Illustrating Explorers

I'm enjoying the illustrations of Bristol-based illustrator Joe Todd Staunton. This cross-section of the oceanic water column with all its flora and fauna (and fishers) and their measurements and appropriate depths, first captured my attention:

Source: joetoddstanton.tumblr.com via minouette on Pinterest

via his blog where he wrote that he was considering adding sea birds above! It reminds me of working at sea with ROVs and watching the video feed as they descend or ascend from the depths.

Several other illustrations touch on scientists, academics and explorers, or draw on scientific illustration with their diagrammatic qualities, which is right up my alley.

Source: joetoddstanton.com via minouette on Pinterest

for an editorial "Cambridge professors to set tough new maths A-levels".

Source: joetoddstanton.tumblr.com via minouette on Pinterest

"Newest image from a project that is looking at explorers who died on there journeys. This one is about the astronaut Vladimir Komarov who died coming back to earth due to parachute failure."

Source: joetoddstanton.com via minouette on Pinterest

Source: joetoddstanton.com via minouette on Pinterest

for an editorial "Why bright lads are being picked on".

Check out his portfolio and blog for more!

Whale Fall

Whale Fall (after life of a whale) from Sharon Shattuck on Vimeo.

Directed by Sharon Shattuck and Flora Lichtman for Sweet Fern Productions.

This beautiful short film (paper puppetry, by the way, not stop-motion) details the after-life of a whale. I don't mean it's about the ghost of a whale; I mean it details quite literally the life supported for decades, by the deceased body of a whale. The choices made in terms of medium (paper) and music, help emphasize the wonder of the ecology, the diversity of life supported, and avoids the sort of bias we may have that the subject matter is somehow gruesome, rather than the most natural thing. I love the idea of paper puppets employed in, essentially, a short of science documentary.

Sharon Shattuck describes herself as a "director-animator and botanist", so it makes sense that she would make art about science. (via Bioephemera)

I am familiar with several of these critters from research cruises where we've employed remotely operated submersibles. The rattails are always the most common thing we see on the seafloor.

If you are interested in the ecological afterlife of animals which fall to the seafloor, you can check out, for instance, the VENUS pig experiment, where a dead pig was placed on the seafloor and monitored with a cabled seafloor observatory, offshore Vancouver Island.

Invisible creatures of the deep...

Here is something new to worry about, especially if you happen to be a small fish.



Creepy camouflaged octopi and wonderous transparent fish!