A picture is worth a thousand words – when it is a good picture. There is a huge gap in effectiveness between the best and the worst illustrations you see in technical and scientific publications. The trick is to convey the essence of what’s being shown, whether it is a machine, a building or an anatomical detail of some biological specimen, without drowning it in the irrelevant; and it gets trickier when you’re dealing with cutouts and other means of showing inner details of complex systems. Many illustrators never get the hang of it…

But today I accidentally surfed onto the site of Beau and Alan Daniels, producers of “cutaway, ghosted and phantom view illustrations in various styles including: Blueprint, watercolor, photorealistic, pencil, pen and ink, pastels, and black and white line art”… and they have an extensive portfolio there of incredible illustrations spanning technology, science and biology that is truly a feast to the eyes. I simply had to share it with you!

Take a look and enjoy!