mark belan | science illustrator + info designer
@markabelan
Followers
17,219
Following
1,903
Media
480
Statuses
2,598
A picture is worth a thousand words, and sometimes a million dollars. Telling science stories with the power of visuals✨ Founder @artscistudios | 🇨🇦🇭🇷🇪🇺
Toronto, Canada
Joined June 2013
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
メイドの日
• 412654 Tweets
#ขวัญฤทัยep13
• 213893 Tweets
ONGSASUN CONFLICT
• 158098 Tweets
メイドさん
• 148497 Tweets
メイド服
• 114204 Tweets
#岸辺露伴は動かない
• 111986 Tweets
#Mステ
• 104913 Tweets
Baakhabar Sant Rampal Ji
• 88211 Tweets
Madres
• 76021 Tweets
太陽フレア
• 67961 Tweets
スタンド
• 65682 Tweets
Joost
• 61435 Tweets
トニオさん
• 45043 Tweets
aiko
• 34866 Tweets
Mount
• 33504 Tweets
密漁海岸
• 28175 Tweets
モバイルSuica
• 28168 Tweets
露伴先生
• 25868 Tweets
#SixTONES_ここに帰ってきて
• 23955 Tweets
#ساعه_استجابه
• 23623 Tweets
サイバー攻撃
• 20707 Tweets
Faker
• 20364 Tweets
高橋一生
• 18956 Tweets
イタリア料理
• 16678 Tweets
ノイジー
• 16670 Tweets
階段降り
• 16505 Tweets
アニサマ
• 16502 Tweets
Bonkeywif
• 14707 Tweets
ジョジョ
• 13724 Tweets
トニオの料理
• 13036 Tweets
宮崎大丈夫
• 11622 Tweets
GONG
• 11193 Tweets
パールジャム
• 10849 Tweets
Pinned Tweet
I'm launching a newsletter through Substack.
I'd love if you could subscribe and stay in touch with updates from my studio, new work, and tips and resources on visual science communication.
We're launching a Substack Newsletter!
Subscribe to us at for updates from our studio, as well as news and trends in visual science communication.
Look forward to connecting with you.
0
0
1
1
0
7
NEW PIECE: Visualizing the Biomass of Life 🐂🐬🐝🐠🦩🦨🐢🐄
#sciart
#biomass
#scientificillustration
#illustration
#animals
#dataviz
#datavisualization
#visualjournalism
#biodiversity
144
3K
12K
Visualizing the Biomass of Life 🦊🦀🐬🦎🦃🐓🦩🦆🌳☘️🍄🌼🌍
#biomass
#infographic
#dataviz
#datavisualization
#EarthDay22
#earthday
#sciart
#life
#illustration
#art
#science
#data
84
3K
11K
The Comparative Functional Anatomy of Cephalopods 🦑🐙🫧
#sciart
#scientificillustration
#infographic
#zoology
#octopus
#squid
#cuttelfish
#tentacle
#giantsquid
#octopi
#art
#artistsontwitter
36
1K
5K
👋Hello, hello
#artistsontwitter
! I am a scientific illustrator, making graphics that range from popular science to academic publications and everything in between! I love telling science stories with the power of visuals!
52
363
3K
The Many Shapes of Bacteria
#infographic
#bacteria
#microbes
#biology
#science
#design
#illustration
#art
#sciart
#shapes
#geometry
#microbiology
23
779
3K
The Botanical Classification of Fruit
#fruit
#infographic
#botany
#scientificillustration
#sciart
#GardeningTwitter
#carpology
#biology
#science
#art
22
654
2K
NEW PIECE: The Many Shapes of Bacteria ⚪️🧫⚪️
#bacteria
#microbes
#infographic
#art
#sciart
#scientificart
#colony
#microbiology
#microorganisms
#biology
#microscopy
#germs
#science
#illustration
#petri
#infographics
19
479
2K
'ello
#PortfolioDay
👋🏻 I'm a scientific + data illustrator, telling science stories with the power of visuals!
#data
#science
#illustrator
#art
24
158
2K
Happy
#PortfolioDay
! I'm an astrobiologist-turned-science illustrator and data visualizer; I love telling science stories with visuals.
#portfolio
#scientificillustration
#art
28
207
1K
The Many Shapes of Bacteria 🦠🟩🟡💠🧫
#shapes
#science
#microbiology
#bacteriology
#bacteria
#microbes
#art
#artistsontwitter
#sciart
#scientificart
#visualdata
#design
#illustration
#illustrator
#scientificillustration
#vizscicomm
#MakeScienceSexy
#infographic
#biology
11
350
1K
Hello
#PortfolioDay
! My name's Mark and I'm a scientific illustrator that loves using visuals to tell stories about data, nature, and science in general! ☺️🙂
#science
#data
#infodesign
#infographics
#art
#artistsontwitter
#sciart
#scientificart
#scientificillustration
20
171
1K
And here we go...
PART TWO: Visualizing the Accumulation of Human-Made Mass ⚖️🏗️🛠️🧱🔩 (incl. 🧵)
#anthropogenicmass
#biomass
#construction
#mining
#dataviz
#infographics
#sciart
#datavisualization
#visualjournalism
#science
#scicomm
#scienceillustration
#anthropocene
13
387
1K
The Many Shapes of Bacteria
#Bacteria
#Infographic
#science
#art
#microbes
#microbiology
#sciart
#vizscicomm
#scicomm
9
251
1K
A thread detailing why my job is necessary lol
These are terrible 🍅👎🏼
DALL•E 3 in ChatGPT is incredible.
You can use it to create educational illustrations in a matter of minutes.
Here is how I create them, more examples, and prompts:
107
362
2K
22
117
966
Visualizing the Biomass of Life 🐷🐦🐞🐌🦌🦩🦜🐁🐠🦀🦔🪸
#biomass
#science
#poster
#art
#life
#earth
#infographic
#design
#illustration
#illustratorsontwitter
#scientificillustration
#dataviz
#data
#dataart
#dataillustration
#infodesign
#information
#vizscicomm
#scicomm
#biology
9
233
866
Hello again
#PortfolioDay
! I'm a scientific/data illustrator. I love using visuals to tell science stories.
#art
#science
#datavisualization
#artist
17
76
763
UPDATE: The Many Shapes of Bacteria ⚪️🧫⚪️
...had an error! Let's discuss it! :D
#bacteria
#archaea
#infographic
#art
#science
#biology
#microbiology
#microbes
#infographics
#sciart
#artistsontwitter
#error
6
138
696
🧿🐙🦑🫧 Comparative Functional Anatomy of Cephalopods
#squid
#octopus
#octopi
#cephalopods
#infographic
#art
#sciart
#scientificart
#science
#zoology
#biology
#environment
#biodiversity
#tentacle
#octopodes
#nautiluis
#cuttlefish
#marine
#marinebiology
#marinebio
#invertebrate
2
171
627
Fruit of the Womb: A Botanical Classification of Fruit
🍇🍓🍒🥑🍊🍐🥥🍍🫐
#fruit
#infographic
#art
#science
#carpology
#vizscicomm
#graphicdesign
#data
#illustration
#botany
12
173
599
1
95
589
After a successful weekend with Biomass again, I figured I'd share a bit about its inception 🧵⬇️
HOW I MADE THIS: Visualizing the Biomass of Life
#biomass
#wip
#process
#art
#science
#datavisualization
#dataviz
#infographic
#biodiversity
14
98
584
Hello Portfolio Day, from a scientific + data illustrator! 👋🏻🎨🔬
#PortfolioDay
#PortoflioDay2022
#artist
#sciart
9
71
568
I already missed one day of the
#sciart
tweet storm! D: Going to make up for it by sharing my first foray into scientific illustration from years ago with this
#cephalopod
piece
#scientificillustration
#octopus
#squid
#infographic
#art
#science
#marinescience
#poster
5
138
548
I'm Mark, from Toronto(ish), and this is my art 🧪🔬🎨🇨🇦🇭🇷
9
32
550
Botanical Classification and Anatomy of Fruit
#fruit
#infographic
#anatomy
#plants
#carpology
#botany
#science
#art
5
119
481
Visualizing the Accumulation of Human-Made Mass on Earth 🏗️🪵🔧🗑️🛢️
#infographic
#science
#datavisualization
#climatechange
#steel
#concrete
#plastic
#earth
#anthropogenicclimatechange
#biomass
#data
#metal
#ClimateCrisis
7
121
458
Thanks everyone for your delightful response to this piece. For those who have kindly pointed out the omission of plants and microbes, I did crop the infographic to make it more appealing and visible for Twitter. The full-view, including non-animal life, can be seen here ⬇️
16
99
450
NEW PIECE: The Global Biomass of Mammals 🐇🐕🦣🐋🦍🐄🐖
This infographic compares the biomass of all mammals on Earth.
#dataviz
#data
#datafam
#biomass
#biodiversity
#sciart
#infographic
#biology
#zoology
#science
#art
#infographics
#livestock
#farming
#global
4
114
407
One grim part to this story (there's many 😵💫) is that we've now produced double the weight of plastic than the entire Animal Kingdom.
8
197
388
Hello! Happy
#PortfolioDay
! 🎉
I'm Mark, and I'm a science illustrator and information designer. I love science, I love art, and I love telling science stories with the power of visuals! 🔬👨🎨🎨
#science
#art
#sciart
#infodesign
#informationdesign
#data
#dataviz
#portfolio
10
38
392
Read more about this topic here:
8
64
338
@MaxonVFX
wow…do these companies not learn when their contemporaries make similar mistakes? after Wacom this really felt like a good move?
4
0
313
NEW PIECE: The Evolution of Eyes and Vision 🧿⏩ 👁️
#eye
#infographic
#sciart
#scientificart
#art
#illustration
#evolution
#biology
#science
#eyeball
#anatomy
#evodevo
#evo
#optometry
#optometrist
#ophthalmology
#scicomm
#vizscicomm
#infographics
#scigraphics
9
80
311
Another
#PortfolioDay
! I'm Mark- a science + data illustrator. I tell science stories with the power of visuals.
All I wanna do is make science look cool with art 🔬🎨💫
#art
#science
#data
#dataviz
#sciart
#scicomm
#illustratorsonTwitter
#portfolio
#design
#illustration
8
34
304
1) the water droplet has made up organisms in it. The labels are also poorly arranged.
2) … what???
3) caterpillar eggs do not look like chicken eggs. A chrysalis does not have a severed caterpillar on it.
4) how does this explain gravity?
5
14
297
Hi! I'm a scientific/data illustrator!
Noticing a ⭕️ trend in the portfolio lately 😅
#ArtvsArtist2022
#scientificillustration
#science
#sciencemedia
#art
#artist
#illustration
#illustrator
#artistsontwitter
#sciart
#vizscicomm
#scicomm
#sciencecommunication
#art
4
20
291
Hi
#PortfolioDay
👋 Check out my science and data illustrations. These are a few of my faves!
#science
#sciart
#scientificvisualization
#sciviz
#scicomm
#vizscicomm
#data
#dataviz
#datafam
9
23
268
Happy
#SciArtPortfolioWeek
! Grateful to be doing this kind of work 🙏
#sciart
#dataviz
#data
#infodesign
#infographic
#science
3
23
268
Oop it's
#sciartportfolioweek
! Here we go! Just one little update in the portfolio for this round, but I've got three new projects coming down the pipeline!
#sciart
#portfolio
#scientificillustration
#art
11
45
253
Hire a science illustrator, a visual communicator, or an artist in general ☀️
1
12
248
Hey
#PortfolioDay
👋 My name's Mark, and I'm a scientific illustrator and information designer. I translate scientific concepts (and make 'em pretty, too!) with the power of visuals.
#art
#science
#sciart
#portfolio
#infographics
#vizscicomm
#scicomm
7
40
252
This illustration on genome sizes was published in Scientific American last year. Was a lot of fun putting some color and pizzazz into genomics data! ⭕️🧬
#genomics
#sciam
#scientificillustration
#genes
#genome
#science
#dataviz
#data
#biology
#genetics
#infographic
#infodesign
6
52
246
NEW PIECE: Which Chemical Elements Make Up the Human Body? 🔵🟡🔴💀🦴🫀🧠
#infographic
#humanbody
#dataviz
#datavisualization
#anatomy
#poster
#sciart
#chemistry
#elements
#scivizcomm
5
47
246
NEW PIECE: The Composition of Blood 🩸🔴
#blood
#infographic
#infographics
#informationdesign
#data
#hematology
#blooddonation
#art
#scientificart
#dataviz
#heme
#hemoglobin
#plasma
6
32
239
Read the full story:
4
62
227
ARTISTS, you can only use ONE art picture to convince people to follow you. Which art piece you using ?
ARTISTS, you can only use ONE art picture to convince people to follow you. Which art piece you using ?
8
31
356
4
34
222
⚛️NEW PIECE!⚛️
Periodic Tables You've Never Seen Before: 12 Different Ways to Visualize the Periodic Table of Elements
#infographic
#chemistry
#periodictable
#science
#sciart
#elements
#chem
#chemtwitter
#art
#infodesign
#vizscicomm
4
38
203
fiiiiiiiiinally it’s arrived! 🎉🎊
just flipping through this quickly tells me Jen’s book will go down as the Bible of Science Graphics. can’t wait to dive in and apply what i’ll learn.
@ChristiansenJen
3
14
196
Sad to see
@NeuroCellPress
. Not only is this a concern to my profession, but existing IP + copyrights were likely violated for AI to formulate this.
We shouldn’t support publishers going this route.
Encourage people and pay artists to make ethical and meaningful contributions.
Our latest issue is out
The cover depicts malignant glioma as a maleficent rider controlling neuronal activity. Check out
@itsrachelnaomi
& coll.'s paper on drivers of glioma-related epilepsy for more:
1/2
30
69
596
3
23
196
NEW PIECE: Visualizing How COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines and Antiviral Pills Work
#COVID19
#mRNA
#vaccines
#pfizer
#merck
#paxlovid
#molnupiravir
#scientificillustration
#infographic
#science
#art
9
43
192
It's
#sciartportfolioweek
and I had no idea! Here's some snippets of some of my fave pieces I've worked on lately...(contains an upcoming piece, too👀)
#portfolio
#sciart
#scientificillustration
#artist
#artistsontwitter
#science
#art
#illustration
5
21
189
@TheCartelDel
Imo these studios need to do better because that message, to me, looks like spam? It reads like a template, isn’t personalized, and doesn’t do much to sell their interest to wanting to meet you.
5
0
192
NEW PIECE: The Composition of the Universe 🌌🧑🏻🚀🪐🌠☄️🌕🛰️
#universe
#space
#science
#spacescience
#dataviz
#datavisualization
#dataillustration
#illustration
#art
#sciart
#scicomm
#infographics
#infographic
#data
#NASA
#PLANCK
#ESA
7
51
188
NEW PIECE: Is It Possible to Bring Back Extinct Species? 🦬🦜🦤🦣🐂☠️➡️🛟
#infographic
#resurrection
#extinction
#deextinction
#biodiversity
#sciart
#scivizcomm
#science
#informationdesign
#infoviz
8
33
180
My name's Mark. I like science a lot. I like drawing a lot. I like making artwork that tells science stories, especially about nerdy topics I read up on in my spare time.
#PortfolioDay
6
20
165
Tentacles and Beaks of Cephalopods | November 2015
#SciArt
#Tentacles
#Cephalopods
#ScienceIllustration
#Art
#Bio
4
100
157
This is a big one for me 💥🤯🥰 Last year, summer 2022, I was asked to contribute graphics to a new permanent geological exhibition at the Natural History Museum in Vienna! 🪨🌋
I finally saw them after the exhibit opened in Feb 2023! What an absolute treat! 🍬
6
2
160
Dive-in for a peek at my
#process
and
#designthinking
on how I made my latest science infographic: "Comparing How COVID-19 Vaccines and Antiviral Pills Work" ⬇️🧵
#COVID
#Pfizer
#Merck
#DIY
#infographic
#vaccines
#WIP
#development
#Covid_19
#paxlovid
4
30
155
Alright, gonna try sharing some of my visual strategies + tips for visually communicating science on a more regular basis.
🧵 Let's start off with figure labelling. And let's use this image from a paper I just read as an example:
#science
#biology
#scicomm
#vizscicomm
#datacomm
5
31
154
NEW PIECE: A New Water Map of Mars - Animated! 🪐🌊🫧🗺️🔭
#infographic
#science
#mars
#outerspace
#space
#water
#aqua
#ocean
#infographics
#spacescience
#art
#dataviz
#map
#map
#animation
#animated
#informationdesign
#scicomm
#infoviz
4
31
152
The Botanical Classification of Fruit. Have a great weekend everyone!
#fruit
#infographic
#botany
#biology
#sciart
#science
#scientificillustration
3
41
141
A cover submission for
@CJohnstonLab1
Illuminating new clades of bacteria in colon cancer.
Didn't make it to the front cover, but Chris' paper is published in Nature.
Link:
5
6
136
THE COMPOSITION OF THE UNIVERSE 🌌🪐✨🌑
#dataviz
#science
#universe
#space
#outerspace
#nasa
#darkmatter
#darkenergy
#neutrinos
#stars
#stellar
#physics
#elements
#piechart
#data
#sciart
#infographics
#infographic
5
26
136
adding to another round of
#artvsartist
! i’m a scientific illustrator 🔬🎨
#artvsartist2021
#scientificillustration
#sciart
#art
4
13
134
ICYMI: NEW PIECE Comparing How COVID-19 Vaccines and Antiviral Pills Work 💉🆚💊🧵
#COVID
#infographic
#paxlovid
#pfizer
#explainer
#vaccines
#merck
#molnupiravir
#pill
#antiviral
#scicomm
#COVID19
#Covid_19
#immunology
#pharma
#pharmacology
1
53
133
NEW PIECE: A Visual Introduction to the Dwarf Planets of our Solar System🔭🌕🌑🪐
#dwarfplanets
#space
#dwarf
#outerspace
#planet
#pluto
#infographic
#dataviz
#orbit
#scicomm
#sciviz
#nasa
#spaceart
#visual
5
24
125
i watched
#MyOctopusTeacher
and fell in love with
#cephalopods
all over again that I thought I'd bring back the love with the cephalopod piece
2
24
124
I wish I had a more developed portfolio for
#AnimalArtistsUnite
but hopefully this captures a unique sector of it 😅
#genetics
#science
#art
1
19
120
Closing the book on another little side project. I made a poster about
#paleogeograhy
and
#continentaldrift
. I even made little spinning globes for the Earth at each time period (but still figuring how to share that part)...
#sciart
#scienceillustration
#geography
#tectonics
#art
5
27
109
NEW PIECE: Ranking Biotoxins in Nature 🧪☠️☣️
(with a caveat*)
#poison
#toxicity
#toxins
#nature
#infographic
#science
#biotoxicity
#biotoxins
#biology
#toxicology
#poisoncontrol
#science
#scicomm
#vizscicomm
#biohazard
#infographics
#data
#dataviz
#dataart
#dataillustration
2
17
109
NEW PIECE: The Top Scientific Headlines of 2022 🧪📰🔬📢
Read on to discover some of the biggest science stories that crossed headlines in 2022! 🧵
#science
#journalism
#sciencejournalism
#infographic
#timeline
#infoviz
#infodesign
#graphicdesign
#art
#research
#BestOf2022
3
18
107
Today begins the 10th Single Cell Genomics Conference in Engelberg, Switzerland! 🧬🔬📏
I am thrilled to share this visualization commemorating the advancements in this field over the last 14 years!
2
16
107
This ain’t the target audience for this tweet, but my favourite band in the world is
#NoDoubt
and their reunion at Coachella tonight was a masterclass in live music 🎶
Get back with the boys G
@gwenstefani
, get out on tour!
3
6
107
UPDATE: I made a big, bad, amateur science boo-boo on the first publication of this piece - I messed up the direction of the DNA spiral!🤦🏻♂️ Here's the updated version.
#synbio
#synthbio
#sciart
#scientificillustration
#DNA
#science
#art
#illustration
#infographics
6
8
107
I had an opportunity to do this front cover for
@NautilusMag
a few months ago. Just got my copy today! It was about vaccinations impeding COVID variants. 🦠💉🔴
1
2
104
Opportune plug.
1
20
101
NEW PIECE
Antarctica's Shrinking Sea Ice 🔥🧊🤏
#infographic
#seaice
#antarctica
#ice
#climatecrisis
#antarctic
#science
#climate
#scicomm
#vizscicomm
3
17
102
Hello
#PortfolioDay
! I'm Mark, and I'm a scientific illustrator and information designer. I love telling visual science stories from complex, technical data + information.
When do we get to work together? :D
#science
#art
#portfolio
#data
#datafam
#dataviz
#sciart
#biology
4
11
101
Tentacles and Beaks of Cephalopods
#cephalopods
#octopus
#squid
#cuttlefish
#nautilus
#tentacles
#beaks
1
72
93
@DesignandAI
@MaxonVFX
They used generative technology to create the illustration, not just the animation.
What’s wrong is that these generative technologies are built by stealing work/copyright from artists. It’s completely unlawful, and is having real life consequences for artist employability and…
0
2
98
Any
#sciart
artists following me that wouldn't mind me referring them for client work? I'm fully booked with my day job + freelance for the rest of the year, it would be nice to lead inquiries with artists who are interested/available.
Let me know your email (here or DM)
40
24
96
This is a grim part-two story to my previous piece on the Biomass of Life.
3
28
95
I am so happy that I was asked to contribute to this month's edition of
@sciam
for their feature story on salamanders, genomes, and junk DNA! 🦎🧬You gotta buy a copy or click-da-link to see the full spread! (I promise the story is super interesting!!!)
3
6
96
Continuing
#sciartportfolioweek
, sharing this piece I made for fun earlier this year as an exploration into
#3D
workflows and visualizations. No real or interesting
#science
story being told here, but thought it's cool to share some personal R&D work from lockdown
#portfolioday
1
18
94
Really happy to announce that I've taken on a Journalist in Residency at the Institute of Science and Tech in Vienna for the next 4 months 🇦🇹🧪
Welcome
@markabelan
, 2nd
#journalist
in residence
@istaustria
! As a
#visualcommunicator
@artscistudios
, he'll bring a unique perspective to science journalism. Excited to see the amazing stories he will achieve during his residency. More 🔗
0
0
19
8
0
95
I remember first scoping Eleanor's portfolio and seeing this thinking: "This is god-tier level of graphics making"
I mean... building intricate papercrafts only to set them on fire? For infographics?!
Superstar dedication and execution.😍
California wildfires can be devastating, but for some plants, fire is a necessary part of their life cycle. These plants have evolved to survive and even thrive in fire, and they play an important role in the ecosystem.
See the full infographic here:
1
15
37
0
24
88
Saw online a science illustrator who created a beautiful journal cover: they didn’t have their name or credits anywhere on the front page (while the research did!😱🤔) and I questioned it. Artist said it was “not necessary as client had paid for the work”
😳😳😳🚨🚨🚨
8
10
92
Anyway, I fell into making this mistake during my research journey and didn't catch it. I'm thankful to readers who are specialized in this field that have reached out to me to address the error this weekend.
I've updated the graphic! ⬇️
1
15
90
Made a little explainer on the
#Ohio
#Derailment
and some of the chemicals on board. Pulled together pretty quickly with my great teammates Nick and Avery! (reupload!)
#chemicals
#infographic
#izscicomm
#graphicsjournalism
#graphics
#visualjournalism
#vinylchloride
#phosgene
3
25
87
Look at
@CNRS
hosting this image that I was commissioned to create but hasn't been paid for🙂
They signed a contract and have failed to return any of my emails or requests for payment 🙂
They are now 9 (10+?) weeks late on payment 🙂
They've ghosted me since April 7 🙂
10
23
84
I spoke to a bunch of Grade 7s today about cool ways to merge science + art.
I loved hearing how enthusiastic they were about data viz, science graphics, National Geographic, 3D software, medical illustration and VR!
Fun fact; their teacher was my grade 8 science teacher! 🥰🍎
1
6
87
👋🏼
5
6
85
UPDATE: Global Biomass of Mammals
I misreported the methodology in the last posting of this; now updated so it's reflective of the original study!
#biomass
#sciart
#biodiversity
#mammals
#infographic
2
10
86