Yes, I wrote an entire white paper about being a data artist. AnametrixIt was for Anametrix before they were acquired by Ensighten and it’s called From Data Scientist to Data Artist:  Data Sculpting to Shape Business Insights.

But that’s not what this post is about. This post is about the wonderful Yevgenia Nayberg who is an artist who illustrated the Devil’s Data Dictionary.

Yevgenia is an Offset Illustrator according to this article on Shutterstock:
Inside the Artist’s Studio with Offset Illustrator Yevgenia Nayberg

It’s a discussion of her process and methods of creating art. Part observation and part interview, it’s a look inside the mind (and studio) of the artist.

“Style is much more than the way you lay your strokes,” she explains. “When you’re technically versatile, you find what to do with it. It’s a challenge to find clients who embrace your range. I want to keep an effortless style, a lightness of being in my work.”

In keeping with this “lightness of being,” she says she has to make an effort to not aim for perfection (her background is very academic). “I think it takes me more time to make it look like I don’t know what I’m doing in a way. Expectations have shifted; people want that playfulness, that effortlessness. It needs to look like you inhaled, did it in a second, and exhaled. If it looks like you were sweating, that’s not good — even if it’s anatomically correct or technically impeccable,” she says. “It’s hard work; it just shouldn’t look like it.”

You can see many of the full page illustrations, in process here:DDD in development

I have always loved Yevgenia’s vision and am so proud to have had the chance to work with her.

Share This
1