Scientific illustrators work closely with scientists and the objects that they are researching.
Scientific illustrators do not just illustrate organisms. They can illustrate geology, astronomy, textbook diagrams, etc. Illustrators use their knowledge and skills to help scientists interpret their studies. There is a large amount of teamwork involved to help make their project a success, both scientifically and visually. They are used to help people visualize a situation in time, like an erupting volcano, new animals or plants, or even things that we may already know something about, like the California sea otter.