As the art director of information graphics at Scientific American, I’m charged with developing explanatory art for some pretty mind-blowing topics. Our team—text editor, expert author, artist, and me—often works toward illustrating a process or concept that has never been rendered before, or may have only been visualized for other specialists in the field in [...]

Data visualization. Infographics. Ooh, better yet, make that interactive infographics. The recent buzz around the visual display of information makes it seem like everyone should be rushing to whip up some multi-colored cartogram, bubble chart or word cloud. Never before have we had both the tools and the vast amounts of raw data to play [...]

Scientific illustration has a long and noble history, from ancient depictions of celestial forms to Leonardo Da Vinci’s extraordinary drawings of anatomy and invention, to the latest computer-generated animation splashed across CNN or – perhaps with more reflective thought – the cinematic screens of the world’s great science museums. In English the word ‘illustrate’ has [...]

[It's with great pleasure the Symbiartic team is featuring this Guest Post by illustrator Nathaniel Gold. Gold is the artist behind the wonderful illustrations found on The Primate Diaries by Eric Michael Johnson, and has twice been featured as Image of the Week (once, twice) here on the Scientific American Blog Network. I was excited [...]

Sometimes we feature artwork on Symbiartic because it’s astounding and thought-provoking. You may have seen Kaitlin Beckett’s work on Symbiartic before (when we showed off her Katana Sharks and Fan Fish), or on her site, A Curious Bestiary. Today, Blood Goats. Something about these seemes sad and powerful to  me. There’s something elderly here, from [...]

We’re bringing the SciArt Buzz back… there’s just too much great SciArt buzzing around out there not to concatenate it into one readable digest. Expect this post regularly on Symbiartic, and don’t forget to check these great science art events: EXHIBITS: NORTHEAST REGION The Islands of Benoît Mandelbrot: Fractals, Chaos, and the Materiality of Thinking [...]

This stunning print by illustrator and animator Scott Benson evokes the cold sky, filled with a burgeoning amount of life. And just look at those cheeks on Hubble, he’s so cute I wanna pinch ‘em. This limited edition print is still on sale. And it glows in the dark! Deets here. – - Links to fine [...]

Okay so you’re blogging about science, putting your expertise out there, hoping to reel people in so they can see how cool everything you do really is. Show ‘em. Right. Typetypetypepublish. But it doesn’t look right. You’re looking at your favourite science blogs and they all have these cool images. Copyright scares you a little. [...]

One of the most popular fields of science with children and adults alike is paleontology. And there’s a very good reason for this. Since the first fossil was recognized and found, it inspired imaginations to envision what the animal was like when it was alive. From the myths of giant cyclops to sinewy dragons, fossils [...]

  In a world most of see through an Instagram filter and Photoshopped tweaks, a dynamic illustration of an animal can entice the eye in a way no filter can. Illustrator Derek Mah‘s cover art for The Dragon Turn caught my eye and wouldn’t let go. The  wonderfully foreshortened view of the Komodo dragon marches [...]

The concept of biomimicry is increasingly popular and useful. Recent advances in robotics are giving us the soft, colour-changing robotic octopus. Concept artist and science fiction illustrator Brian Lindahl took the idea in another direction, with his lonely picture of a heavily armored Swamp Frog Mech standing guard in a marsh. Could it hop out [...]

Just as my parents can recall their first television sets and marvel at how I have never known life without it, and we can all remember our first cell phone while our children ping from iPhone to iPad and think nothing of video chatting with friends thousands of miles away, it’s hard for most of [...]

We’re tossing it up today at SciArt of the Day to offer a plate from the ubiquitous Peterson Field Guides to birds of the world. Keep an eye out later this afternoon for a more detailed post on an auction of 500 original paintings and 200 wildlife photographs by Peterson being held this week in [...]