Why scientific illustrations are essential

And why there is NO drawback having them done professionally.

Yes, I am convinced that there is NO DRAWBACK at all. Not even the fact that you as a Scientist need to pay someone doing them for you.

Of course one could say I claim this, because I am a Scientific Illustrator & make a living from this as one of my services.

I will bee honest & tell you: yes, this is true.

BUT! I started this business because I was in academia myself, did a PhD & realized that it is crucial for Scientists to have proper visuals & they mostly cant do it themselves.

I wanted to be of value to the world, science and humanity, so I decided to provide this service as a result of realizing its important need.

Scientists & Life Science Companies need illustrations for:

publications, grants, presentations, talks, reports, webpages, social media, journals, magazines, press releases, investor meetings, pitch decks, banners, marketing material & more.

And most of them simply cant do it themselves. I repeat myself here on purpose ;-)

So: there is nothing wrong with making a living, earning money by providing a solution to a problem & delivering a great service by delivering scientific illustrations.

Imagine each tobacco company makes money by selling dangerous products to humans. Every brewery, wineary & liquour place sells us basically toxic poison. & dont let me get started with all the food products being pumped full of sugar :D All these companies make a living from it & and there are people selling these products to other people. Causing harm.

So, if you are a scientific illustrator & ever doubted or felt bad to provide such a service, or if you feel discomfort about pricing a certain range:

I can assure you, you provide more value than most corporations these days. & you are needed.

Let me present to you some more thoughts on why it is okay to get paid for it. Why a scientist or a company actually ONLY benefits from hiring you.

And if you are a Scientist reading this, read carefully what price you are willing to pay for yourself, your career, life and your science :-). Because, when it comes to making a scientific illustration for your work, you will pay either way.

It is your choice with what you pay, choose wisely:

You can pay with money & hire someone & have a brilliant illustration + visibility + get the grant + publish higher + use it everywhere & be remembered.

You can pay with stress & your health, cos you will feel pressure to make it yourself, knowing that you dont have the skills for it. Resulting in a suboptimal outcome.

You will pay with your time, cos it will take you much longer + distract you from your actual work & doing science. & if you do it in your free time: lost time for family & friends.

You will pay with your reputation, or lets better say: not expanding it more & make yourself known for your excellent science.

You will pay with your visibility, because you won’t stand out from the masses of hundreds of scientific articles being published every day.

The question to you, the Scientist is:

would you rather pay with money & get a professional scientific illustration, or pay with your health, time, reputation or visibility for not getting yourself help?

The question to you, the Scientific Illustrator:

do you see the value you bring? How much worth your services are? That you solve another persons problems & make their life better?

I would love to hear your thoughts about this topic! Also feel free to share any experiences, worries & comments.

Love,

Daria