I’ve decided to start a series showcasing scientists and artists that have found ways to combine the two. Keep in mind that these two things are horribly broad, blanket ideas, and that there is more overlap than any one gives credit. I’ll start off with my own painting of an MRI of an MS patient, showing the characteristic “Dalton’s Fingers”. I’ll try to post a new one everyday. 

Boring backstory (you have been warned):

It started off from a very young age, when my mother first gave me a toy dinosaur. Of course, it was not just one toy dinosaur, it became a dinosaur model collection, along with many, many, many other scientifically-based toys. Along with these came the usual art supplies the parents often give their children. I love both. A lot.

And so began my intense love of both science and art.

When I was very little, I was convinced I was going to be a paleontologist. I had it all planned out. Much more than someone more than a decade away from even beginning university really should. This was not the usual phase of wanting to study dinosaurs that most children pass through, this was an intense obsession.  As I got older, the art started to grab hold, not just the art, but the love of creation. I would spend hours crafting little figurines out of Fimo (sort of like a cross between Playdoh and clay).

Then I hit highschool and a new career path dawned – that of graphic design. This was my first real consideration beyond paleontology, but it held me just as strongly. Then came the big deciding time when I had to choose between following art and science (or at least so it was implied).

I chose science.

And now, 4 years later and what seemed like a reasonably straightforward path at first has had more convolutions than the surface of the brain (ha ha). Part of me just wants to run away and become a graphic artist per the original plan, but at the same time I’m all signed up to head off to medical school. So I figured that I may as well show some people who have made the two work together, gathering inspiration from one and applying it to the other.