Myelin

Thankful for my support network.

My latest illustration depicts Myelin, the insulating layer of fat that wraps around the axons of neurons (here depicted in pink). Just like the plastic tubes around the wires in your house, myelin allows electric signals to travel inside these cells for long distances, without dissipating.

In the brain, myelin sheaths are formed by oligodendrocytes, a type of glial cells that wrap around multiple axons at the same time, forming a complex network on top of an already staggering complex network of neurons.

Oligodendrocyte – artwork by Holly Fischer 
http://open.umich.edu/education/med/resources/second-look-series/materials

My goal here was simply to pay tribute to these ‘support’ cells that are too often overlooked. Both neurons and oligodendrocytes are still incredibly simplified in my drawing (neurons don’t have any dendrites for one) but I hope it gives a sense of how intricate – and beautiful! – the brain can be.

This illustration was heavily influenced by the work of William Morris, of course, although mine is not a repeating pattern like his. I have been a big fan of his work and philosophy since visiting the William Morris Gallery, while working on my PhD in London.

“any decoration is futile…
when it does not remind you of something beyond itself.”

William Morris

William Morris, Pink and Rose, ca. 1890

Back to Neurons

Since the holidays I have suffered from a bad tendonitis in my right hand so I was forced to stay away from drawing. This temporary break made me appreciate how much I missed drawing on paper. I have been increasingly moving to digital for my work, and although I appreciate the new tools, selecting layers and keyframes is not quite the same. 

Last weekend I was finally healthy enough to hold a bush again and – although I have many things on my to do list – I decided to do a little celebratory drawing. Just good-old fashioned neurons (and glia) in black ink on paper. I have added some color digitally but you can see the original on my Instagram.

It was a lot of fun and I’m feeling very grateful for my motor neurons right now so I’m determined to carve out more time for this kind of pleasure drawing this year.

Brain Awareness Week 2018

Here is an illustration to celebrate Brain Awareness Week 2018.

Brain Awareness Week is a “global campaign to increase public awareness of the progress and benefits of brain research”. If you live anywhere near a university chances are that there are going to be some brain-related events this week, I encourage you to look them up and engage with your local neuroscientists.

And if you want to learn more about the beautiful neural networks that hide inside you, my books are always a good place to start. Neurocomic is now available in more than 5 languages and The Senses came out with Nobrow just a few months ago. Also, for Italian-speaking children (and soon also Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese) you can order Cervellopoli from Editorial Scienza.

Have a great week!

The Senses

 

Voice has reached me that some friends of mine still didn’t know I have a new book out, so I guess I’m miserably failing at this whole self-promotion thing. Indeed, I have realized that I had never even announced it here on my blog (but you, dear readers, regularly check my website matteofarinella.com, follow me on the twitter, and all the rest, right?).

Anyway, to avoid any confusion, here we go: I made a new book – GO BUY IT!

It’s called The Senses and it has a warm red cover, full of silver and gold shiny things (FIG. 2) which looks great next to Christmas trees, Menorahs, previous books by the same author, and what have you. Also – SPOILER ALERT – it’s about the brain and it subtly denies the existence of  the ‘Soul’ so it’s perfect for your atheist friends too (happy Festivus everyone!).

Figure 2

No, seriously, I have been working on this since early 2015, so it was incredibly exciting to finally hold it in my hands this past October. Nobrow, as usual, made a masterful job with the printing! After some delays with the shipping it looks like it’s finally arriving to bookshops around the globe and I have heard that Amazon is even shipping it directly to your doorstep. I can’t wait for you to read it and I hope you’ll enjoy it.

I’ll be back in the new year with more science comics, thank you all for your support!

cover draft – 2016

cover draft – 2015

 

Fall Events

I have been holed up in NYC for most of the Summer but this Fall I have a new book coming out (The Senses) and I have been invited to some pretty amazing events on the East coast. If you want to talk about science, comics and get your copy of The Senses (or Neurocomic) signed save these dates on your calendar!

If you need more details, here are the links to all the events:

• Princeton: https://cst.princeton.edu/events/science-book-club-and-discussion
• NYC: http://caveat.nyc/event/the-senses/
• Albany: http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/farinella_matteo17.html
• Toronto: http://www.fields.utoronto.ca/talks/ArtSci-Salon-Laser-TO-presents-Narrating-Neuroscience

Frankenstein Aldini

I have just returned from ASU Emerge, an art and science festival in Tempe, Arizona. The theme of the 2017 edition was Frankenstein, “a 200-year old novel that still motivates us to think critically about our creative agency and scientific responsibility”. I was there mostly to talk about Neurocomic and document the amazing work done by the other participants but since the science behind Frankenstein has interesting connections with the history of neuroscience and a little known Italian scientist from my hometown, Bologna, I decided to make a special minicomic for the occasion (very much in the spirit of the Little Albert Experiment).

Here is a digital version for those of you who couldn’t get a copy at the event. Many thanks to ASU and the organizers for supporting my work!

PS: as usual you can read this story also on Medium.

Brainy weeks

I have been kind of quiet lately. The reason is that I started working at Science-Practice two weeks ago and I’ve been too busy learning about amazing new technologies. This is going to slow down my drawing for a while but no doubts it’s also going to inspire some pretty futuristic comics at some point, so stay tuned!

Talking about the future: after a Sunday immersion at Futurefest, this week I’m back in Italy to present Neurocomic at the Settimana Del Cervello. This is an excellent (neuro)science communication festival which I remember attending back when I was still an undergraduate in Bologna, before I even decided to study the brain (let alone writing a comic about it!). So I was very pleased to receive this invitation and, if you happen to be near Trieste, I hope you’ll join me this Saturday 21 March, 17:30 at the Libreria Lovat.

Vernon B. Mountcastle

This month neuroscience lost one of its great masters: Vernon B. Mountcastle, who first discovered the columnar organization of the cerebral cortex. His pioneering work has been awarded many prizes and laid the foundations for a lot of contemporary research in the field (including my PhD). Many excellent articles have already been written about it, but I wanted to pay my personal tribute to this great explorer of the brain. Here is how he would have appeared in Neurocomic, reaching new peaks of scientific discovery:

AUTUMN 2014

This blog is going to be on hiatus for a while, as I will be travelling quite a lot around Italy to promote Neurocomic. In case you miss my comics, here is a list of the various places and festivals where you will be able to find them (and me).

The trip to New York is mostly an holiday but if you’re around and want me to sign some books or simply have a chat, why not,  just let me know.

I’m looking forward to meet some new friends as well as to catch up with the old ones.

See you around.

MEMORY CAVES

Today has been exactly 5 months since the opening of our exhibition at The Cube. Our last event was all about memory so I made this special illustration of the Hippocampus patiently working away in his cave. The theme seems particularly relevant now, since September will also mark the first anniversary of Neurocomic, published by Nobrow in September 2013. Boy, what a year this has been… I never expected so many good memories could be packed in such a short time, my hippocampus feels giddy!

But let’s not linger too much on the past. Even if our exhibition in London will soon be closing, you will be able to find some of the original drawings during the Treviso Comic Book Festival. I will be there as well and at many other festivals. More news are about to come, always remember to check out my blog or follow me on Twitter @matteofarinella.

Thanks.