The human body is made of about 30 trillion cells. These basic units of life are too small to see with the naked eye. David Goodsell, a biologist and artist, paints cells. His artwork offers a close-up view of what cells look like.
Goodsell studies images of the cell he wants to represent. Then he draws and paints the cell’s cross section. Each painting shows different parts of the cell, like its nucleus, or center, and walls.
The paintings are scientifically accurate—with one exception. Most cells are transparent. But Goodsell uses color to identify cell parts—and to make the paintings more appealing. “I just choose colors that I like,” he says.