The more information about your project you can provide me up front, the better!

Please include:

• Type of project: Journal cover, figure, etc.

• All deadlines or important dates: If you don’t have an external date to meet, please still provide me with a reasonable timeline for project completion.

• Your science: A manuscript, proposal, or article draft, or equivalent resource is highly preferred for all projects.

• Cost expectations: The scientific funding landscape is more uncertain than ever today. I’m happy to work with anyone on finding a rate that works within their budget.
  
  **Note: I cannot provide an accurate quote for journal cover art if the deadline, basic scientific concept, preferred artistic style and journal name are not all provided first!

No matter the type of graphic, giving me some details about the research is crucial. This typically requires the disclosure of at least some unpublished information. A full manuscript or proposal draft is always preferred as even if it’s still in progress, it will be extremely helpful for me.

I will never share any unpublished information with anyone,without your permission, at any stage of the process.

Not only does a manuscript allow me to get the full story of the research and its goals, it also provides all of the scientific details I need to get started – things like chemical structures, equipment, methods and processes, and literature references I can read to understand the work more deeply. My research background means I know how to read scientific papers and being able to do so is crucial to my workflow. Providing me with more information up front also means less time emailing back and forth about the science and more time I can spend on drafting creative concepts.

I’m not a reviewer – I won’t ever judge the state of your work. However, if you don’t feel comfortable sharing full drafts, an abstract that covers the key scientific concepts and your willingness to answer my questions will also work.

While AI can be useful in many everyday applications, images created with AI are not a replacement for human creativity. It’s not preferred, but I’m ok with using generated images you provide as a jumping off point, if need be.

I will not outright recreate images generated with AI and I do not use generative AI in my final images.

Part of hiring a human scientific illustrator means entrusting them to come up with new and engaging ways to communicate your science!

• 3D Images: Blender, with final designs sometimes arranged in Photoshop; 3D molecular structures drawn and exported as PDBs in Avogadro 2 and imported with the Blender plugin “Atomic Blender (PDB/XYZ)”

• Vector Art and Figures: Adobe Illustrator

• 2D Illustrations: Procreate + iPad Pro + Apple Pencil, with some elements done in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop