I've seen those before! The bottom set (with the coiled DNA and the mice) are my wife's illustrations. The process is interesting: both the mice and the DNA are 3D models rendered with Lightwave3D. Usually Jen (Scientific American's art director, and the author of the blog) creates a hand-drawn "sketch", then Emily creates the models and a rough "render", and then she and Emily go back and forth for several iterations of revisions.
Perhaps disturbingly to those who might take for granted the accuracy of the illustrations, a lot of time is spent searching the web for reliable references. Sometimes there are pre-existing line drawings from published papers, and sometimes it involves reading the text of the scientist's dissertation and trying to figure out what's actually happening. If anyone has questions on how the graphics are made, ask here and I'll get answers.
Or if you happen to be looking for similar custom scientific illustrations, here's Emily's website: http://cooperhawk.com.
Thanks! I never thought about how these drawings were made and your wife's website is very delightful to browse.
Does your wife get follow on work from the science community once a piece is published? For example, having the piece reproduced for conference journals.
She occasionally gets follow-on work with the original authors, but it doesn't seem that common. Reproduction varies for different publications, but usually she retains the reprint rights. I think she usually charges 10% of the original fee for anthologies and such. The original is usually priced by page size and complexity. An complex full page illustration like this one was probably about $2K, so reprint rights would be about $200.
Perhaps disturbingly to those who might take for granted the accuracy of the illustrations, a lot of time is spent searching the web for reliable references. Sometimes there are pre-existing line drawings from published papers, and sometimes it involves reading the text of the scientist's dissertation and trying to figure out what's actually happening. If anyone has questions on how the graphics are made, ask here and I'll get answers.
Or if you happen to be looking for similar custom scientific illustrations, here's Emily's website: http://cooperhawk.com.