People Science & Society

Insect illustrator

By Roberta Kwok

For 10 years, Taina Litwak’s job was to draw almost nothing but mosquitoes. As a science illustrator in Washington, D.C., for the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Litwak helped document disease-transmitting species that might endanger soldiers overseas.

Litwak won an award for this illustration of the beetle Elaphidion costipenne, a long-horned, wood-boring species from the Caribbean. T. Litwak

As part of her work for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, illustrator Taina Litwak drew a series showing ladybird beetles (above) that could potentially eat pests. T. Litwak

Today, Litwak’s work offers a bit more variety: She’s an “art department of one” in D.C. for the U.S.