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2021 Visual SciComm Conference

GNSI 21 Logo GIFLearn a New Skill, Make New Connections, Renew Your Passion! 

Core Conference: July 17–18, 2021; Workshops: July 24–25, 2021 

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2017 GNSI Educational Series Workshop: announcement

Celebrate California native plants, especially the plants of the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument Region! Join professional botanical illustrator Marjorie Leggitt for a three-day workshop that will increase your observational skills, your drawing techniques, and your ability to develop and complete an illustrated “field guide” composition in a medium of choice.

Begin the workshop with a guided field trip introducing native plant communities. After Marjorie demonstrates her field sketching technique for recording botanical data, spend time observing and sketching before collecting a favorite specimen. In the classroom learn step-by-step techniques for developing your sketches into more accurate renderings. Discover the magic of turning these drawings into an artistic and well-designed composition. Introduction to a few simple tools offers you the option to add scales and labels to your illustration.

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2016 GNSI Educational Series Workshop: review

GNSI Workshop 2017Ever tried to teach an old dog a new trick? How about teaching two-dimensional traditional artists how to create a three-dimensional sculpture digitally? But everyone who attended the 2016 GNSI Education Series Workshop, Leveling Up In ZBrush®, was up for the challenge. The class was taught by David Killpack, Principal & Creative Director at Illumination Studios who uses ZBrush for science and medical illustration. We gathered at Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne (IPFW) University in the Walb Union Building on October 29 and 30, 2016, for an immersion experience. The workshop was an intense, challenging, and inspiring two days of solid work, and under Killpack’s tutelage, it did not disappoint.

ZBrush, the brainchild of parent company Pixologic™, is a computer program that allows the user to build 3D and 2D models. Unlike many other programs, ZBrush gives the user the ability to manipulate the form with a mouse or stylus much like a sculptor would work in clay. The high-resolution models created in ZBrush are used by artists primarily in the gaming, movie and animation industry. “ZBrush is even compatible with 3D printers, so you can print your models and bring them to life,” explains a Top Ten Reviews staff writer (12-9-16).

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2015 GNSI Educational Series Workshop: announcement

Sign up now for a special 3-D digital illustration workshop with instructor Chuck Carter at the Innovative Media Research and Commercialization Center, the University of Maine, OronoOctober 23 through 25, 2015. The workshop "Visualizing Dinosaurs: Introduction to Science Illustration in 3-D" is sponsored by the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators as part of its continuing education series.

Participants will create a dinosaur scene in the 3-D program MODO®, learning how to render, add lighting, and make a series of images. The images will then be imported into Adobe®After Effects™ to explore basic animation, to create organic animation using the puppet tool, and how to use the 3D workspace to create a final animation.

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2013 GNSI Educational Series Workshop: review

GNSI Ed Series Workshop 2013It was a rare treat to spend four days with botanical artist Carol Woodin during the 2013 Education Workshop, “Painting Slipper Orchids in Watercolor” May 31st - June 3rd at the beautiful Reiman Gardens in Ames, Iowa. Carol is a wonderful botanical artist whose breathtakingly beautiful artwork has been exhibited and collected around the world. She has exhibited at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew and the Smithsonian in Washington, DC, and has her artwork in the Shirley Sherwood collection.

We had class participants come from Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan, Kansas, Iowa, Colorado, and Vancouver, British Columbia. One participant, Matthew Constant, is a very talented high school student who is looking into scientific illustra­tion as a possible career. This was Matthew’s first time working with vellum and his first time seriously working with watercolor paint. He has a lot of potentials.

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2012 GNSI Educational Series Workshop: announcement

2012 GNSI Workshop locationWe are excited to invite you to join us for the GNSI 2012 Education Series Workshop, June 22 through 26, at the Salish Kootenai College in Pablo, Montana, within the Flathead Indian Reservation.

Pablo lies near the center of this home of the Salish, Pend d’Oreille, and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT, http://www.cskt.org/) and is located 60 miles north of Missoula. It encompasses the Flathead Lake and River and the majestic Mission Mountains. This beautiful, mountainous western region provides workshop participants with access to rich and varied sets of human and natural resources near our workshop location; participants will be surrounded by the beautiful and diverse habitats of the region--its wetlands, mountains, and prairie, which will provide an awe-inspiring backdrop for exploration and art.

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2011 GNSI Educational Series Workshop: review

2011 GNSI Educational Series WorkshopThe “Illustrating Birds” workshop, held April 2-4, 2011, in Kearney, Nebraska, combined all the best elements of a typical GNSI education experience: intensive content that provides a great foundation for illustrative work, wonderful mentoring that promotes accurate and exceptional art, and artistic camaraderie that inspires all who participate.

Workshop participant and Susan W. Frank Scholarship recipient Nancy Gehrig summarized it well: “The Bird Illustration Workshop was a wonderful immersion into the world of birds. I really enjoyed the three days and feel I have a good sense of how to improve my work. The lecture on bird anatomy was a perfect start for me, and I found the sketching of the live birds very challenging. I am pleased to say that I am looking and thinking of birds a bit differently, checking out the anatomy and structure and thinking of the shapes and landmarks—thinking about which feathers I am seeing and that structure lies underneath. Linda Feltner is a marvelous teacher, and I really appreciate her passing on her vast knowledge and experience. It was a great class and a fun group of people. We even practiced figure 8 flapping!”

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2010 GNSI Educational Series Workshop: review

CLASSROOM OF STUDENTS AT WORK. PHOTO BY D. K.B. CHEUNGThe Smithsonian Natural History Museum was once again the setting for the 2010 GNSI Educational Series workshop, which took place March 18-21, 2010. Here, at an institution “dedicated to inspiring curiosity, discovery, and learning,” a wide diversity of participants from traditional media illustrators to scientists to comic book illustrators, gathered to engage themselves in new techniques that will help them succeed in an increasingly digital world. Many previous students returned this year to further refine their skills and take advantage of the diverse learning community.

Lessons were organized and led by Marie Metz, GNSI educational director and former Smithsonian Illustrator, Jennifer Fairman, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, and David Clarke, president of the Washington D.C. chapter of GNSI. The workshop began with a talk about the synergistic relationship between science/technology and illustration, by guest lecturer Dr. James Giordano, University of Oxford. Beginning with a discussion of prehistoric cave drawings and our innate human ability to communicate visually, Dr. Giordano explained the role illustration plays in the communication of scientific knowledge. He also gave examples of how illustration furthers science and vice versa. Participants left the lecture inspired and ready to begin learning.

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