Life Science Studios - Scientific Illustration
@lifesciencestudios.bsky.social
Custom illustrations for biologists by Julie Johnson. • #sciart #scicomm • species paintings • scientific diagrams • figure design for ecologists and evolutionary biologists • www.lifesciencestudios.com
Pinned
Hello ecologists and evolutionary biologists! I work with scientists to transform discoveries into beautiful, accurate, publication-ready figures. Get in touch if you want custom illustrations for your next paper.
Check out www.lifesciencestudios.com to explore services and get started!
#🐡 #🧪
Check out www.lifesciencestudios.com to explore services and get started!
#🐡 #🧪
Of course! Here are all of the figures I created for this paper:
October 30, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Of course! Here are all of the figures I created for this paper:
Check out the recent publication in Annual Reviews of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics where the authors explore genomic species delimitation in depth. You'll see a number of #sciart figures I created to help explain some of the concepts!
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
October 29, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Check out the recent publication in Annual Reviews of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics where the authors explore genomic species delimitation in depth. You'll see a number of #sciart figures I created to help explain some of the concepts!
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
New lab logo just dropped!
@michaelgbertram.bsky.social's lab studies how chemical pollution disrupts animal behavior, using Atlantic salmon and European perch in much of their research. The logo needed to showcase study organisms with an ecotoxicology twist. Enjoy your new lab logo, Bertram Lab!
@michaelgbertram.bsky.social's lab studies how chemical pollution disrupts animal behavior, using Atlantic salmon and European perch in much of their research. The logo needed to showcase study organisms with an ecotoxicology twist. Enjoy your new lab logo, Bertram Lab!
October 27, 2025 at 2:47 PM
New lab logo just dropped!
@michaelgbertram.bsky.social's lab studies how chemical pollution disrupts animal behavior, using Atlantic salmon and European perch in much of their research. The logo needed to showcase study organisms with an ecotoxicology twist. Enjoy your new lab logo, Bertram Lab!
@michaelgbertram.bsky.social's lab studies how chemical pollution disrupts animal behavior, using Atlantic salmon and European perch in much of their research. The logo needed to showcase study organisms with an ecotoxicology twist. Enjoy your new lab logo, Bertram Lab!
Check out the paper at: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Parallel shifts in differential gene expression reveal convergent miniaturization in fishes | PNAS
Body size variation in vertebrates is a complex polygenic trait, tightly correlated
with numerous aspects of a species’ biology, ecology, and physi...
www.pnas.org
October 23, 2025 at 7:45 AM
Check out the paper at: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Gobies big and small. Not just small…. teeny tiny!
I painted 6 gobies, 3 of them not even an inch long, for this paper about the evolution of miniaturization. (To be clear, the fish are tiny, but the paintings are not.)
Big congratulations to @fishfetisher.bsky.social and colleagues.
🐡🐟🧪
I painted 6 gobies, 3 of them not even an inch long, for this paper about the evolution of miniaturization. (To be clear, the fish are tiny, but the paintings are not.)
Big congratulations to @fishfetisher.bsky.social and colleagues.
🐡🐟🧪
October 23, 2025 at 7:45 AM
Gobies big and small. Not just small…. teeny tiny!
I painted 6 gobies, 3 of them not even an inch long, for this paper about the evolution of miniaturization. (To be clear, the fish are tiny, but the paintings are not.)
Big congratulations to @fishfetisher.bsky.social and colleagues.
🐡🐟🧪
I painted 6 gobies, 3 of them not even an inch long, for this paper about the evolution of miniaturization. (To be clear, the fish are tiny, but the paintings are not.)
Big congratulations to @fishfetisher.bsky.social and colleagues.
🐡🐟🧪
Yellowfin tuna get his fins painted. This fish is built for speed!
🐡🐟
🐡🐟
October 23, 2025 at 7:22 AM
Yellowfin tuna get his fins painted. This fish is built for speed!
🐡🐟
🐡🐟
Reposted by Life Science Studios - Scientific Illustration
We find that miniaturization has evolved multiple times in gobies! It is especially prominent within the dwarfgobies (Eviota spp.), pygmygobies (Trimma spp.) and the infantfishes (Schindleria spp.). Shoutout to @lifesciencestudios.bsky.social for providing these beautiful goby illustrations!
October 22, 2025 at 9:38 PM
We find that miniaturization has evolved multiple times in gobies! It is especially prominent within the dwarfgobies (Eviota spp.), pygmygobies (Trimma spp.) and the infantfishes (Schindleria spp.). Shoutout to @lifesciencestudios.bsky.social for providing these beautiful goby illustrations!
I’ve got a lot of shiny torpedos heading your way!
October 20, 2025 at 1:31 PM
I’ve got a lot of shiny torpedos heading your way!
Who is on my desk today? A shark mackerel!
This shiny #fish lives off the north coast of Australia. Unlike his living counterparts, who are busy in the ocean eating little fish, this guy will help scientists communicate their research by adorning scientific figures. Which is also an important job.
This shiny #fish lives off the north coast of Australia. Unlike his living counterparts, who are busy in the ocean eating little fish, this guy will help scientists communicate their research by adorning scientific figures. Which is also an important job.
October 20, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Who is on my desk today? A shark mackerel!
This shiny #fish lives off the north coast of Australia. Unlike his living counterparts, who are busy in the ocean eating little fish, this guy will help scientists communicate their research by adorning scientific figures. Which is also an important job.
This shiny #fish lives off the north coast of Australia. Unlike his living counterparts, who are busy in the ocean eating little fish, this guy will help scientists communicate their research by adorning scientific figures. Which is also an important job.
These posters now hang on tuna fishing boats around the world in an effort to help reduce manta ray and devil ray mortality.
October 14, 2025 at 9:24 AM
These posters now hang on tuna fishing boats around the world in an effort to help reduce manta ray and devil ray mortality.
I worked with the Mobula Conservation Project to create posters in multiple languages that would show the different species, their distribution, why it is important to protect them, and proper handling and release techniques.
🐡
🐡
October 14, 2025 at 9:24 AM
I worked with the Mobula Conservation Project to create posters in multiple languages that would show the different species, their distribution, why it is important to protect them, and proper handling and release techniques.
🐡
🐡
What do you mean, as big as a car!?
Manta rays and devil rays are caught as bycatch in tuna fisheries, and releasing them back into the ocean is like trying to lift a car off the deck of a boat. How can this be done to maximize the likelihood that the manta ray survives the ordeal?
🧪 #conservation
Manta rays and devil rays are caught as bycatch in tuna fisheries, and releasing them back into the ocean is like trying to lift a car off the deck of a boat. How can this be done to maximize the likelihood that the manta ray survives the ordeal?
🧪 #conservation
October 14, 2025 at 9:24 AM
What do you mean, as big as a car!?
Manta rays and devil rays are caught as bycatch in tuna fisheries, and releasing them back into the ocean is like trying to lift a car off the deck of a boat. How can this be done to maximize the likelihood that the manta ray survives the ordeal?
🧪 #conservation
Manta rays and devil rays are caught as bycatch in tuna fisheries, and releasing them back into the ocean is like trying to lift a car off the deck of a boat. How can this be done to maximize the likelihood that the manta ray survives the ordeal?
🧪 #conservation
Incorporating both the illustrated conceptual images or diagrams alongside data can be really effective for guiding a reader through the key information.
Plus... guppies are pretty cute and why not include a few to adorablify your data.
(Figure created for Walsman et al., 2022)
Plus... guppies are pretty cute and why not include a few to adorablify your data.
(Figure created for Walsman et al., 2022)
October 10, 2025 at 9:53 AM
Incorporating both the illustrated conceptual images or diagrams alongside data can be really effective for guiding a reader through the key information.
Plus... guppies are pretty cute and why not include a few to adorablify your data.
(Figure created for Walsman et al., 2022)
Plus... guppies are pretty cute and why not include a few to adorablify your data.
(Figure created for Walsman et al., 2022)
The figure also needed to include a map with the data types and locations that informed their model.
I created this figure in the thick of the pandemic when social distancing was on everybody's mind. Here, I had the chance consider social distancing and disease (or parasites) in other organisms.
I created this figure in the thick of the pandemic when social distancing was on everybody's mind. Here, I had the chance consider social distancing and disease (or parasites) in other organisms.
October 10, 2025 at 9:53 AM
The figure also needed to include a map with the data types and locations that informed their model.
I created this figure in the thick of the pandemic when social distancing was on everybody's mind. Here, I had the chance consider social distancing and disease (or parasites) in other organisms.
I created this figure in the thick of the pandemic when social distancing was on everybody's mind. Here, I had the chance consider social distancing and disease (or parasites) in other organisms.
Gathering guppies! 🐟 🐟 🐟
The figures I create often include a mix of illustrated conceptual elements with data. This figure needed to show how guppy shoaling behavior upstream (no predators) and downstream (predators) differed, and how those differences lead to parasite transmission.
🧪🐡
The figures I create often include a mix of illustrated conceptual elements with data. This figure needed to show how guppy shoaling behavior upstream (no predators) and downstream (predators) differed, and how those differences lead to parasite transmission.
🧪🐡
October 10, 2025 at 9:53 AM
Gathering guppies! 🐟 🐟 🐟
The figures I create often include a mix of illustrated conceptual elements with data. This figure needed to show how guppy shoaling behavior upstream (no predators) and downstream (predators) differed, and how those differences lead to parasite transmission.
🧪🐡
The figures I create often include a mix of illustrated conceptual elements with data. This figure needed to show how guppy shoaling behavior upstream (no predators) and downstream (predators) differed, and how those differences lead to parasite transmission.
🧪🐡
I certainly think so 😊. I feel lucky I get to do this everyday.
September 26, 2025 at 6:41 PM
I certainly think so 😊. I feel lucky I get to do this everyday.
Thank you!
September 26, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Thank you!
Such a good book, especially as someone whose family members and friends have had organ transplants, amputations, knee replacements, cataract surgeries, and facial bone surgeries. As far as I know, no butt lifts among my acquaintances… probably.
September 26, 2025 at 9:11 AM
Such a good book, especially as someone whose family members and friends have had organ transplants, amputations, knee replacements, cataract surgeries, and facial bone surgeries. As far as I know, no butt lifts among my acquaintances… probably.
Just finished @maryroach.bsky.social new book Replaceable You and the Epilogue really got to me. Our loved one got a kidney transplant two weeks ago, and it’s awful to think of all the life saving research that has been halted by the current administration’s NIH and science funding cuts. 💔
September 26, 2025 at 9:07 AM
Just finished @maryroach.bsky.social new book Replaceable You and the Epilogue really got to me. Our loved one got a kidney transplant two weeks ago, and it’s awful to think of all the life saving research that has been halted by the current administration’s NIH and science funding cuts. 💔
I thought it might be fun to show you a little behind the scenes of creating a fish scientific illustration from sketch to painting to publication.
🐟 🐡 #evolutionarybiology #thereisnofrogfishemoji
🐟 🐡 #evolutionarybiology #thereisnofrogfishemoji
September 25, 2025 at 1:05 PM
I thought it might be fun to show you a little behind the scenes of creating a fish scientific illustration from sketch to painting to publication.
🐟 🐡 #evolutionarybiology #thereisnofrogfishemoji
🐟 🐡 #evolutionarybiology #thereisnofrogfishemoji
🤣
September 25, 2025 at 8:46 AM
🤣
When creating fish illustrations, it is very important to have a sleeping cat on your desk. Across the middle of the desk is the ideal positioning.
September 25, 2025 at 7:29 AM
When creating fish illustrations, it is very important to have a sleeping cat on your desk. Across the middle of the desk is the ideal positioning.
Have you considered using an illustrated poster for outreach?
That's just what @vt-invasivespecies.bsky.social did. We created 5 posters about the ISC's mission, Virginia invasive species, and the impacts of invasive species on economics, environment, and health.
Visit: tinyurl.com/mr9s93a3 🐡 🧪
That's just what @vt-invasivespecies.bsky.social did. We created 5 posters about the ISC's mission, Virginia invasive species, and the impacts of invasive species on economics, environment, and health.
Visit: tinyurl.com/mr9s93a3 🐡 🧪
Illustrated outreach: Posters as Tools for Invasive Species Awareness
Even in a digital age, posters remain one of the most effective and accessible tools for bringing community awareness of environmental issues. The Invasive Species Collaborative at Virginia Tech...
www.lifesciencestudios.com
September 19, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Have you considered using an illustrated poster for outreach?
That's just what @vt-invasivespecies.bsky.social did. We created 5 posters about the ISC's mission, Virginia invasive species, and the impacts of invasive species on economics, environment, and health.
Visit: tinyurl.com/mr9s93a3 🐡 🧪
That's just what @vt-invasivespecies.bsky.social did. We created 5 posters about the ISC's mission, Virginia invasive species, and the impacts of invasive species on economics, environment, and health.
Visit: tinyurl.com/mr9s93a3 🐡 🧪
Hey ecologists and evolutionary biologists!
Is this you? ➡️ "This concept is way too complicated to show in a way reviewers and readers will understand"
Ask for help! Life Science Studios is here to create engaging figures that clearly explain your research.
🧪 #academicsky #evolutionarybiology
Is this you? ➡️ "This concept is way too complicated to show in a way reviewers and readers will understand"
Ask for help! Life Science Studios is here to create engaging figures that clearly explain your research.
🧪 #academicsky #evolutionarybiology
September 15, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Hey ecologists and evolutionary biologists!
Is this you? ➡️ "This concept is way too complicated to show in a way reviewers and readers will understand"
Ask for help! Life Science Studios is here to create engaging figures that clearly explain your research.
🧪 #academicsky #evolutionarybiology
Is this you? ➡️ "This concept is way too complicated to show in a way reviewers and readers will understand"
Ask for help! Life Science Studios is here to create engaging figures that clearly explain your research.
🧪 #academicsky #evolutionarybiology
September 12, 2025 at 7:53 PM