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Scientific Illustration: A learning journey through drawing

Lúcia Antunes, CIEBA - Faculdade de Belas Artes da Universidade de Lisboa

Scientific illustration is the visual expression of science communication, as useful as efficient to accurately convey complex scientific concepts.

From Leonardo da Vinci to Albrecht Dürer, the illustrated records of Charles Darwin's publications, and the illustrations of Casa do Risco (product of the late XVIII century Portuguese Philosophical Travels), drawing and illustration follow scientific developments and technological developments allowing it to effectively represent its concepts.

The training of scientific illustrators is generally divergent: they will have training in arts or science. Those with an artistic background will have an interest in science or, with a scientific background, will be inclined towards art. As such, science illustration presents itself as a collaborative discipline. It requires continuous training and learning to create rigorous images in areas as broad as zoology, botany, mineralogy, paleontology, medicine, microbiology, etc. It breaks down boundaries between disciplines, enriching thinking through an interdisciplinary dialogue to translate science concepts, making them more accessible.

The work that I have been developing in the field of scientific illustration, particularly zoological and botanical illustration but, more specifically, the work in progress in collaboration with the Biomedical Research Centre of the Portuguese Catholic University (CBR), awakened my interest in this topic, particularly in microbiology, with the challenges it entails. Especially in this case, it's not simply a matter of observing and reproducing, as creating an illustration of this typology involves a process of understanding the model or concept to be represented to transmit knowledge appropriately to the target audience. The creation of such illustrations entails more than its final form as teaching and communication tools, as it derives much of its quality from the approach to the drawing process as a thought form.

Because of the challenges of this professional endeavour, I’ve enrolled in a Phd programme in Drawing at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Lisbon. The goal, as part of my collaboration with CBR – alongside producing science images supporting the communication of ongoing research projects –, is to study the role of resident illustrators in scientific institutions, museums and other knowledge centres, their relationship with these institutions (in Portugal and abroad) and evaluate its results by analyzing the coherence of the drawings thus produced. Also contribute to the improvement of science communication and dissemination through drawing and illustration, explore the articulation between the fields of art and science, as well as seeking to develop a symbiotic illustrator/scientist relationship, to understand the intricacy of the art/science dialogue and what unique perspectives the illustrator can bring to knowledge and scientific research. By showcasing my “traditional” illustration work, and the passage to the illustrations for the CBR, I'll attempt to show how this changes the illustration construction process and how dialogue with experts becomes vital, particularly in topics that are both complex to understand and to explain.

In a climate change era, declining biodiversity and increasing frequency of public health crises, art and drawing becomes a vital tool for scientific facts dissemination, promoting the enlightenment and trust in science of the general population.

Keywords: Illustration, Science, Visual Communication, Drawing