I've always been a curious and avid learner and as a kid I had tons of science books and posters that lined my room. From the ocean depths to the stars up above, ive always been inspired and fascinated with the natural world. Back in middle/high school, whenever we'd have a project to say illustrate an animal cell, the solar system, or various rocks and minerals I showed up and gave my all to bring these concepts to life. Obviously looking back, they weren't perfect, had some factual errors, and overall had middle school art energy. So Ive set out to illustrate science diagrams/posters that inspred me as a kid to hopefully inspire the next generation to be curious and identify the cycles around us. To start this long project I chose The Water Cycle and The Carbon Cycle as they are the basis of life on Earth and a great start so i can intregrate my landscape illustrations within these posters.
The Water Cycle is a complex cycle that involves the continuous movement of water within the earth and atmosphere. It contains many different processes
that move water from a certain state, property, or location to another. The overall mass of water on our planet remains consistent, but the partitioning
of water in certain major reservoirs changes over time. In simple terms, liquid water evaporates into water vapor, which condenses to form clouds and then
precipitates back to earth in the form of rain and snow. I started my journey after my research, looking at a variety of posters and diagrams depicting
this to find ways that other artists and designers put together information in an accurate yet compositionally eye-catching way. I saw a bunch that showed
off a mountain, a body of water, and a large open sky to show off the condensation clouds. This was the route I went with, but with my own flare and tons
more foliage (obviously!). Before I included any information, I wanted to make sure this poster also works as a stand-alone illustration as well as an infographic.
I made sure to keep in the back of my head that I would need to have room for the various steps as well as the arrows pointing to the movement of water. There are many
more steps to the Water Cycle than evaporation, condensation, and precipitation, so I made sure to include the various in-between steps and other important steps often
overlooked. However, there are many, many more steps and intricacies that I wouldn't be able to fit in my children’s science poster, and it feels more appropriate in a
book than a reference poster.I settled on the following steps: evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation, infiltration, surface runoff, and groundwater.
The Carbon Cycle is a complex cycle in which carbon is exchanged and moves among the biosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. It describes the movement of carbon
as it is recycled and reused throughout the biosphere (organisms), as well as longer processes of carbon sequestration and release from carbon sinks. Carbon is the main
component of biological compounds and life itself, and this cycle is nature’s way of reusing this important element. There are two distinct carbon cycles: the fast carbon
cycle and the slow carbon cycle. The fast carbon cycle is also the biological carbon cycle, as it can be completed within years between the biosphere and atmosphere.
An example of this is the respiration of animals (CO2 into the atmosphere) and photosynthesis (CO2 back into the biosphere). On the other hand, the slow carbon cycle,
is the geological/deep carbon cycle, which can take millions of years to complete and describes the movement of carbon between the Earth’s crust (rocks, soil, ocean,
and atmosphere).
Similar to the Water Cycle poster, I wanted this to look good as a stand-alone illustration, so I made it into a landscape piece, but obviously trying to squeeze in the
important parts of this cycle made some aspects look a little funky and crowded, but I'm still proud of this composition. Unlike the Water Cycle, animals play a huge role
in the carbon cycle, so I included some cows, as they have been the poster child for increasing atmospheric carbon due to their advanced guts and plentiful population as a
food source for billions of people. At the same time, their decomposition brings carbon back into the soil to be recycled. For this poster, I focused a lot on the fast
carbon cycle, with some mentions of the slow carbon cycle like the towering volcanic eruption in the distance and the sequestration of carbon into the earth; however, if
I had included the movement of carbon through limestone and others, this poster would have become way too busy, and like my thoughts on the Water Cycle, it would fit better
in a book. Since there are so many steps in the Carbon Cycle, I had to narrow my focus and stay within the general components. I focused on the following steps: animal/plant
respiration, human emissions, volcanism, ocean acidification, photosynthesis, root respiration, waste, decaying organisms, and fossil fuel (carbon sink).
These were really fun to develop and illustrate, and they fulfilled my inner child by combining my love for science and creativity. I loved learning more about these cycles within my research and finding ways to piece them together into a cohesive illustration. These were only the start, as I have more posters in development like the nitrogen cycle, rock cycle, and layers of the earth and atmosphere. Stay tuned!
