The results are not only beautiful, they're the most efficient way to record field observations.
Another reason artwork is so important in this age of photographic imagery is that illustrations can select and enhance features that photographs can’t. In this photograph of the skull of Daemonosaurus, it is very difficult to ignore the substantial cracks and deformation due to preservation. The line drawing makes it much easier to discern what is bone and what is rock.
Scientific American blogger Kalliopi Monoyios says, “Illustrators can ignore color variations and minor cracks and complete missing sections based on other specimens; essentially, we act as editors, pruning extraneous visual information.”
Read more at:
5 Reasons Your Camera Won’t Steal My Job.
Wired article on the value of field notes
Credits:
Monoyios’s art/science blog is called “Symbiartic.” The blog’s co-author is Glendon Mellow. Photograph by Chip Clark courtesy of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Skull illustration by Sterling Nesbitt. Thanks, Kalliopi and Darren.
