Tracks of an Oak Killer

Illustration for Science Notes 2012. This was a collaboration assignment for CSUMB's Science Illustration program - where we got to pair up with students from the Science Writing program to illustrate images for their articles, which will be published online soon.

The illustration has now been published! [link] and [link]

My writer researched Sudden Oak death and wanted me to illustrate an upwards view of a stately oak tree with large branches, against golden lighting, but with contrasting symptoms of the insidious disease showing closer on its trunk. (Bleeding cankers, black fungus)

Here is the final illustration (painted in photoshop), and the steps it took to make it. You can see I based the illustration on a photo I took of a nice oak tree I found in my neighborhood. (This one was fortunately healthy though!)

Art copyright me. For my portfolio display only; please do not use without my permission.