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You earned a bachelors degree in Biology from the University of Utah (US) in 1975. As an undergraduate you had the
opportunity to work as a teaching assistant in zoology and cytobiology. Is this where your passion for this work
began?
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The teaching experience combined with a difficult course I took at about the same time in comparative anatomy had a
major influence. The anatomy course which was taught by a professor with great passion, clarity and humor made
anatomy seem like the most fascinating subject in the world. The course required what seemed like an infinite
amount of memorization so I decided to learn by making detailed drawings of the dissections. This is when I
discovered that I learned faster and facts stayed with me longer when I drew what I saw. I was learning how to
learn, while at the same time involved in the process of inspiring others to do the same.
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This sort of information seems rather specialised and unique to the scientific community. For those of us without
a background in Biology, the subjects seem rather daunting and overwhelming. Yet your movies reflect a practical,
real-world approach to that allow a new user to easily follow along and interact with the different elements. How
do you achieve this?
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I suspect what I do is show the process of how I explain things to myself. Whenever I find myself faced with the
challenge of illustrating a difficult concept I start way back at the beginning with the most basic of information.
I want to see things happen, I want to know how things work, so I try to show it to others.
In the Biology of the Goat animations some biological concept is applied to something that goat owners know. They
can learn a little chemistry while watching how milk is created in the udder, or molecular biology when learning
how goats digest food, without even realizing it or being intimidated by it.
The goat animations are being appreciated by older kids who are in the 4-H program or homeschooled as well as being
used by University professors to teach some of the subjects in their classes. I think this probably makes me most
satisfied, knowing I accomplished what I started out to do. Bringing biology within the reach of others by making
it interesting.
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In 2004 you illustrated Basic Virology, Wagner & Hewlett, second edition, Blackwell Science (and the first edition
in 1999) under the direction of author Dr. Edward K. Wagner from the University of California, Irvine.
In the acknowledgements, Dr. Wagner stated "K. Christensen used her considerable expertise and incredible skill in
working with us to generate the art. Not only did she do the drawings, but also she researched many of them to help
provide missing details." Do you find that a strong foundation in the subject helps you with the creative process?
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In my opinion an illustration teaches a concept. I can't possibly explain something to someone else if I do not
have a complete understanding of the subject myself. Over the years I've collected a large library of biology
books. I go to every source I can find to be certain that I have even smallest details correct. I usually have
about a dozen books opened up, stacked on top of each other on my desk and on the floor. I think I'm always
"looking things up." I enjoy this part the most, I think. Learning stuff.
I have a personal interest in life cycles of small things, viruses, parasites, bacteria. I spend alot of time
researching those subjects and creating animations on them just for the fun of it.
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You have been creating professional illustrations for many years. Did you orginally train to be an artist?
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Way back in my prehistoric years of high school I had planned on going to art school. I drew for as long as can
remember, horses and dogs mostly. I seem to remember that the goal of all young girls was to draw horses and I was
no different. I was selling dog portraits when I was a young teenager. Then in my senior year of high school,
while working on a portfolio required for admission for a major in art, I was invited to take the first genetics
course ever taught at a Utah public school. This was the turning point for me. From that one course I completely
changed direction and I decided I wanted to major in biology and be a geneticist even though I had no idea what that
was exactly. I've been lucky that I found a way to combine my two interests.
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When did you first discover Flash and what drew you to it?
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To be honest, Dr. Wagner discovered it. We had just completed the first edition of Basic Virology in mid-1998. He
sent an email one day and asked me if could look at this software (Flash 3) and a few examples that were posted on
the web and see if I could use it to create a series of animations showing the life cycle of Herpes simplex virus
which was the suject of his research. I got Flash and learned to use it by creating the Herpes animations. It
was like someone had created Flash just for me although I didn't know exactly what I was doing at first. The inital
set of Herpes animations were main-timeline based with countless layers. I don't know how I ever kept everything
organized. Somewhere in the third or fourth animation of the series I discovered how to use movie clips and then I
really started realizing the power of developing teaching animations in Flash. I think I've used Flash nearly
every day since.
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Did you receive formal training or did you teach yourself?
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I learned scientific illustration on my own. I did have some inspiration from an illustrator who supplied art for
publications in the lab where I worked as an electron microscopist. I admired her independent life-style -- working
from home, interacting with researchers in all fields. She loved her work and it showed in the quality. I studied
her illustrations to learn how she used design in producing simple things like charts and graphs. There is a real
art to creating the bread-and-butter work of chart and graph line drawings with definite rules that apply to show
data effectively and will reproduce well in journals. This was in the days of rapidograph pens, Leroy lettering
sets, t-squares, triangles, press-on textures, and lots of ink.
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There has been discussion on our list in the past about drawing directly in the Flash environment vs importing from
outside programmes. How do you handle this issue?
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I draw everything within Flash except for recently when I started incorporating Swift3D for some of the
illustrations that require more perspective and for some animation. I'm required to use Illustrator by most book
publishers and I get frustrated with it sometimes. I keep wanting to use symbols or quickly cut out one shape by
putting another shape or line over it. I like the way I can use gradients in flash and modify lines. In fact, I
usually turn to Flash when creating illustrations for the web as well as for some print magazines articles. I find
drawing in Flash simple, flexible, quick, there are lots of easy tricks and I can get some nice effects without
much effort.
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Is Actionscript an important element to your movies?
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Not really for the teaching animations, except that I rely heavily on the use of movie clips so most of the
actionscript is in having the MC's interact with each other and in some cases that can get fairly complex. I
stubbornly still use Flash 4 because it is so simple. I can concentrate on the animation rather than getting
frustrated with typing and debugging code. I have used version 4 action scripting more heavily in other projects
which are on a completely different subject. In fact I think I've managed to squeeze every ounce out of version 4
action scripting that's possible. When Flash 5 came out, I followed the feedback from users and decided that I was
too busy doing animations to have to spend time to relearn Flash.
Because I felt that I was quickly getting behind in Flash development I recently got MX2004. It's like a
completely different program so the learning curve for me has been slow. The animation capability is about the
same, as far as I can see, but the new actionscript is a little intimidating. I've added about a half dozen new
books to my shelf just trying to get a grasp of it. It's still a reflex action to open up version 4 whenever I need
to put together a quick animation.
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You have begun working with the 3D software, Swift 3D. Your 3D model "Wagon West" won third place in the swiftdev
August recognition awards in 2004. Do you use it in conjunction with Flash or do you see yourself transitioning to
strictly 3D software?
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I think there is some incredible work being done in 3D software so I've recently been spending some time learning to
model in other 3D software besides Swift. I can see a definite use for 3D in my future projects but more for still
illustrations. I prefer using Flash for web animations because the file sizes are small. I try to consider the
fact that many web users still use dial-up and many of my teaching animations are used by students in other
countries. Much of the animation created in 3D software is exciting, but the file sizes are too large to be
practical for the web and there isn't the capability for interaction like I can get with Flash.
I do like using Swift3D for creating static images and short animations to use in Flash. I consider Swift to be
more like a Flash plug-in which greatly adds to the animation capability. The one thing that disappoints me with
Flash is that the animation environment has not seen much improvement or change since version 3. Luckly many 3D
applications export swfs.
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What project are you working on now?
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I just found out a few weeks ago that I will be illustrating the 3rd edition of Basic Virology. All of the
illstrations from the first two editions will be completely revised using four colors. There will be another
series of animations to accompany the book all of which is scheduled to be completed by July 2006.
After completing my self-authored Biology of the Goat CD, I took the last six months off to work on my house and
make improvements on my little farm. During this time I've thought of at least 20 new animations I want to do to
explain more about biology. I'm developing scripts for a second volume of goat biology animations and several more
virus life-cycles. I've been working on an animation done entirely in Swift3D that shows the unique life-cycle of a
parasite that infects horned lizards that is carried by an ant. I thought the cast of characters will make this
interesting. I have more ideas than I will ever have the time to do them all.
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Rumour has it that you are now semi-retired, living the high desert of Yucca Valley, California. Are you enjoying
it?
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Oh, yes. I love the challenges and joys of living in the desert -- the extremes of weather, the interesting
wildlife, starry nights, peace and quiet. We have a forest of Joshua trees on the property. These trees grow only
a half inch a year which means that some of them are over 700 years old. It's definitely an inspiring place to
live.
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You seem to have a fascination for the life on farms in the late 1800's and your explorations into self-sufficiency
have led you to raising a variety ofdifferent animals including Nubian dairy goats. You have achieved an
interesting balance between thecyber and real worlds. Do they compliment each other?
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The cyber world has opened up my world and opportunities considerably. I think the internet is the greatest
invention of my life time.
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Ok, we have to ask...how many animals do you have and which are your favourites?
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I usually try not to count but between the goat herd, a donkey, a small flock of hens, a couple of geese, a few
feeder pigs, dogs and cats, not too many, but more than enough. I don't really have favorites, I like them all,
but I greatly enjoy the goats. They are interesting animals. They know their names, the routine, I think they are
beautiful, I love the babies and the fresh milk. It's hard to stop once you get into goats. I'm also quite fond of
my 10 year old goose.
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Karin, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and experience with us today.
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