LIFE OF
BIRDS

ILLUSTRATIONS
FOR STEM EDUCATION

STEM APP+

ILLUSTRATIONS
FOR STEM EDUCATION

Collage of slices of the seven different bird illustrations side by side. Collage of slices of the seven different bird illustrations side by side.

These natural science illustrations – created for the educational “Build-a-Bird” app – depict seven bird species engaged in a variety of both life-sustaining and pastime activities, while highlighting particular flying techniques.

Birds are shown nesting, searching for food and feeding, roosting, fighting, and observing other birds.

Flying techniques such as taking-off, soaring, thermal gliding, diving, and landing are spotlighted per species, with details accentuating movement and wing formation.

A lot of research, including watching web-cams, was conducted so as to understand what is special about each bird, and decide which features, positions, behavior, and habitat information to include, so that the birds are accurately represented and differences between species is emphasized.

Based on a personal concern regarding digital learning and children, a textured background was added to give the illustrations a tactile depth.

The birds featured are: (House) Sparrow, Wandering Albatross, Peregrine Falcon, Hummingbird, Barn Owl, Turkey Vulture, and (Rock) Pigeon.

Never having paid much attention to birds before, this project opened my mind to the vastly interesting world of ornithology.

Prints of the illustrations were later featured in several science-based gallery exhibits and were rented for a commercial and a TV show.

FOR

Iridescent (now Technovation) & the Cornell Lab of Ornithology

EXHIBITS

  • · “Women Illustrating Nature” Group Exhibit, Galeria Tonantzin, San Juan Bautista, CA, 6-7/2011
  • · “Art of Nature” Group Exhibit, Museum of Natural History, Santa Cruz, CA, 4-6/2012
  • · GNSI Annual Group Exhibit, Savannah College of Art & Design, Savannah GA, 6-7/2012

ON TV

  • · Weeds TV Show, 5/2012
  • · Samsung TV Ad, 7/2012

FOR SALE

Please contact me for prints or digital rental rights.

WORK / CREDITS

Illustrations & Bird Research: Ioana Urma. App Development: Jon Gross (I-Site). Videos: Cristiano Meira (Iridescent).

Illustration showing hummingbirds in various positions – roosting, nesting, flying, eating – set against a flowery backdrop of trumpet vines, trumpet honeysuckle, and rhododendron.
Zoom in on large rufous male roosting.
Illustration showing rock pigeons in various positions – taking off, flying/soaring, nesting, drinking from the pool – on the patio deck of a tall urban building, poop everywhere.
Zoom in on large rufous male roosting.
Illustration showing barn owls in various positions – nesting, flying, looking for prey right above the fields, with prey in mouth – at night, against a starry sky, with a large full moon, an old tree and a grassy field.
Zoom in on a soft, large, beautiful barn owl soaring above the grassy field in search of prey.
Illustration showing turkey vultures in various positions – feeding on carion in the road, gliding in thermals, drying its wings on a dead tree, nesting – set against a colorul hill backdrop with cacti.
Zoom in on turkey vulture with wings spread open sunbathing, with many small turkey vultures perched on a tree in the distance below.
Illustration showing sparrows in various positions – nesting, flying, fighting – inside a bush of curvy bare branches set against a blue sky.
Zoom in on female and male sparrows fighting.
Illustration showing wandering albatrosses in various positions – nesting, flying, fledging, being friends – set against a geometric rendition of a green, cliffy island in the cold Antartic region.
Zoom in on a parent albatross and their chick in a nest.
Illustration showing peregrine falcons in various positions – soaring, nesting, catching a pigeon in midair, diving, scarying a flock of starlings – set against a dry red rock cliff habitat next to a water body and a clear blue sky.
Zoom in on a peregrine falcon catching a pigeon in midair, with another flying off in the distance above, and starlings in the background around it.

next project

Front cover of Making Water Machines book, in blues, with abstract cartoon boats and waves, and part of a sample of interior pages, cream colored graph paper and line drawings of household materials for experiments on a yellow background.

MAKING WATER
MACHINES

(PRINTED) BOOK