Ep 39: The Art of Science with Laura Canil - The Work

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We Love Science is closing out 2023 with another spectacular interview. In this episode we speak with Dr. Laura Canil, a freelance scientific illustrator with her own company, CanilVisuals. As a scientific illustrator, Laura takes on a variety of projects like creating figures to accompany journal articles, crafting catchy covers for journals, producing original scientific comic strips, and guiding others who need advice in developing their own beautiful and engaging designs. After receiving her Ph.D. in physics, Laura took some time off to plan her transition as a freelance scientific illustrator. There was a lot of fear and excitement during this time in starting her own company, but she took the jump and really enjoys her work creating visuals to accompany groundbreaking research. Laura also found a lot of support in the beginning from friends and colleagues she met during graduate school. Her network served as a receptive audience for constructive criticism during her early days testing the waters as an illustrator. For practice, Laura would select papers from people she knew and designed journal covers and other illustrations to accompany their research publications. This provided her with constructive feedback as she perfected her craft and built her portfolio to move on to the next step of reaching out to new clients. “It’s easier when you really like something because then you have all the motivation to go through the hard parts,” she explains.

Tune into this episode to hear Laura share her perspective on:

• Living and working outside of her home country
• Transitioning into a freelance career from graduate school
• Developing new skills to become a scientific illustrator
• Advice for those looking to take the jump

Reach out to Laura:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-canil-8a203819b/
X (formerly Twitter): @laura_canil

More about CanilVisuals:
https://www.canilvisuals.com/

If you enjoyed hearing about Laura’s work, you might also enjoy:

Ep 32: We Love Birds Too!

Ep 20: Who Should Art Represent - The Work

Ep 8: The Pen is Mightier than the Pipette - The Work

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