Building a Creative Career in Small, Silly Steps I never expected social media challenges to become career milestones. Here's how silly internet trends made my journey to science illustrator feel real.

I’m writing on Substack!
Stories about my scientific illustration journey and other creative musings. Come join me if you want to read more about it.

Close up of a virus made of thousands of tiny spheres or atoms within its structure.

Close up of a virus made of thousands of tiny spheres or atoms within its structure.

Close up of a virus made of thousands of tiny spheres or atoms within its structure.

Close up of a virus made of thousands of tiny spheres or atoms within its structure.

Rotavirus, which causes a significant number of childhood deaths worldwide. Each tiny sphere represents an atom within its structure. These atomic models can help uncover molecular mechanisms of infection, offering insights for the prevention and treatment of the disease #sciart #blender

Meet me at the intersection of science, art & design. A scientific illustrator's winding road from the lab bench to visual storytelling

I started a substack to share long format stories about my work at the intersection of science and visual storytelling. If you want to follow along the journey, please subscribe!
#sciart #scicomm #blender3D

open.substack.com/pub/leonoram...

Meet me at the intersection of science, art & design. A scientific illustrator's winding road from the lab bench to visual storytelling

I started a substack to share long format stories about my work at the intersection of science and visual storytelling. If you want to follow along the journey, please subscribe!
#sciart #scicomm #blender3D

open.substack.com/pub/leonoram...

As day breaks on planet Cloofnorp, we see a thruple of mountain splorbinoids fishing for rockplabners by standing over them and slowly extending irresistible phlegmbranes with the aid of stony weights. (Documentarian's note: I use the term "fishing" here to make it easier for my fellow Earthlings to understand, but I also must stress that you'd NEVER see a splorbinoid wearing a hat emblazoned with anything so cringeworthy as "Gone Rockplabnering" or lengthier boastful claims regarding how their breakfast - if not society at large - allegedly feels about the prospect of the hat's wearer carrying out such a feat.) Splorbinoids are not a single species but a more broad category of organism where the gel-like phlegmbrane (wherein the creature's mouth is found) is held in a bipedal carapace; this particular splorbinoid is one of a few that use rocks and other material to alter the shape of their phelgmbrane for various applications, but it will take some sudden, drastic upheavals to life on Cloofnorp before a level of intelligence emerges that could prompt more sophisticated development of this simple tool use.

Part of your complete breakfast... if you use your phlegmbrane right. (As usual, click the image for a lore dump in the alt text.)
#alienlandscape #specevo #aliens #xenobiology

A grid of 9 illustrations with the artist in the middle.

Art vs Artist 2025. Took a break, moved across the world, and officially launched my science visualisation studio. Foundation year. The plan from 5 years ago is still on—just took the scenic route. 2026 is gonna be fun!

#sciart community, apparently I don’t know how to use this platform 🤣

A grid of 9 illustrations with the artist in the middle.

Art vs Artist 2025. Took a break, moved across the world, and officially launched my science visualisation studio. Foundation year. The plan from 5 years ago is still on—just took the scenic route. 2026 is gonna be fun!

Triptofanito made Biology Fun. A classic Mexican science book by physician Julio Frenk follows an amino acid's adventure through the human body. Written while Frenk was a medical student, it makes biology accessible and exciting for kids #sciart #scicomm

All #CellBio2025 attendees! Here’s our phenomenal lineup for our session on #SciArt & #SciComm: @ahnaskop.bsky.social, @jiwasa.bsky.social, @mag2art.bsky.social, @nat-prunet.bsky.social, and Julia Licholai. Please come by and spread the word! Huge thanks to @ascbiology.bsky.social and co-organizers!

I've got a couple of spots left in my giveaway for a complete visual redesign + strategic audit.
Publication-ready. Investor-ready. Impact-ready.
Worth $2,000. Completely free.
Apply here --> buff.ly/8GGXh4s
Because your science is too important to go unnoticed.

Winner announced on 12/2

A long tail virus that kills bacteria

A long tail virus that kills bacteria on the cover of a scientific journal

Turn Your Science Into Visual Impact!
Grab a spot in the giveaway: a high-impact visual redesign, ready for publication or investor standards.
Apply --> buff.ly/QJ9dOqp
Like this visual that supported the Kelch lab's work all the way to the JBC cover and into several science news outlets #sciart

A long tail virus that kills bacteria

A long tail virus that kills bacteria on the cover of a scientific journal

Turn Your Science Into Visual Impact!
Grab a spot in the giveaway: a high-impact visual redesign, ready for publication or investor standards.
Apply --> buff.ly/QJ9dOqp
Like this visual that supported the Kelch lab's work all the way to the JBC cover and into several science news outlets #sciart

Don’t miss out on this giveaway #sciart #scicomm

GIVEAWAY text on a beautiful illustration of a viral capsid. Win one premium visual redesign plus a scientific visual strategy roadmap with a value of 2000, completely free.

Turn your Science into Visual Impact!
I'm doing a little giveaway for Black Friday.
Winner gets:
-A high-impact visual redesign (publication or investor standards)
-A strategic audit of your visual assets: highlighting gaps, opportunities, and wins.
sign up --> forms.gle/6zxe3Pa7qotZ...

GIVEAWAY text on a beautiful illustration of a viral capsid. Win one premium visual redesign plus a scientific visual strategy roadmap with a value of 2000, completely free.

Turn your Science into Visual Impact!
I'm doing a little giveaway for Black Friday.
Winner gets:
-A high-impact visual redesign (publication or investor standards)
-A strategic audit of your visual assets: highlighting gaps, opportunities, and wins.
sign up --> forms.gle/6zxe3Pa7qotZ...

Sculptures* typo

Protein sculptured as museum exhibits 💡
Who can make that happen?

#sciart #blender3D #structuralbiology #scicomm

Hi all! I'm hiring for a #scicomm research postdoc to join our Scicomm LIFT team!

Short story is: 2 years guaranteed funding, open to remote or hybrid work, $61k+hearty benefits (see UW's 401k match in particular)!

Please share with folks who might be interested!
1/

Thank you for sharing! 🙌

Thank you, and thanks for sharing!

Open / closed chromatin in Asgard archaea with glowing interacting residues

Open / closed chromatin in Asgard archaea

Last week, the Dodonova lab published a fascinating paper on chromatin structures in Asgard archaea, microbes thought to be the closest relatives of complex life.

Asgard histones can wrap DNA into a “closed” form shared across archaea, and an “open” form similar to eukaryotic cells #sciart #blender

I used the word Colonizers on a post and it tanked faster than a lead balloon. I guess Lord LinkedIn didn’t like the loaded language I used 😅😂

Dia de muertos altar with a catrina skeleton

A hallway covered in prints and a ceiling decorated with large paper flowers

mexican person posing next to a wall filled with art.

I celebrated Día de Muertos in Australia. That was a surreal experience, so far from home but so close at the same time.
Mexico is a maximalist country; we love colour, contrasts, boldness. I think that seeps into my work a lot.

Yes! Glad you noticed.

DNA as ropes, organized in nucleosomes while interacting with a donut-shaped protein.

DNA represented as spheres sitting on an image of the crystallographic data obtained by Rosalind Franklin.

DNA as ropes, organized in nucleosomes while interacting with proteins.

Different visual representations of DNA

Check out some of my illustrations featuring DNA that is, actually, structurally accurate.
Whilst color is absent at the nanoscale, I choose it to highlight the form and function.
These illustrations are grounded in structural data.
#blender3d #sciart #DNA #scicomm

A protein that looks like the letter C made of small spheres set against a plain background.

A protein that looks like the letter C made of small spheres set against a plain background.

A protein that looks like the letter C made of small spheres set against a plain background.

Portrait of a ribonuclease inhibitor, a protein built from repeating units called leucine-rich repeats. It prevents ribonucleases from breaking down RNA, acting like a molecular shield that protects the cell’s RNA so processes like protein synthesis can continue normally #molecularnodes #sciart

A protein that looks like the letter C made of small spheres set against a plain background.

A protein that looks like the letter C made of small spheres set against a plain background.

A protein that looks like the letter C made of small spheres set against a plain background.

Portrait of a ribonuclease inhibitor, a protein built from repeating units called leucine-rich repeats. It prevents ribonucleases from breaking down RNA, acting like a molecular shield that protects the cell’s RNA so processes like protein synthesis can continue normally #molecularnodes #sciart