Meeting Bob Tope

On the first Cornerstones science and art day, I was able to meet with scientific illustrator and photographer Bob Tope. Though I have tried to meet with other scientific illustrators, it's never worked out! Bob was such an inspiration to talk to; he gave me a run-down of his career and some sound advice on how to be successful in the field.




He started in his undergraduate career studying something along the lines of biology with a medical interest. While visiting with an advisor one day, his attention was caught by a large illustration in the professor's office. The professor noticed his interest and asked if he could draw, in which Bob replied that he could not. The professor then gave Bob a few writing excerpts from his travel journal and asked him to make several sketches based on what he read. When brought back, the professor said, "Congratulations, you just make a scientific illustration." From there, Bob changed his studies to medical illustration.

Out of school, he had the opportunity to meet with a few researchers doing arctic exploration at the Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio State University. He inquired about working for them as a scientific illustrator numerous times. Finally, the director realized that one of the prints he had hanging up in the office had actually been one of Bob's illustrations from when he made sketches for his professor (which had later ended up being published in a book). After many years at that career, he was offered a job at National Geographic as Senior Designer in the Cartographic Division. After that, he did commissioned work for a number of organizations.

One thing I noticed when talking to professionals in my field is that everyone seemed to get to their job by talking to people just by chance; this could be at a conference, on the job, anywhere. Opportunities often come up in unexpected circumstances.

Bob also told me about the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators which was founded at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. At some point in his career, he attended one of their conferences and though he was apprehensive about displaying his work there at first, he found that the crowd there was very supportive and gave constructive feedback. He later became the president of the organization and served on the Executive Board of Directors. He highly recommended that I take a Tuesday afternoon to go to one of their meetings at the Natural History Museum, mentioning that it would be a great networking opportunity for me in the field of scientific illustration. I have since emailed the organization but haven't heard back. It seems from their website that their next meeting, in the form of a lecture, is May 18th. Though that is the day before I leave for New York, I will end up making it anyways if I get my way! There is a New York chapter in NYC as well, so perhaps I can attend that at some point during the summer.

I also had him review some of his work and got the chance to flip through his field notebook. He thought highly of my work and thought I could make it in the art realm. Working on proportions is one piece of advice, something I am currently studying in my Drawing II class.