DM: What have you been doing since you completed your certificate in botanical illustration?
JD: I'm working as a freelancer, mostly for private clients. Recently I've completed an annelid illustration for a research paper and botanical labels for a line of herbal products. I've also taken on the role of Social Media Coordinator for the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators (GNSI). On the personal side, I've gotten into printmaking - it has been a while since I have gotten to explore a new medium, especially one that lends itself to detail work. It has been a lot of fun.
DM: Do you still want to join a scientific expedition as the illustrator?
JD: Absolutely! It will always be a little dream of mine. In the meantime I'm enjoying sketching on my own trips.
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ballpoint pen ©JennDeutscher2018
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JD: I'll always have a soft spot for skulls and bones. They just have such interesting topography.
DM: Tell me about your illustration process.
JD: Whenever I have an idea for a work, I try to make a few rough sketches before anything else. I find it's easiest to figure out your vision before adding external ideas. After a few sketches I go out and research - both for visual references and scientific information. From there, it's a back-and-forth between working and researching, gradually building towards a final product.
DM: What are your favorite tools for work by hand?
JD: For technical work I love pencil or a Micron pen. Whenever I do personal work, though, I love Papermate InkJoy's ballpoint pen. It's a fairly standard office pen but is just delightful for sketching. I also have a fondness for oil painting and would love to work more in oils in the future.
DM: And for digital illustration?
JD: I do my digital work on a Macbook with an old Wacom Intuos 3. I've had that tablet for probably 10 years now and aside from one cable replacement it's still going strong. My favorite art program is currently Clip Studio Paint, though I still go back to Photoshop for text and complex editing.
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| Indian Smooth-Coated Otter©JennDeutscher2018 |
JD: My work in ballpoint pen has been unexpectedly meditative. I participate in a weekly drawing night at the American Museum of Natural History and have dabbled in many different mediums there. I decided to try out pen sketches for Inktober in 2016 - it's a community movement where artists work in pen and ink for the month of October. I quickly realized it was actually an improvement over my normal pencil work. I'm an artist who fusses a lot, and sometimes I get in the way of a work's progress for the sake of getting a few lines just right. In pen I'm forced to simply keep moving forward. As a person with a lot of anxieties and hesitations in my daily life, it has been a nice reminder that sometimes you just need to keep moving on and improving as you go rather than trying to get everything perfect on the first try.
website: www.alithographica.com
website: www.alithographica.com
Jennifer (Jenn) Deutscher is a scientific illustrator from Phoenix, AZ. She spent much of her childhood outdoors and became fascinated with the beauty and mystery of the natural world. Part scientist and part artist, Jenn uses art as a way of documenting her observations. Her works encourages viewers to appreciate and rethink the world around them.
Jenn now resides in Brooklyn, NY with her ever-growing plant collection. After graduating from New York University in 2015, she completed a Botanical Art & Illustration certificate at the New York Botanical Garden. She is now a full-time freelance scientific illustrator and fine artist., and acts as the Social Media Coordinator for the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators (GNSI).
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| Julia Ruth-Garlic (Allium sativum), Jenn Deutscher-Salamander (Phaeoceros pearsonii), Maria Giuliani-Pelican (Pelicanidae sp.), Donna Miskend-Rose Poseidon (Rosa poseidon) |
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