Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Hunter

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?

As a kid, I was a dreamer—lost in books, drawing, and daydreaming. I loved animals and nature and dreamed of maybe being a veterinarian, or a professional artist or writer. One year, I read the entire Reader’s Digest Guide to North American Wildlife cover-to-cover, wanting to learn more about plants and animals and which ones lived near me. Around that time, the author-illustrator Ruth Heller did a school visit at my elementary school, and for the first time I understood that making illustrations for a book could be a job. Fast-forward to my college years, when I was attending a small state school in the middle of Northern California and trying to decide what to major in; I’d figured out that I wasn’t a very good science student (I panicked at test time) and so being a veterinarian was probably not in the cards for me. After meeting faculty in the graphic design program, I fell in love with typography and chose graphic design as my major, thinking that someday I’d get back into illustration; I also minored in Spanish because I love the language. After graduation, I worked as a graphic designer and art director, but quickly realized that I probably wasn’t going to get to do any illustrations at the small agency where I worked. I quit my job and moved to New York for two years, where I worked retail, babysat, and did freelance design and calligraphy work to pay for classes at the Art Students League. Realizing that I wasn’t yet skilled enough to be hired as a professional illustrator, I applied for MFA illustration programs in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, and was rejected from every program I applied to, two years in a row. Eventually, missing the West Coast, I moved back to California, and discovered the science illustration program at UC Santa Cruz (now at CSU Monterey Bay). I met with the faculty there, applied, and got in. Even though I didn’t have a fine art or science background, my portfolio showed an interest in the natural world and an ability to observe things and accurately represent them on paper—skills that still serve me today. After completing the science illustration program in 2006, I interned at California Academy of Sciences, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, and Sally Ride Science; I ended up working for SRS for 7 years. Today I split my time between working as an illustration editor for the academic science journal Annual Reviews, and working on my personal artwork, which focuses on plant-pollinator relationships. I’m grateful to have a career where I get to work with scientists every day to illustrate their research, and also have time to create paintings that show my passion for native plants and their floral visitors.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?

Because my career path was not a straightforward one, there have been many times along the way when I have wondered, “what am I doing?” Before applying to the science illustration program, I’d never heard of that field—but once I found it, it was like coming home. I met people who were like me: scientists who secretly loved to draw; artists who wanted to know how to paint birds; people who read field guides for fun. There was a steep learning curve as I scrambled to learn the terminology that scientists use to describe the organisms they study, but my classmates were generous with their knowledge and I learned a lot from them. Working with scientists directly was intimidating at first, but I discovered that they were just people too, and were willing to explain things to me, if I was willing to ask for help. In my work for Annual Reviews, I cover a wide range of topics—Physical Chemistry, Cell Biology, Entomology, and Animal Biosciences—and so I still have to ask scientists, “did I get this right?” That will probably always be the case, and that’s ok.

My personal work is much more fine art-oriented, but it’s still grounded in scientific accuracy, so I’ve developed a network of scientists and naturalists who are generous with their time and answer all my specific questions (“would this bee visit this flower? What species of sphinx moth should I include here?”). It turns out that people who are enthusiastic about nature are happy to hear from people who share their enthusiasm! I’ve also benefited from the wisdom of my peers and from other fine artists who share their advice and perspective as I move my personal work away from straight illustration and more into the realm of fine art, which is a newer arena for me.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?

I’m a trained science illustrator with a background in graphic design. I split my work between fine art paintings depicting the natural world, and technical illustrations for an academic science journal (Annual Reviews). My personal work focuses on the interactions between plants and animals, with a special interest in plant-pollinator relationships. I also teach the occasional weekend workshop, giving classes in natural history, drawing, and painting.

Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?

I am a huge fan of the Ologies podcast! I love learning about new things, and to hear scientists talk about their area of study with such passion is so inspiring. And Alie Ward is a great podcast host.

My interest in plant-pollinator relationships was sparked by the wonderful book The Forgotten Pollinators by Stephen L. Buchmann and Gary Paul Nabhan, with illustrations by Paul Mirocha. I reread it every couple of years and always find something new; several of my paintings were directly inspired by this book.

But if we’re going all the way back, The Reason for a Flower by Ruth Heller is the book that started it all for me—I still find it inspiring decades later. I collect other picture books too, and especially love the series A Seed Is Sleepy, A Nest Is Noisy, etc., written by Dianna Aston and illustrated by Sylvia Long.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.eehunter.com
• Instagram: @erinhunterart

Image Credits

Photos © Erin E. Hunter