About the artist

I am Dr. Joanna Butler (formerly Culley), a medical and scientific artist specialising in human and animal anatomy, scientific subjects, and the natural world. My passion for our planet and its inhabitants drives my work in this field.

From the beginning, I focused on drawing the natural world, particularly animals and wildlife. This passion grew into a desire not just to observe animals but to understand their anatomy and physiology, leading me to create art for education and science communication. I pursued studies in medical and scientific illustration, earning a degree and completing postgraduate work with the Medical Artists Education Trust, and more recently my studies culminated in a PhD.

During my PhD at the University of Surrey, I researched and illustrated neglected tropical diseases of the skin (skin NTDs). Collaborating with leading dermatology and NTD experts, I produced the world’s first clinically approved medical illustrations of skin NTDs. Communications for early skin NTD detection is crucial as antibiotic treatment is available, yet health education in under-resourced among socioeconomically challenged regions of Africa. The aim of the medical illustrations is to help address significant gaps in skin NTD health education.

Why I Specialised in Scientific and Medical Art

Medical and scientific art captivates me because it encompasses human and animal anatomy, medicine, the natural world, and science. Each project demands thorough research to ensure accurate depictions, making it a continuous and fascinating journey of discovery. This art form requires absolute precision and meticulous detail, a challenge I embrace fully as I create each drawing from scratch.     

Career to Date

For the last 15 years I have primarily been commissioned to work on commercial projects where my illustrations have been used within publishing to patient education materials, wildlife foundations, to nature reserves. This has led to my becoming very adept at creating illustrations that suit each project, the target audience, ones which tell the key client message while being attractive and appealing for the reader.

While this website is dedicated to showcasing my artwork within the science fields, I have also been commissioned to complete a wide range of medical art and this work is showcased separately on my additional website called www.medical-artist.com.

There is also the possibility to purchase many illustrations as licensed stock illustrations on the business’s sister web site called The Medical Stock Images Company. If a medical illustration has already been created and meets your needs, then this service will suit you very well.