2D

Illustrations, paintings, graphics. Static and animated.

Neutrino Tea
Particle Physics | Symmetry | 2025

Crop of an illustration: A stylized scene showing neutrinos passing through a teacup. A graphical magnifier behind the cup shows events at the atomic level (exaggerated, not to scale). Neutrinos are often called 'ghost particles': despite their large quantities (trillions pass through us every second), they rarely interact with matter. To interact with an atom, a neutrino must actually hit its nucleus — a tiny cluster of protons and neutrons in a vast, empty space. The odds are incredibly low; artistic license was taken for this illustration to show more interactions than are likely to happen. Art by Olena Shmahalo for Symmetry Magazine.
Neutrino TeaParticle Physics | Symmetry | 2025

Gravitational Waves
Astrophysics | IAS | 2024

Crop of a stylized illustration of an autumnal scene at the famous Institute Pond at the Institute for Advanced Study. Silhouettes of people around the pond observe a strange event in the dark, star-filled water: two orbiting black holes create ripples, symbolizing gravitational waves. Art by Olena Shmahalo for The Institute Letter.
Gravitational WavesAstrophysics | IAS | 2024

Here be (Dark Matter) Monsters!
Astrophysics | SciAm | 2024

Crop of a painting: Inspired by antique nautical maps depicting monsters in unknown waters, a worn celestial map shows dark matter styled as a draconic serpent wrapping around galaxies. (Dark matter is like a gravitational glue that binds galaxy clusters together, while dark energy pushes them apart.) Imagery and labels on objects around the map (books, papers, photos) suggest dark matter candidates like axions, WIMPs and black holes. Art by Olena Shmahalo for Scientific American.
Here be (Dark Matter) Monsters!Astrophysics | SciAm | 2024

Yggdrasil
Astrophysics | Symmetry | 2024

Thumbnail: Digital painting of a starship flying into colorful nebulae. This generation ship's body is shaped like a maple seed, intersected by two large wheels that would generate artificial gravity along their interior. Art by Olena Shmahalo for Symmetry Magazine.
YggdrasilAstrophysics | Symmetry | 2024

Light's Secret Code
Astrophysics | BBC SF | 2024

Stacked crops of a stylized illustration: light rays travel from a galactic cluster toward a distant prism in space. Via the prism's refraction, the light turns into iridescent, swallow-like birds, carrying scrolls of absorption spectra. Art by Olena Shmahalo for BBC Science Focus.
Light's Secret CodeAstrophysics | BBC SF | 2024

Majorana
Physics | AAAS Science | 2023

Painted portrait illustration of physicist Ettore Majorana, dramatically lit and partially in shadow, with anyons / Majorana fermions orbiting around him. Art by Olena Shmahalo for Science Magazine / AAAS.
MajoranaPhysics | AAAS Science | 2023

Animals
SFF | 2023

Stylized illustration of six animals. Top-left: A Tyrannosaurus rex surveys the others from behind ferns & foliage. Top-right: A manatee holds a potion bottle as a wave curls around & over him. Middle: A Velociraptor peeks over the top of a graphical, pink TV displaying a beach scene; its claw grips one edge. A Ragdoll cat & puffin relax on a cushion in front of the TV. Bottom-right: Standing amidst ferns & cycads, a huge Stegosaurus looks up at the other creatures.
AnimalsSFF | 2023

Visible Matter
Physics | Symmetry | 2023

Crop: Stylized painting of earth in space inside a gold, radial compass design and surrounded by gold telescope icons, followed by clustered galaxies and CMB patterns at the outer edges.
Visible MatterPhysics | Symmetry | 2023

Extragalactic Neutrinos
Physics | Symmetry | 2023

Stylized painting of neutrinos traveling from an AGN or supernova and plunging into a dark blue sea, producing Cherenkov radiation (conical blue light) underwater.
Extragalactic NeutrinosPhysics | Symmetry | 2023

Neutrino Archery: MINERvA
Physics | Symmetry | 2023

Close-up of an illustration: a proton's interior — 3 quarks.
Neutrino Archery: MINERvAPhysics | Symmetry | 2023

NANOGrav Astrophysics
Physics | NANOGrav | 2022

Triptych: 3D art of a pulsar shooting out colorful jets, stars & galaxies in a petri dish showing the evolution of the universe, & planet Earth surrounded by telescopes, pulsars, & binary black hole systems.
NANOGrav AstrophysicsPhysics | NANOGrav | 2022

Black Hole Labs
Physics | IAS Cover | 2022

Photo of the cover of IAS: The Institute Letter. Featuring art of a black hole laboratory in a retro-futuristic style.
Black Hole LabsPhysics | IAS Cover | 2022

Black Hole Gyroscope
Physics | Quanta | 2022

Painting of a gold armillary sphere on a beige background, containing a blue galaxy and a spherical black hole at its center. Gears are faintly visible beneath the galaxy.
Black Hole GyroscopePhysics | Quanta | 2022

Herding Big Data
Neuroscience | Simons Fdn. | 2023

Close-up of a painting: multicolored cats tangled up in yarn, forming a network graph.
Herding Big DataNeuroscience | Simons Fdn. | 2023

Dark Photons
Physics | Symmetry | 2022

Painting of small figures carrying spheres through a portal, representing photons. As they cross the threshold, the characters and spheres turn from dark to light.
Dark PhotonsPhysics | Symmetry | 2022

COVID Changed the World
Biology | SciAm Cover | 2022

Scientific American cover: How COVID Changed the World
COVID Changed the WorldBiology | SciAm Cover | 2022

The Lawnmower Man
SciFi | Inverse | 2022

Illustration: a silhouetted man with hand outstretched toward a flaming lawnmower.
The Lawnmower ManSciFi | Inverse | 2022

Tower of Infinities
Math | Quanta | 2021

Painting: an infinite white tower in a fantastical landscape, growing in size as it spirals upwards.
Tower of InfinitiesMath | Quanta | 2021

Gödel's Tower
Math | Quanta | 2020

Fantasy painting: a white tower made of blocks with mathematical symbols, floating in the sky.
Gödel's TowerMath | Quanta | 2020

© Olena Shmahalo