1. The art of
science
62 November 2016
Careers The Insider

2. Our picture editor
Emma Sargent meets the
illustrators making their mark
in science communication
Communicating science is an art form in itself,
and one that isn’t just limited to clever wording
or a good turn of phrase. Supporting visuals are
important to explain complex ideas and translate
research into visually engaging, scientifically
accurate stories. Whether it’s a humorous
cartoon, complicated scientific concept or a
factual statement that needs illustrating, there’s a
growing number of scientific illustrators out there
ready to take on the artistic challenge.
Conceptual imagination
Modern science is increasingly focused on what’s
going on at the molecular level, and illustrators
have to follow suit. Barth van Rossum is a
research scientist that works at the Leibniz-
Institut für Molekulare Pharmakologie in
Germany, focusing on molecular pharmacology
and researching structural biology of proteins
using NMR techniques. ‘I’ve always had a
strong passion for illustrating,’ says Van Rossum.
‘Although during my studies I found I was
spending less time illustrating and so it got
pushed to the background. After several years
of research I think the “creative me” simply got
frustrated and wanted to get out.’
While Van Rossum does find science a
creative endeavour, he admits that it still left him
unfulfilled artistically. ‘It’s not the same sort
of creativity that is involved in the process of
illustrating,’ he explains. ‘I was fascinated and
inspired by the beautiful animations that artists
and scientists had created to visualise various
cellular processes at the molecular level. I could
only think that I wanted to be able to do that
as well.’
With a background in physics, Van Rossum
naturally started experimenting with software
packages that are used for 3D rendering and
animations. ‘I was able to come up with half
decent illustrations and 3D renderings fairly
quickly, and started to get very positive feedback
from colleagues and fellow scientists,’ exclaims
Van Rossum. ‘This kept me going in pursuing
my dream to become a professional scientific
illustrator and animator.’
The majority of requests Van Rossum
receives are for press releases and cover artwork
for research groups. In his spare time, Van
Rossum is helping a company produce a series
of animations, although having a full time job
does limit the amount of time he can spend on his
freelance work each month. ‘My dream though is
that one day I can make scientific illustration and
visualisation my full time profession,’ he says.
Barth van Rossum’s work includes:
1. Artistic impression
of Helicobacter pylori
2. Use of xenon nanocarriers
as MRI contrast agents
3. Cover illustration for Advanced
Healthcare Materials
4. Cover illustration for ACS Nano
5. Visualisation of the auto-
transportation of Yersinia adhesin A
©BarthRossum
21
3 4
5
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CAREERSTHE INSIDER

3. Drawing translations
Anna Tanczos has already made the leap. The
co-founder of SciComm Studios, Tanczos
studied chemistry and worked in a lab before
completing a masters and PhD in molecular
modelling at the University of Surrey, UK. ‘I was
really drawn to the visual aspects of science,’ says
Tanczos. ‘I really liked building models of things,
seeing how drugs interact with proteins. During
my research downtime I’d make pictures of
molecules while waiting for something to finish
calculating on my computer.’
Surrey started to use some of Tanczos’ pictures
in their chemistry promotional materials, which
led on to her making pictures for other academics
in different research areas within the university.
Gradually, Tanczos became more interested in
science communication. ‘By the time I finished
my PhD, I ended up going into outreach and
using the visuals to try and persuade kids that
science is funky,’ she says. ‘Some [scientific]
ideas can’t be seen, so rather than trying to put
them across in words and relying on people
using their imaginations, it doesn’t always work,
you can show it in two dimensions, showing the
exact things you are looking at, which gives that
extra level of detail and helps people in their
understanding of it.’
Tanczos went on to set up SciComm Studios
with business partner Martin Delwood. ‘I was
lucky to have a part time job [at the university],
so that I was still being paid whilst building up
the company,’ she says. Their first job together
was to produce a planetarium film for the
British Science Association for a science festival
in Guildford. ‘It was a huge undertaking, which
we hadn’t fully appreciated at the time,’ says
Tanczos. ‘It was a 20 minute animation on the
journey of caffeine through the human body,
watching the caffeine being drunk through to
it being broken down, with an aim of hitting
A-level biology and chemistry syllabuses.
That was our first big job and how we set up
the company.’
SciComm Studios is now a well-established
company, Tanczos explains. ‘Some clients know
what they specifically want straight away, others
may need more help to get the idea out of their
head. Every job is different really, sometimes
it’s quick, other times it’s more drawn out.
The main challenge is getting to the bottom
of what they want to communicate. If you can
understand that early on then you can work well
[with the client], it only becomes difficult if that
drifts or it’s not clear what they want in the first
place,’ explains Tanczos. ‘There’s also a certain
challenge that comes with working with other
people from cross-disciplines, as they don’t
necessarily have the same vocabulary.’
Van Rossum agrees. ‘I think the biggest
challenge when translating science into a picture
is deciding how much artistic freedom you can
afford and how to clearly communicate what
is based on science-fact and what is based on
science-fiction. There’s a balance that’s needed
between art and science, and these decisions
depend very much on the audience that is going
to watch an animation or see the illustration.’
This is where previous experience working
in a scientific environment pays off, Van
Rossum says. ‘I can read and understand the
corresponding publication and I am able to play
with ideas, both artistically and scientifically.
Ideas in the scientific visualisation process come
up more naturally when the artist understands
exactly what the scientist wants to express.’
Anna Tanczos’ work includes:
1. A caffeine molecule
2. Viruses attacking a cell
3. Monoclonal antibodies
4. An illustration of polymerisation
5. Explaining p orbitals
My ideas are just exaggerations
of my own experiences. It’s easy
with academia, as it has a lot of
absurdities that you can make
fun about
©AnnaTanczos/SciCommStudios
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64 NOVEMBER 2016
CAREERS THE INSIDER

4. Finding the funny
In some cases, the best way to get a point across
is with humour. Nik Papageorgiou, a science
journalist at the École Polytechnique Fédérale
de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, runs a
successful cartoon blog in his spare time called
Upturned microscope. ‘It happened
really through chance and
necessity,’ he says. ‘I
was in between jobs in
2011 and started doing
some freelance work
as an author with the
BMJ. I was looking
for a way to fill my
time doing something more
creatively while looking for jobs and
started putting together some comics
and thought I might as well post them
online to see what happened.’
The result was traffic to his blog increasing
100-fold. ‘I remember thinking “hey, there’s
something here, maybe I should start doing
a few more of these,”’ Papageorgiou recalls.
‘I’ve discovered that a funny comic in three
panels can have a much bigger voice and be a
lot louder than a thousand word article. Images
travel much more easily across the internet
than words.’
Papageorgiou has gathered a wealth of
qualifications and experience over the years,
including a degree in human physiology, a
masters in biochemical pharmacology and a
PhD in the biomedical sciences and cell biology.
He then researched cancer epigenetics as a post
doc, before moving into pharmaceuticals and
working in drug development.
‘A lot of my ideas are just
exaggerations of my own experiences,’
he explains. ‘It’s easy with
academia, as it has a lot of
absurdities that you can just
take apart and make fun about
– and that’s okay.’
Papageorgiou quickly went from using
illustrations to play out his own experiences to
producing illustrations for paying clients. ‘I was
initially asked to draw some illustrations for a
science book that they were going to publish
at EPFL, basically looking at each chapter
and drawing something funny.’ This led to
producing a comic strip for the EPFL campus
magazine, and for Chemistry World. ‘People come
to me mostly when they want to use humour to
illustrate the culture of academia, exaggerate
something or showcase something that is wrong
with the academic world. And there’s plenty!’
he says. However, science and humour doesn’t
always mix together well. ‘[The client] usually
wants something that is educational and attracts
people’s attention, while at the same time it needs
to deliver a punchline. Sometimes science doesn’t
offer that up very easily.’
Getting out there
So what should you do if you’re interested in
launching a career as a scientific illustrator?
‘Learn the software and be passionate about
it,’ advises Van Rossum. ‘The internet is a great
resource for finding tutorials, for every technique
there will be multiple teaching materials available
online.’ However, it’s important not to get carried
away, he says. ‘Start small, don’t overrun yourself
by trying to learn little bits of everything. You are
better off trying to learn a few things properly
and slowly expand your skills.’
‘I was much more interested in a slower, safer
launch – picking up clients and slowly building
up the work before giving up the day job,’ agrees
Tanczos. ‘Although it does get very difficult
when it approaches the point where you are
ready to part with the day job and
start focussing on your own thing, as
you end up being overworked. You
have to work out when it’s a good
time to jump ship and
take the plunge into your
own company.’
Papageorgiou would also advise taking a
cautious approach to anyone looking to move
into illustration. ‘Make sure you have something
else to fall back on, as it’s a niche world and
science is still trying to figure out how it wants to
communicate to the world,’ he says. ‘Draw from
your own experience – if you’re a biologist, don’t
try to take on physics or engineering, because
you don’t know what they go through, it’s a
different culture. Start experimenting – get a
blog and get things out there, the internet is
a great platform as you can publish anything
and just see how it resonates with people.
Don’t ever think it’s impossible, go out there
and try it for yourself!’
ready to part with the day job and
you end up being overworked. You
have to work out when it’s a good
time to jump ship and
take the plunge into your
own company.’
©NikPapageorgiou/TheUpturnedMicroscope
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CAREERSTHE INSIDER