India’s coolest science illustrators

Liberal arts is an alien idea in much of India In education you take sides Science or arts But art has for long played a significant role in the development of science and how information and discoveries are shared And the creative minds who call themselves scientific artists are growing in numberFrom left An artwork by Argha Manna of JeanBaptiste Lamarck explaining his theory of the role of environment on embryo development and Charles Darwin explaining his theory of pangenesisRafeeque Mavoor from Kozhikode Kerala nurtured a love for drawing but got his first real chance to learn it when he joined the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram IISER TVM ldquoAfter graduating I worked as a scientific illustrator with the research group of Prof K George Thomas for over two years In 2018 I had the opportunity to work at Science Media Centre IISER in Pune There I created illustrations and animation for science communication projectsrdquo Mavoor tells us about his training Currently a fulltime independent scientific illustrator Mavoor recently launched the Scidart online academy ldquoIts focus is to teach scientific illustration to upcoming researchers We have trained more than 200 students in the last three monthsrdquo While he had hoped to pursue a doctorate in materials chemistry serendipity led him to draw 3D illustrations ldquoA student was preparing her research paper and I was asked to draw a 3D assembly of a molecule she had created I came across a software called SketchUp 3D We made the illustration the professor liked it and just like that the research was published in a highimpact journalrdquo Mavoor realised that there was a dedicated career for those who are interested in art and have an education in science ldquoIn India I found very few people working in this sphere It was clear that there was a big opportunity aheadrdquoArgha MannaScientific illustration involves deep and continuous communication with the researcher What is at the core of the said research and how does the researcher want it communicated visually Basis this the illustrator must first search for reference images and let imagination do the restA stem cell artwork by Ipsa JainMavoorrsquos community is gradually growing in India and one of the names leading the way is Dr Ipsa Jain Karnalborn scientistturnedscience visualiser Dr Jain says ldquoI knew very early on that I wanted to be a scientist After school I moved to Delhi University and got a postgraduate degree in Zoology While pursuing a PhD in molecular Biology from IISc Bangalore I realised that a career in science was too traditional a path for me After some deliberation I thought why not share science with people who have an interest in it but not deep access Since I have better visual skills than language skills I put together the idea of drawing for sciencerdquo she tells us over emailIpsa JainCurrently Dr Jain is a freelancer but in the past she has worked with Centre For Cellular And Molecular Biology CCMB Hyderabad as creative director for their animated series on science done in their labs ldquoI was not expecting it to become a career to be honest I was one of the few in the country pursuing science illustration at the time So it was a scary decision What helped was a small exhibition experience at a student festival at IISc I printed my work on postcards and sold them And people bought themrdquoA graphic by Rafeeque Mavoor shows Synapse a junction of human neuron cellsDr Jain admits that researching for these illustrations is an ongoing process given that there are multiple aspects to biological processes time form kinetics spatial arrangement and so on ldquoIt is hard to be true to all aspects at once Depending on the need of the project I use a subset of information to depict While creating these visuals though it might seem counterintuitive clarity is more important than accuracy If the audience canrsquot understand the image it is of little relevancerdquo she saysRafeeque MavoorDr Jain says scientific illustrators play the significant role of making science accessible regardless of language present it with a sense of beauty and encourage students of science to think beyond prescribed possibilities for their futureDr Arjun Guha research investigator at Instem believes that the area where this tribe is making a difference is public outreach programmes and grant applications ldquoThese are unseen documents and much of the content is hypothetical You are trying to convince the reviewer that you have a vision and access to accurate preliminary data All you need is funds to pursue itrdquoKolkatabased Argha Manna calls himself a journalist by the day and cartoonist by night He studied science and worked as a PhD scholar in Cancer Biology at Bose Institute ldquoBut after spending five years in laboratorybased research I dropped out and joined Anandabazar Patrika as a science journalist Illustrating science is a personal venture I was inspired by Joe Saccorsquos graphic journalism My role in the office was as a journalist and I used to dream of producing work like Sacco writing comics like Palestine But soon I realised that in India such opportunities are limited I thought telling stories from science and the history of science would be easier for me due to my academic backgroundrdquoManna started a blog called Drawing History of Science in 2018 ldquoMy domain is the history of science and I try to be accurate scientifically and historically Since I have a background in scientific research I think and act like a scientist while searching scientific documents or records But I am not a trained historian So I collaborated with professional historians and served as assistant to them to train myselfrdquo says Manna who uses his laboratorybased science experience and newlylearned historical research methods to make artworks illustrations and comics on the history of scienceThey say science illustrators are artists in the service of science The next time you spot a work that falls in this genre do take a moment to appreciate it