Home / Writing, Translating and Drawing / Scientific Drawing

21Draw, Sweden:
Ein Leitfaden für Zeichnungsstile in German). A Guide to Drawing Styles.

! American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA).
The ASBA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting public awareness of contemporary botanical art, to honoring its traditions, and to furthering its development. Worth checking out: Member Gallery.

G. Amorós and J.S. Carrión (2024): The kitsch dimension of paleoart. In PDF, https://dx.doi.org/10.5209/aris.97299.

G.Y. Annum (2024): Landscape Painting In Digital Technology: Rudimentary Procedural Lessons in Adobe Photoshop. Free access, Art and Design Review, 8: 562-586.

Paul A. Barber and Philip J. Keane (2007): A novel method of illustrating microfungi. PDF file, Fungal Diversity, 27: 1-10.
"... Composite line drawings in most cases can represent the morphological characters of a fungus better than digital photographic images
[...] A novel technique combining computer hardware and software to illustrate microfungi as line drawings is described in detail ..."

P.S. Brookes (2025): Misconduct Detection — Evolving Methods & Lessons from 15 Years of Scientific Image Sleuthing. Free access, Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 53: 11-21.
"... I outline common software and other utilities — a toolbox for discovery and reporting of problematic scientific images and other data ..."

Stefan Bruckner et al. (2010): Hybrid visibility compositing and masking for illustrative rendering. Comput Graph., 34: 361-369.

Computers & Geosciences
Computers & Geosciences publishes high impact, original research at the interface between Computer Sciences and Geosciences.

B.C. Dempsey and B.J. Betz (2001): Biological drawing: A scientific tool for learning The American Biology Teacher, 63: 271-279.
See here as well.

Enago Academy:
Scientific Illustrations: Where to Begin? A link directory (in PDF).

J.E. Fan (2015): Drawing to learn: How producing graphical representations enhances scientific thinking. In PDF, Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 1: 170–181. See likewise here.

B.J. Ford (2003): Scientific illustration in the eighteenth century. PDF file.

Felice Frankel: Envisioning Science: The Design and Craft of the Science Image. Book announcement, by Amazon.

K. Guenther (2010): Scientific Illustration in Anthropology. PDF file.

The Guild of Natural Science Illustrators.
Note especially:
! Why is visual science communication or science illustration better than a photograph?

! D. Guo et al. (2020): Do you get the picture? A meta-analysis of the effect of graphics on reading comprehension Open access, AERA Open, 6.
"... the current meta-analytic study examined 39 experimental studies published between 1985 and 2018 measuring graphics’ effects on readers’ comprehension
[...] Our analysis revealed that the inclusion of graphics had a moderate overall positive effect
[...] we did not find a significant difference among pictures, pictorial diagrams, and flow diagrams ..."

A. Gürdal (2024): Designing Visual Abstracts Used in Scientific Publications. Free access, Türk Akademik Yayinlar Dergisi (TAY Journal), 8: 562-586.

Lizzie Harper ( free-lance natural history and botanical illustrator):
Scientific Illustration: Pen and Ink Techniques.

S. Hiller et al. (2003): Beyond Stippling - Methods for Distributing Objects on the Plane. PDF file.
"Conventionally, stippling is an effective technique for representing surfaces in pen-and-ink. We present new efficient methods for stipple drawings by computer ..."
Now recovered from the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

Elaine R.S. Hodges (ed.), Guild of Natural Science Illustrators (U.S.): The Guild Handbook of Scientific Illustration, 2nd Edition, (2003). 656 pages, (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.). This is an indispensable reference guide for anyone who produces, assigns, or simply appreciates scientific illustration. See also here.
! Some chapters are available via Google books.

Bernhard A. Huber, Alexander Koenig Zoological Research Museum, Bonn, Germany: Making a scientific drawing.
This expired link is available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! iLovePhD.
One Stop to All Research Needs.
10 Best Free Online Drawing Software – 2024 (by R. Somasundaram, January 03, 2024).

International Association of Astronomical Artists

T. Isenberg: Visualisierungseffekte in liniengraphischen Animationen und Stillbildern. PDF file, in German.

J. Krüger and R. Westermann (2007): Efficient stipple rendering. In PDF, Proceedings of IADIS Computer Graphics and Visualization. Good examples!
Still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

S. Lautenschlager (2016): Reconstructing the past: methods and techniques for the digital restoration of fossils. Abstract, R. Soc. sci., 3. See also here (in PDF).

A. Lu et al. (2002): Non-photorealistic volume rendering using stippling techniques. PDF file, IEEE Conference on Visualization, 2002.
See also here.

Z. Lu et al. (2025): Trends on paleoart in the paleontology research and public education: A thematic review. In PDF, Multidisciplinary Reviews, 8. https://doi.org/10.31893/multirev.2025168. See likewise here.
"... there has been limited comprehensive analysis of the trends and historical development of paleoart within academic research and educational contexts. This gap hinders a holistic understanding of how paleoart has contributed to and been influenced by advancements in paleontological research and public education. Utilizing a thematic review (TR) methodology, this study incorporates keywords such as paleoart, paleontology, and education from the SCOPUS, WoS and Mendeley databases, and a total of 30 papers published between 2013 and 2024 were reviewed. The thematic analysis reveals three key themes: scientific and aesthetic decision, Integration of digital technology, and outreach impact ..."

! A. Lukeneder (2012): Computed 3D visualisation of an extinct cephalopod using computer tomographs. Free access, Computers & Geosciences, 45: 68-74.

J. Madhusoodanan (2016): Science illustration: Picture perfect. In PDF, Nature, 534: 285–287.
Note the Gilboa Fossil Forest reconstruction.

! Diana&xnbsp;Marques: Scientific Illustration. In PDF. With many valuable literature references!

Bryan Maycock et al. (2009): Where to Begin? Eye-Movement When Drawing. Journal of Research Practice, 5.

C. McNulty (2017): Paleoimagery: The Artistic Restoration of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life In PDF, Bowling Green State University. Note here as well.

G. Montesanto (2015): A fast GNU method to draw accurate scientific illustrations for taxonomy. Zookeys, 515: 191–206.

S. Muenster (2022): Digital 3D Technologies for Humanities Research and Education: An Overview. Open access, Appl. Sci., 12.
"... the focus of our studies is on modelling of past architectural and cultural landscape objects via interpretative 3D reconstruction methods ..."

Nature:
! Scientific illustration for commissioned content: Our guiding principles for conceptual figures. In PDF.
This guide is created specifically to aid authors to create summary and explanatory figures.

K.M. Northcut (2011): Insights from illustrators: The rhetorical invention of paleontology representations. Abstract, Technical Communication Quarterly.

K.M. Northcut (2007): Introduction: visual communication in life sciences. Technical Writing and Communication, 37.

! K.M. Northcut (2004): The making of knowledge in science: case studies of paleontology illustration. In PDF. Dissertation, Texas Tech University.
See also here.

! J.M. Ottino (2003): Is a picture worth 1,000 words? Abstract, Nature.
! See also here (in PDF).

Pinterest:
Stippling drawing (by John Purser).
Punkt Zeichnung (in German).
biological illustration (by Aryanah Assar).
Stippling botanical art.

! Plantillustrations.org (by Max Antheunisse and Jan Koeman).
Plantillustrations.org is a completely non-commercial website. On top you see 2 search boxes at the right. The white one is for entering scientific names, the grey one for vernacular ones.
You may likewise navigate from:
the List of currently included artists.
Don't miss the useful link list

R. Sayeed and T. Howard (2006): State of the Art Non-Photorealistic Rendering (NPR) Techniques (PDF file).

Schaal:
Dotwork: Zeichentechnik aus Punkten. In German.

Seam Carving GUI. Seam carving for content-aware image resizing. Free download! Also available from here (Chip).
For more see there (Wikipedia), or read about the nuts and bolts
(PDF file, by Shai Avidan (Mitsubishi) and Ariel Shamir, ACM Transactions on Graphics, Volume 26).

Seegala:
Resources for the artistically challenged.

! Mario Costa Sousa: Scientific Illustration - Part 1: Traditional Techniques and NPR Approaches. PDF file.

E.J. Spagnuolo et al. (2024): Reconstructing the Botanical Past: Art and Paleobotany. Free access, Plant Science Bulletin, 70. See also here.
Note figure 1: Representative examples of plant paleoart throughout history and modern plant-centered paleoart.

Harold Speed: The Practice and Science Of Drawing. Ebook, Project Gutenberg.

Section for History of Science & Technology [Abteilung für Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften und Technik, GNT] at the History Dept. at the University of Stuttgart:
Database of Scientific Illustrators (DSI).
More than 13800 illustrators in natural history, medicine, technology and various sciences in more than 110 countries, active between 1450 and 1950. Worth checking out:
! Websites.
A useful link directory.

! M. Sutton et al. (2016): Virtual paleontology—an overview. In PDF, The Paleontological Society Papers, 22.
See here as well.
"... the recent explosion of virtual paleontology has resulted primarily from developments in X-ray computed tomography (CT), and of surface-based technologies (e.g., laser scanning)
[...] Reconstruction methods that produce visualizations from raw data are many and various; selection of an appropriate workflow will depend on many factors, but is an important consideration that should be addressed prior to any study ..."

Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium:
Where science and art meet: the wondrous world of scientific illustration.

Katherine Tyrrell:
! Botanical Art & Artists. A plethora of information. Note especially:
Masters of Botanical Art and Illustration.

Jim Vadeboncoeur Jr., Palo Alto, The home of ImageS and B&W ImageS Magazine. Go to:
Illustrators. See likewise:
BPIB. With biographies of 103 artists and thousands of images.
See especially: Illustrators, e.g.
! Zdenek Burian.
These expired links are still available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Line art
Line drawing
Drawing
Category:Graphic design
Category:Graphics

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Category:Artistic techniques.
Category:Illustration.
Drawing.
! Technical and scientific illustration.
! Stippling.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Category:Illustration.
! Category:Scientific illustrators.
! Category:Natural history illustrators.
! Category:Paleoartists.
Paleoart.
Category:Botanical illustrators.
Botanical illustration.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Category:Adobe Photoshop.
! Adobe Photoshop. Go to:
Photoshop tools.
National Association of Photoshop Professionals (a Kelby Media Group company).
Adobe Photoshop (in German).
Bildbearbeitung (in German),
Computer graphics (see also here, in German).

S.R. Williams: Scientific Drawing in Biology. PDF file.

L. Zheng et al. (2025): Application of 3D digital technologies in paleontological reconstruction: a systematic literature review. Free access, Cogent Social Sciences, 11. DOI: 10.1080/23311886.2025.2495188.
"... This study presents a systematic literature review on the application of three-dimensional digital technologies in paleontological reconstruction
[...] These articles specifically address the use of three-dimensional digital technologies in paleontological reconstruction and research, and despite promising developments, this review acknowledges the challenges and limitations associated with digital restoration ..."