After more than twenty years as a researcher, says Gloria Fuentes, her brain was wired for science. But when her life\u2019s circumstances changed, she found a new profession where her knowledge of how the human body works and her passion to create could combine.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After becoming a mother, I was thinking, \u201cDo I really want to go back to research?\u201d And with two scientists at home\u2014my husband is a researcher\u2014I thought, it\u2019s not possible. We had been moving from job to job and country to country quite often. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At first I thought I might edit scientific text, but it didn\u2019t really click. And so I went to a course about illustrating science, and I thought, \u2018This is great!\u2019 Because I can keep reading science, getting inside the topics I like, and then translate this knowledge into illustration and animation.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hadn\u2019t thought of myself as an artist, but I don\u2019t think in the world of scientific illustration every visual has to be a piece of art. You need to know and communicate the science in order to put all these things into a visual that makes sense for the project. I find it trickier than writing sometimes.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a workshop called \u201cA Day of Art in Science,\u201d organized by Sci-Illustrate. It didn\u2019t cover much material, but it was a turning point: I realized I could do this work. I think these courses are good for revealing new career paths: you don\u2019t have to leave science if you don\u2019t want to do research anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, I really enjoy it. I never give up. Even when I was on maternity leave, instead of watching Netflix I was reading scientific papers. Today, I\u2019ve been burying myself in papers related to Covid-19 just like any other researcher. If you are drawing viruses and the cells they invade, you need to check the research papers to extract the information.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the time it\u2019s Photoshop and Illustrator. But I\u2019m learning 3-D modeling and animation, too. I use a program from Autodesk called Maya, which is expensive, but you can have it for free if you use it for educational purposes. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scientifically, one of the best people doing these educational animated videos is Janet Iwasa, an assistant professor of biochemistry at the University of Utah who also studied animation software in Hollywood. She\u2019s using these techniques that you use, for example, for moving the fingers of an animated character, and she applies them to proteins and cells.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do firms hire illustrators full-time, or do they mostly hire freelancers?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mostly freelancers. When it comes to scientific illustration, Singapore lags behind the United States and Europe. There, when you submit a paper or a grant, all these visuals are made professionally by illustrators. Here, it\u2019s considered to be unnecessary, or a job that a postdoc who\u2019s a little more artistic can do. So it\u2019s difficult here to convince people to give you a job, much less hire you full time.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did you get the cover for <\/b>Cell<\/i><\/b> magazine? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A friend of a friend told me they were looking for someone to create cover art for a scientific paper. They asked what other covers I had made, and I said, I\u2019m just starting out, I don\u2019t have any covers. They said they would go with an established company. I said, well, I have this idea of mixing the three main ethnic groups in Singapore to create a piece that represents the local diversity. I made one sketch and sent it in anyway and said, listen, this really resonates with the research paper you\u2019re profiling, and it could be artistically engaging. And it\u2019s completely different from your typical covers, which are more technical.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were other people working on the cover, but at the last moment, the paper was out much faster than they thought, and the only person who could deliver the artwork in time was me.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I worked long hours for a whole weekend. My hands were getting numb. In the end it was worth it. Everyone was very happy with it. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n