Scientific Illustration:
butterfly

Welcome to my website. If you are inquiring about free-lance scientific illustration or looking for an illustrator, please email or call me (314) 966-7629. All illustration and photography on this website is copyrighted. Contact me for terms of use. I illustrate natural science subjects such as wildlife and botanicals. For more information about my work, see bio. I illustrate mostly "by hand," preferring watercolor and gouache. I do use digital media at times but all illustrations start, and are fundamentally created, on paper. Suggestions about this website are appreciated. Just drop me a note with comments, corrections, or (especially) compliments. :)

~Gina Mikel, Scientific Illustrator

  
 

Natural Science Photography:

Along with a bit of a facelift for the website, I've recently added photography of animals and botanicals. As with the illustrations, please email me for terms of use of the photographs. My favorite photograph is the malaysan bear to the right. Being new to photography, my primary aim is to provide reference materials for future illustrations. It will quickly become apparent to viewers of my photos that I enjoy spending time at zoos, botanical gardens, butterfly houses, bird sanctuaries, parks, aquariums, and nature preserves. If, while browsing this section of my site, you find a misidentified bird, please let me know. The identification of the birds I photograph has been my greatest challenge with this new medium, aside from figuring out how to use the camera!

Though learning photography and bird identification are proving to be more than enough of a challenge, I've also recently joined Facebook (thanks to a push from my daughter) and Twitter. If you're on either, feel free to introduce yourself.

What's in the works:

I'm currently illustrating plants and animals of the gulf shores (Florida Panhandle, Mississippi, etc.) and Powder Valley (in Kirkwood, Missouri). Website additions to come include finding a better way to integrate products (notecards, prints, etc.) and writing illustrated essays about a few particular areas of interest.

 malaysan sun bear  

What's New:
flower
   

Botanical illustration for Science News, "Building Beauty: Deconstructing flowers yields the secrets of petals, scents and hue"
(April 2009)

Several insect illustrations published in Angler's Guide to Twelve Classic Trout Streams in Michigan (March 2009)

Illustration of siscowet, published in Minong: The Good Place, Ojibwe and Isle Royale (March 2009)
   
More new illustrations are on this page new art
    
 

Further help navigating this website:
  • The all-in-one-page (slow-loading) option for viewing thumbnails of everything: illustration