Aug 27, 2026 · 26 min · 10 segments
Rebecca Jabs is a science illustrator and ARTservancy resident drawing, painting and printmaking migratory birds she’s seen at Forest Beach Migratory Preserve at life-size scale.
Rebecca JabsGuest
Xcaret NuñezHost
One of the advantages of illustration is that you have the ability to control both the pose and the lighting of the bird.
I have seen people take some absolutely beautiful photos of birds and they're very skilled at what they do.
And so both field guides with photography and illustration are both very useful for different reasons.
But what I like is the ability to portray, you know, male, female, juvenile, breeding plumage, non-breeding plumage, all right next to each other without the factors of pose and lighting.
And beyond identification, illustration gives us a means to describe processes beyond identification.
You know, we can have infographics that show us, you know, migration routes and patterns or different aspects of bird behavior or glow-throughs, things that show us what's going on inside a bird, such as, you know, how the woodpecker's tongue, you know, wraps all the way around it.
Yeah, and so when I think about the work that you do, when it comes to this project or maybe a project for a client, what do you need to be mindful of when creating a scientific illustration? And how do you balance that with creativity?
I think the biggest difference with science illustration versus the art that I do for a gallery exhibition is that the most important factor is accurate, clear, concise communication of information.
But what we're trying to do is help people to understand something that might be difficult to describe or visualize using text alone.
One of the advantages of illustration is that you have the ability to control both the pose and the lighting of the bird.
I have seen people take some absolutely beautiful photos of birds and they're very skilled at what they do.
And so both field guides with photography and illustration are both very useful for different reasons.
But what I like is the ability to portray, you know, male, female, juvenile, breeding plumage, non-breeding plumage, all right next to each other without the factors of pose and lighting.
And beyond identification, illustration gives us a means to describe processes beyond identification.
You know, we can have infographics that show us, you know, migration routes and patterns or different aspects of bird behavior or glow-throughs, things that show us what's going on inside a bird, such as, you know, how the woodpecker's tongue, you know, wraps all the way around it.
Yeah, and so when I think about the work that you do, when it comes to this project or maybe a project for a client, what do you need to be mindful of when creating a scientific illustration? And how do you balance that with creativity?
I think the biggest difference with science illustration versus the art that I do for a gallery exhibition is that the most important factor is accurate, clear, concise communication of information.
But what we're trying to do is help people to understand something that might be difficult to describe or visualize using text alone.
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