May was required to complete an internship as part of her certification in Science Illustration. As she pondered the possibilities, she thought of JN Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island. Her parents own a home on the island where May had spent a lot of time…she fell in love with the area. May reached out to Toni Westland of Ding Darling and Toni gladly accepted. May’s primary project while completing her internship was to create a wildlife poster on plastic pollutants, which is still used at the Refuge and even given to educators for free to share the importance of conservation and environmental protection. Those ideas resonate with May after her time at Ding Darling.
Also during her time at Ding Darling, a local newspaper published an article about her. The article caught Joe attention as May sounded like the perfect illustrator for the Ospreys project. Joe was a docent at Ding Darling for many years so both share a passion for wildlife. Joe reached out to May and the rest is history!
The program utilized all types of mediums and offered May the opportunity to get experience with digital art, which is what she uses primarily today. Apple Pencil was one of the first tools she used, but now uses Wacom Cintiq. This tool allows her to draw digitally. Ospreys in the Outfield was illustrated using Wacom Cintiq. May was required to do an internship as part of her certification program, and was able to arrange the internship with Toni Westland of JN Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island. May had been coming to her family’s home on Sanibel Island for many years and fell in love with the area. During her time at Ding Darling she created a wildlife poster on plastic pollutants, available to educators for free. May’s time at Ding Darling, specifically her poster project, created a passion for conservation and environmental protection.
