How to paint your own blog images
This how-to session is led by Tatjana Jovanovic-Grove and Glendon Mellow:
Tatjana and Glendon would like to thank everyone for an interesting session! Post-conference notes below!
Take this workshop by a couple of professional artists and get started on illustrating your blog with your own art. Bring questions! Bring images! Bring tips!
(Thanks to Jessica Palmer for many of the notes below and her help with the direction of this workshop! We miss you!)
Discuss:
Visuals in any media are important, and can enhance a blog and hook the reader. We invite attendees to bring artwork or photo jpeg files we can work with, and questions about images online!
You don’t have to be a professionally trained artist to generate clear, information-rich images on a science blog. For example, take a look at the excellent, lucid illustrations done by two science bloggers who have never had formal artistic training at When Pigs Fly Returns and The Disillusioned Taxonomist. Dive in! Find a medium you are comfortable in, and make your blog pop.
Illustrating, painting or adding photos to a blog or website also doesn’t have to be a heavy investment in computer software and equipment. Before purchasing an amazing program like Adobe Photoshop (Glendon goes on and on), why not get your feet wet? Many free imaging resources exist online, such as Gimp, Fast Stone and Easy Graphic Converter.
We’d like to focus on how to best display art on your blog or website. Points may include:
Generating digital art
-scan actual artwork (dealing with large size, texture, etc)
-fix minor defects (in Photoshop, etc.)
-edit (in Photoshop, etc.)
-add text (in Photoshop, etc)
-use layers to merge images (in Photoshop, etc) – useful for watermarks, signatures, etc.
-tweak contrast, color
-resize to web-appropriate size (the importance of pixels)
-save for web, the most important tool you can use, at least in Glendon’s opinion!
Blogger-specific issues
-how do you work images into your blog – sidebar, header?
-structure a post around an image/how to let your image anchor your post
-using images to hook a reader – the importance of surprise and humor!
-Creative Commons Licences – what are they for?
-deal with copyright and rights; cite images you are using, and what constitutes fair use?
Working with scientific data
-designing an artwork to convey an idea vs. designing a straight up table or graph
-how to enhance your data visually – without crapifying it with extraneous garbage
-being smart about fonts/labels/legends – size, readability, pixellation, color, design elements
-giving your data a visual context so people can understand it
-etc. (think Edward Tufte type points)
Turning scientific data into images or figures palatable for the nonspecialist, with a dash of creativity!
Post-Conference Notes
Thanks everyone!
We’d love to hear from you. Please feel free to email Glendon questions at theflyingtrilobite (@) gmail (dot) com. Keep an eye on The Flying Trilobite for more tips post-conference. (Safe-for-work tips.)
