Technical Illustrators.org Forum

Hi all,

For those doing info-graphics, I was wondering where or how you get information to do these drawings? For example, as most wouldn't know all the facts about, say, the oil well explosion/leak in the gulf of Mexico that happened a couple of years back, or how one of the space shuttle tragedies happened (technically), how are these drawings done and in a "timely" manner? Who provides this info? Does the info come from reporters/researchers, as most info graphics seem to be published in newspapers and magazines. Or is it up to the illustrator to get all the "facts"?

Many years ago, I used to spend two days a week at a weekly magazine called "New Civil Engineer", illustrating stories for the news pages. I spent most of the day listening to the journalists on the phone trying to pin down the story and they would give me their notes and sketches to work from. They also had a photo library that sometimes had useful pictures-this was pre-internet so finding reference quickly is easier now than it was.

The purpose of the drawings was to give a visual explanation of complex events, rather than what we might consider fully detailed accurate cutaways so a certain amount of guessing was often needed. Since an info-graphic accompanies the news story, the journalist has to provide the information and the visual reference has to be sourced from wherever it can be found. It's a collaborative process and there's no hard and fast rule about who provides reference.

Obviously, the drawings have to be produced very quickly in order to meet press deadlines, but I always found fear and adrenaline got me through...