UNDERWATER SNORKEL TRAIL
In 2020, I had the unique opportunity to work with the Virgin Islands National Park to illustrate 17 wayside panels. This wasn’t your typical trail—the panels were to be printed on glass, mounted on cement blocks, and placed along a popular underwater trail for snorkelers in Trunk Bay, USVI.
The panels were installed by park staff in September 2021 (swipe to see more photos!).
Explore the illustrated panels below (tap to zoom).
Process
As you can imagine, I was thrilled to work on this project, especially with my background in marine science (BS Marine Biology, UC Santa Cruz). There were a few caveats, according to park staff:
- The illustrations needed to be in black-and-white, or two contrasting colors, because the visible spectrum tends to attenuate with depth. The panels would be installed at depths ranging from 10–20 feet.
- The descriptions needed to be short and punchy, to be engaging and accessible to visitors from the world over.
- The panels needed to describe and inspire conservation of the reefs, and encourage visitors to “leave no trace.”
- I couldn’t travel to the park because of COVID-19 restrictions. In the interim, park scientists would provide underwater videos and photos.
At the start of the project, I provided park staff with samples of different illustration styles using white on dark blue background. They chose one of the middle options with white outlines.
I rendered the final artwork in Adobe Illustrator, using a combination of white linework and shading to capture the three-dimensional forms. It was interesting to work in reverse, using the dark background for the darkest areas. Then I used InDesign to arrange the art with text descriptions.
Someday, I’d love to turn these into full-color illustrations!
Update: In April 2024, I visited the park while on vacation. It was incredibly inspiring to see hundreds of visitors at the park, even on a cloudy day. The more adventurous snorkelers would dive down to see the panels a little closer. Ecotourism in action!
