Scientific illustration in Biology

Techniques of color pencil, china ink (pointillism) and graphite

Abstract

Scientific illustration is a technique of five centuries, including naturalists, biologists, physicians and other scientists. Unlike art reproductions, scientific illustrations are concerned to tell a history, describing the reality, including varied perspectives and explanatory notes. The aim of this study was exemplify three types of scientific illustration techniques in Biological Sciences. For this, we used the materials/techniques: colored pencils, china ink (pointillism technique) and graphite. In total, we present here six illustrations, two for each technique, with three animals and three plants. Nowadays there are very few resources to portray the nature as scientific illustration does. Because it uses their own mechanisms to represent structures, details and notes, that in other methods are not possible.