the other difference between David's blog, my own, and John's. How "serious" the science is, and the type of artwork on it.

The artwork David frequently highlights on Love in the Time of the Chasmosaurs with regularity is dinosaur illustrations - and most often, out-of-date, erroneous, quirky and fantastical dinosaur illustrations. Take a look at this and this. (And don't miss these wonderful vector birds by David himself!)

Compare David's work to say, John's sketchbook. In both cases a deft hand and artistic skill is evident. However, if asked, which would you say is the more "serious"?

To remove the discussion from my colleagues art, please compare these two images of my own.

If you were studying a Red Knot, a shorebird sometimes seen in Cyprus, you would likely trust this image to some degree:

(Created for blogger-conservationist Dan Rhoads Migrations blog.)

I can tell you that the length of the wings is a bit long, but overall I was aiming for natural, scientific accuracy in colour and form.

Compare that to this Pink Parasaurolophus, a duck-billed hadrosaur with a magnificent crest/horn:

(Created for the Art Evolved Pink Dinosaurs for Breast Cancer Research Charity Drive.)

Would you trust this as a reference? Why not? What about each fold and contour along the pink dino's belly? Accurate? The width and length of the tail?

So then, what is the value of the Pink Parasaurolophus as opposed to the Red Knot?

In visual science communication, one of the most important roles for art to play is in hooking new minds into the science in the first place. At a conference like ScienceOnline, where everyone is already engaged and married to science already, the value of a pink dinosaur is set aside a bit, like an old toy. The Red Knot is sober, serious, striving for accuracy - it's important in a different way, as a reference and a study of the true form.

And that's what excites me about the panel this year. To paint everyone far too simply:
David Orr is the graphic designer, the toy-maker and introduction to science.
I'm the fine artist, metaphor-maker and science's distorted mirror.
John is the scientific illustrator, the study in clarity, the scientific backbone.

Can't wait to see who else joins in the session this year!

- - - - - - - -

Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow
under Creative Commons Licence.

Tuesday, 11 January 2011

Ana and her pet Opabinia

In the bit of time I have to sketch lately, I'm still working on characters and pages for my work-in-progress Trilobite Boy comic.

Here's another character, a child named Ana and her pet Opabinia, Opie. I may rename Opie "Oscar" later, I haven't decided. Opie feels too much like an "Iggy the Iguana" type of name. The colours here are a quick rough-in just to experiment. I may go with more of a greenish colour for the opabinia.

Ana and her pet invade Trilobite Boy's dreams, the alternate pasts he dreams about when he's enrolled. Shortly after she appears, Trilobite Boy wakes up.

If you're unsure as to what an Opabinia is (or rather, was) you can check out some info on Wikipedia here. I love using creatures like this (come on - it has 5 eyes!) from Earth's deep past to populate a story.

- - - - - - - -

Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow

under Creative Commons Licence.

Science-Art Scumble #9

Scumble:

"A painting technique in which semi-opaque or thin opaque colors are loosely brushed over an underpainted area so that patches of the color beneath show through."

From The Artist's Handbook, by Ray Smith.

A weekly digest to highlight some of the posts I found most interesting, most provocative, or otherwise caught my eye from the Science Artists Feed, and other sources. Sit back, have an espresso and enjoy.

Click here for earlier scumbles.

- - -
The Elephant Gallery, Art Evolved. Bimonthly paleo-art themed gallery. Don't miss cute/sad Craig Dylke's 3D mammoth and Lucy Walsh's highly detailed African elephant. Also check out David Maas's speedpainted entry.

Hello, I'm an Atheist: Awe, Science, Reason and Critical Thinking.

Of These Bones & Branches, this is the blog of Heather Thompkins.

Project Art for Nature: On The Edge, ArtPlantae Today. Important and impactful art+conservation event.

Is it art or a dorsal vertebra? , drip|david's really interesting pages. Ooo, an excellent question. Is context everything?

Sirius alabaster, Nobu Tamura. Breathtaking.

New Year... New Traumador, Weapon of Mass Imagination.

Lovely Weather, the End of Astronomy and the Need for ArtSci socio-economic indicators, Roger Malina. Are scientist and artist collaborations worth the money? Can that be determined?

Hendrick Avercamp and the "Little Ice Age", lines and colors.

The Street Anatomy Gallery Store is OPEN! , Street Anatomy.

Pilot and co-pilot fish, A Curious Bestiary.

Chromatic Adaptation, Gurney Journey.

- - - - - - - -

Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite Copyright to Glendon Mellow

under Creative Commons Licence.