Scientific Illustration Portfolios

Observational Work & Scientific Work

Work in this portfolio is paired with extensive research, thumbnailing, proposal forms, color and value studies, and more. These works are thorough and as accurate as possible, there is nothing speculative about this work. The purpose of the illustrations found here is to educate and improve the literacy of the subject and promote the conservation of the subjects (especially the fauna.)

Digital Illustrations

Coelacanths are a very sentimental fish to me, when I was younger I did a project on them, and for that I printed out a bunch of little silhouettes of coelacanth. My dad and I started hiding them around the house for eachother. I think maybe one of us hid one too well and we never found it and forgot about our little game.

This past year when I was visiting home from university I printed out about 40 more and hid them around the house.

Independent work. Late 2023.

This is a Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja), native to coastal Georgia, Florida, and surrounding states.Their striking pink feathers come from their diet. Crustaceans and other aquatic invertebrates that contain pigments called carotenoids that turn their colors pink, just like flamingos!!

Such gorgeous birds. I have yet to see one in Savannah.

Completed for ILLU345-01. Mid 2023.

My final illustration for my Historical and Contemporary ILLU class this Fall quarter, a piece observing the watercolor and ink artstyle of the legendary Jack Unruh.

I adapted his style for birds and rendering feathers to a (hypothetical) editorial illustration for the New York State Falconry Association’s article on falconer’s husbandry and equipment. Rendering this piece took nearly 5 hours, I’m very pleased with the result.

Completed for ILLU204-01. Fall 2023.

Let me introduce you to Babu! Babu is the Great Hammerhead Shark I am tracking using a bracelet I picked up yesterday called Fahlo! These bracelets are hand-made and come with a QR code to track a tagged shark, dolphin, sea turtle, lion, elephant, penguin, or giraffe!

I picked up a shark bracelet. Fahlo partners with Saving The Blue, the organization that tags the sharks and educating others about the importance of sharks and conservation of threatened marine animals on the coast! Babu was tagged last year outside of the Florida Keys, and using their app I can see where he goes everyday! Independent. Mid to Late 2023.

A piece exploring the anatomy and sexual dimorphism in Horseshoe Crabs, limulus polyphemus, following a behind-the-scenes visit at the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography and the University of Georgia’s Coastal Grant and Aquarium. I was able to closely study the fish that occupy the nearby reefs and learn how to identify them through their unique physiology. On April 29th, 2023 I was honored to be apart of their Georgia Coastal Flora and Fauna juried exhibition. Completed for ILLU150-01. Early 2023.

Notes are taken from the Skidaway Insitute of Oceanography. Traditional, done in a personal sketchbook and scanned. Completed for ILLU150-01. 2023.

This digital piece highlights the difference between horns and antlers, using the Alpine Ibex, capra ibex, and a White-Tailed Deer, odocoileus virginianus (order right to left). This was my final illustration for ILLU150-01, and was completed after six hours of digital painting and rendering. Completed for ILLU150-01. Early 2023.

This piece is a call-back to one of my favorite childhood spiders. There was always one of these at my bus stop growing up, and I remember their webs being so strong I wanted to explore it more as an adult. Through my research I found spider silk is the toughest fibre found in nature. When stretched or pulled, it can absorb more energy than steel or nylon without rupturing, and can be used to make bulletproof vests (isn’t that cool?). It is also biocompatible and can be used in the production of surgical thread and artificial ligaments. This piece was made in an independent project. Not for grade. Early 2023.

This piece was one of ten (out of 60 submissions) to be selected for a juried exhibition at the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography and the UGA Aquarium beginning April 29th, 2023. Here was my statement regarding this piece submitted:

I am a 20-year-old artist from Atlanta, Georgia. My whole life, I have been fascinated by nature, especially insects and arachnids. I remember always seeing these gigantic and graceful spiders build massive webs at my bus stop every morning. I was always fascinated by them, and as a child who feared a lot of things, I found myself strangely unafraid of them. Golden Orb Weavers are graceful, intimidating, and powerful forces of nature, with one of the strongest webs known in the natural world. Their silk is so strong it can be used for skin grafts and bulletproof clothing and can often catch things larger than moths and flies. There have been reports and photos of these strong webs catching small bats and birds.

While spiders are scary, they are some of the most fundamental predators and play a key part in managing insect populations. To say they are important is an understatement.

Traditional Illustrations

This was originally an illustration about the Gouldian Finch, tying this piece in with my sustained investigation on birds with colorful plumage.

You’ll see in my thumbnails, I was exploring avian influenza, H5N1, and honestly throughout the whole piece, it was intended to include a molecular illustration of the virus. I wanted to try out David S Goodsell’s approach to illustrating microbiology, a professor of Computational Biology Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology (a mouthful, right? I had to recheck my notes for this one), who has a gorgeous style of watercolor paintings of cell interiors. Not only is his work fun, it’s extremely pleasant to the eye (PLEASE check his stuff out.)

His paintings look deceivingly simple, and after many attempts I ended up having to move on from the idea when polishing this illustration. It made me really appreciate his illustrations even more. Perhaps one day I can reproach microbiology in my artwork (maybe plankton is a fun place to start? Now I’m just rambling at this point.)

I thought it would be interesting to highlight the sexual dimorphism in erythrura gouldiae, specifically in the head and lilac chest. This was completed through watercolor and colored pencils.

This piece was done with ink and quill. Placed with more than 9,300 dots over a period of nine hours. This piece is an exploration of the Rufous-headed Hornbill ,aceros waldeni, exploring their casque and large beak using a cross-section of their beak. Completed for ILLU345-01. Mid 2023.

Dry traditional media, colored pencil over a watercolor underpainting. Two independent illustrations of a Knobbed Hornbill, aceros cassidix, exploring their colorful plumage and magnificent beak. Completed for ILLU345-01. Mid 2023.

Paleo Art

Paleological in itself is a very speculative art. We take and draw animals from a time we as a species didn’t exist, therefore we can never truly know how these animals looked, so this art form can be untruthful or stretched, as in we can take our own creative liberties. For example, we can add feathers, colors, etc.

These pieces are mostly guesswork however are based on very real animals.

Speculative illustration of a dromaeosaurid with the feather colors of a modern-day Scarlet Macaw, ara macao. Digital Independent. Mid 2022.

Speculative illustration of a mated pair of mosasaurus hoffmannii. Digital Independent. Early 2023.

Speculative illustration exploring the head crest and coloring of a Dilophosaurus wetherilli in the marshlands of primitive Arizona. Digital Independent. Early 2023.

Two explorations of Lambeosaurus, lambei, and Giganotosaurus, carolinii, in speculative size reference to an adult female. Digital Independents. Late 2021.