Dr Emma Rehn

@bluerehn

Science illustrator | Research communicator for TropWATER | Palaeoenviro scientist | Archaeologist | Crafter Based in Far North Queensland, Australia Portfolio:

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Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· 28d

Attention Aussie trivia fans! I'm running an online science trivia night this Friday for the ASC Regional & Remote Branch - come have some fun and win prizes! Rego is free for @auscicomm.bsky.social members, $5 for everyone else Register here: www.asc.asn.au/eventdetails...

A banner image advertising and online science trivia night on Friday 31 July, 7:30pm AEST, hosted by the Australian Science Communicators Regional & Remote Branch, with a cartoon of various science-related objects flying out of a glowing laptop screen

Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· Jul 17

How old are Victoria's Twelve Apostles? This illustration accompanies a featured research story chronicling the formation history of the Twelve Apostles sea stacks and coastline, for the latest issue of The Australian Geologist magazine. Super interesting, and a fun one to draw! #sciart #geology

A digital illustration of a rocky sea stack and adjacent coastline with overlaid text showing the age of each rock layer (from 14.1 million years ago through to 5 million years ago) and the incoming ocean tide (20,000 years ago)

Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· May 15

This is the project I'm most proud of so far this year: Linkin Park cushion Made as a gift, I designed the pixel art pattern and used my own variation of the corner-to-corner method to make the squares smaller Approx 60x60cm, with a progress photo for scale #CraftSky #crochet

A crocheted corner-to-corner cushion of the album cover for Meteora by Linkin Park, in shades of black, brown, gold, and white, laid out on a black couch

A progress photo of a crocheted corner-to-corner cushion of the album cover for Meteora by Linkin Park, in shades of black, brown, gold, and white, laid out on a black couch with a brown and white Border Collie resting beside it just barely visible

Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· May 6

My latest illustration for the Geological Society of Australia's magazine, for a special issue on the recent Aus Earth Sciences Convention From your conference experiences, who am I missing? #AcademicSky 🐡

A single frame comic titled "A Spotter's Guide to Conference Goers" showing a crowded room of conference attendees. Labels above the crowd identify "The Procrastinator" (assuring someone they'll get their slides done before their session this afternoon), "The (Over-)prepared" (offering someone their slides on a USB, or email attachment, or link), "The Session Jumper" (sprinting across the room), "The Social Butterfly" (looking through a handful of business cards to give someone), "The Distinguished Professor" (wearing a graphic art tshirt and Crocs), and "The Wrong Building" (carrying a briefcase and stethoscope and sounding surprised to be at an Earth sciences convention)

Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· May 4

Delighted to find out the S.A. Museum has added the "PLEASE TOUCH" sign I hoped for, so visitors to the Waterhouse exhibition know Chronovarium is interactive! (Among the "do not touch" signs) Also delighted to find out about it because some of my family visited the exhibition today ❤️ 🐡

A touch screen mounted on a wall showing an interactive artwork called Chronovarium. A sign above the screen reads "This is an interactive artwork, please touch". A sign on the left lists the creators and more about the artwork

Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· May 2

I've recently been experimenting with designing my own crochet patterns for friends' baby gifts, after asking them to pick an animal 🧶 These two offered a chance to modify and refine! Late last year I made the duck 🦆 and today the goose went to its new home 🪿 #crochet #crafting

A crocheted duck in autumnal colours with a brown beak, facing left and held aloft in front of a plain cream wall

A crocheted white goose with orange beak and legs and a purple bow around its neck, facing right, held aloft in front of a plain cream wall

Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· Apr 26

I still draw comics sometimes - this one's for @cosmicpudding.bsky.social and @elizabethtasker.bsky.social, inspired by an opinion piece on making AI assistants more useful (by watching you work)

A four panel comic showing a person working at a laptop and a blue figure labelled 'AI' leaning over their shoulder. The first three panels are silent. In the fourth, the AI figure comments 'Have you considered using Pivot-' which the person angrily interrupts with 'No! Go away!!'

Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· Apr 18

I finally created the sequels to this after being enlightened in the replies - here's anteater-isation for @obeymybrain.bsky.social and limpetisation for @limpetnerd.eurosky.social! Both are also now on Threadless 🐜 bluerehn.threadless.com #SciArt #evolution

White block letters on a brown background that read 'ALL ROADS LEAD TO ANTEATER' with an echidna atop the last word, tongue out

White outline block letters on a teal background that read 'ALL ROADS LEAD TO LIMPET' with a limpet shell atop the last word

Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· Mar 14

Thrilled to announce that Chronovarium, my collab with @nelliepease.bsky.social, is shortlisted for the Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize! Go on a deep time journey - make choices to shape your own mini ecosystem and see the fossil traces left behind at chronovarium.com #sciart #palaeoecology

A digital illustration of three glass bowls containing miniature ecosystems - from front to back: a rainforest, a coral reef, and a coastal wetland

Green text on a blue background. Text reads: Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize 10 April - 19 July 2026. Logos below the text are for the Government of South Australia and the South Australian Museum

Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· Mar 4

QRP with your skull art

A digital drawing of a human skull and neck viewed from side-on (facing left) with a glowing white spike piercing through the eye socket and emerging from the base of the skull

Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· Feb 26

Are you a SciCommer in Aus? Come to @auscicomm.bsky.social's first networking event for the year! I'm running the online edition for our new Regional & Remote branch - come chat, share your experiences, and consider joining the ASC! Register for free: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

White text on a blue box over a blurred photo. Text reads: Australian Science Communicators Regional and Remote Branch Free online networking event Everyone Everywhere All At Once. Wednesday 4 March 4:30pm AEST / 5:30pm AEDT

Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· Jan 14

Looking for some nerdy merch? My artwork is now on Threadless! I'll be gradually adding more designs (and could be open to suggestions for science topics you'd like to see 👀) bluerehn.threadless.com #SciArt #merch

A shiny blue badge showing cartoon seashells and the words "SHELL YEAH"

A black t-shirt with a white design that reads "All Roads Lead to Crab" with a cartoon crab atop the last word

A cream-coloured tote bag printed with a cartoon owl wearing glasses and reading a book, beside text that reads "berd"

A black notebook cover showing a line of four cartoon paper stars in the colours of the asexual flag (black, grey, white, and purple)

Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· Jan 8

Evolution loves a crab - they've independently evolved so many times there's even a word for it (carcinisation) 🦀 #SciArt #crab #carcinisation #marinebiology

White block letters on a blue background that read "All Roads Lead to Crab" with a crab standing atop the last word, claws raised

Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· Jan 4

Bird nerd (berd) - one for the bird enthusiasts #digitalart #birdnerd #birding #ornithology

A digital drawing of a barking owl wearing glasses and reading a book titled 'the ultimate BIRD GUIDE' beside text that reads 'berd'

Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· Oct 17

True story: if your dog is wearing a t-shirt, that's a human (confirmed by AI) Thanks to my workmate Caitlin for letting me use her screenshot! #comic #AI (but not drawn by AI)

A three-panel comic. The first panel shows Plato saying "The definition of a human? A featherless biped." The second panel shows a robot labelled "A.I." saying "Okay, got it!" The third panel shows the A.I. robot showing an unimpressed Plato a screenshot of a security camera view of a dog in a t-shirt labelled "5:20pm Human" and declaring "Behold - a human!"

Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· Oct 10

Illustrating water quality challenges - this is some of my recent work showing how fire, roads & tracks, and eroding gullies can impact water quality (& how a gully can be repaired!) These were created for my work with TropWATER & their collab with the Cape York Water Quality Partnership #SciArt

A digital illustration of a wooded hilly landscape with a river running through the middle. On the left, a burn from earlier in the dry season has left trees alive and is not eroding. On the right, a hot late dry season burn has charred the landscape, killing trees and eroding charcoal and soil into the river

A digital illustration showing a creek crossing a dirt road, with rain eroding channels into the road, forming a downstream gully and releasing soil in to the river below

A two-panel illustration showing an eroded alluvial gully releasing dirty water and a remediated gully, covered in vegetation with a rock chute to channel the water flow

Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· Aug 14

Introducing Deep Time Detectives! 🔎 Deep Time Detectives is an educational resource developed by CABAH on Australia's deep history, featuring a series of animated videos. I drew a collection of original illustrations and animated elements for these videos #SciComm emmarehn.com/portfolio/de...

A collection of graphics centred on an anthropomorphised wombat in a waistcoat, holding a magnifying glass and pocket watch, next to the text "Deep Time Detectives". The surrounding graphics include a gumtree flower, a wallaby skull, a tree, a pollen grain, a quoll, a charcoal particle, grasses, footprints, fire, and a potoroo.

An animated GIF of a cartoon wallaby eating leaves off a small tree sapling

A wide image showing an illustrated landscape, transiting from open grassland with scattered trees on the left through to increasingly closed woodland with minimal grass and more dense shrubs

Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· Jul 12

My dog definitely plays favourites 🐾 #comic #BorderCollie

A three-panel comic. The first panel shows a guy opening a door, smiling and saying "Hey, Lucy!" A label points to him that reads 'brother'. The second panel shows him leaning forward to a chocolate and white Border Collie moving towards him, as he says "Did you miss-" The final, double-width panel shows the dog rushing past him to wag her tail at a woman walking through the door behind him, labelled 'sister-in-law'. He says "...me?" and she says "Hi, Luce!"

Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· Jun 27

Live-sketches from COCE 2025 🌱 This week, I attended & presented online as part of the Conference on Communication and Environment There were so many great sessions & discussions - I drew these live-sketches during all of the hybrid and virtual sessions I attended! #scicomm #sciart #livesketch

A collection of 16 digital sketches on a white background, summarising sessions from an environmental communication conference featuring plants, animals, and people.

Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· Jun 24

I was recently commissioned to create two illustrations for The Australian Geologist, the quarterly magazine of the Geological Society of Australia One highlights featured research, the other is just for fun! Read the TAG June issue here: issuu.com/gsaustralia/... #geology #sciart #scicomm

A cartoon showing hands holding a phone displaying an app titled "relative dating", subtitled "Find your fossil assemblage". The app shows a fossil fish, fern, and three-toed footprint captioned "Upper Jurassic 161.5 - 143.1 Ma". Buttons below the caption read "Not for me" and "It's a match!"

A drawing of a top-down view of a landscape divided into two vertical panels, with a large, three-toed footprint in the centre shared across both views. The left panel shows a sandy floodplain with bushes, and the receding foot that created the footprint. The right panel shows seawater lapping and molluscs growing in and around the fossil footprint, with running shoes and a person holding a camera to take a photo of the footprint, with a scale bar beside it

Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· Jun 17

New paper for the palaeofire fans! Presenting the SahulCHAR collection, containing 687 sedimentary charcoal records from across Australia, New Guinea, and New Zealand 🔥 Read it open access: doi.org/10.5194/essd... This is the product of my final postdoc - thanks to all who contributed their data!

A graphical abstract for the OCTOPUS SahulCHAR collection showing a map of Australia, New Guinea, and New Zealand with red dots for data points. Text on the right of the image presents key statistics: 425 locations, 531 cores, 687 char records, 23 contributors

Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· May 18

Happy National Archaeology Week! This year's craft in celebration of Archaeology Week is little clay pendants - the scale bar is 4cm #2025NAW #archaeology #craft

A photograph of four clay pendants of a trowel, an amphora, a bivalve shell half, and a colour scale bar, each attached to loops of black cord

Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· Apr 15

Everyone please go have fun scribbling, painting, drawing, and otherwise finding joy in making art 🎨 #WorldArtDay #Artsky

Drawings of art supplies around the text "Happy World Art Day" on a multicolour painted background

Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· Mar 14

Happy Pi Day! 🥧 This is my first time making pies, so I went for mini ones to share at work

A photograph of a dozen mini apple pies on baking paper

Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· Feb 14

Happy Lucy day, everyone 🐾

A photograph of a brown and white Border Collie smiling at the camera, laying on a footpath in the centre of a chalk circle in rainbow colours. Chalk writing on the right says "Happy 11th birthday Lucy!"

Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· Jan 29

That sounds like a very cool, and challenging, job! I hope you like this sketch inspired by the scale of global to personal in your work

A cartoon showing the Earth overlaid with high-rise city buildings, a house, and the silhouette of a person

Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· Jan 27

This week, I'm celebrating reaching 1k followers! 🎉 If you follow me: comment with a few words about your research/area of expertise and some things you enjoy - and I'll sketch a little cartoon for you

A cartoon of a jumping spider in a white outfit, striking a pose on a colourful glowing dance floor in homage to John Travolta in Saturday Night Live

Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· Jan 18

I made time these holidays to sketch while out and about - here's a selection of those sketches and their models #sketchbook

A photograph of a tropical waterfall in the background, with a sketch of that waterfall in a sketchbook held in the foreground

A photograph of stone steps leading down to a creek in the background, with a sketch of the steps and creek in a sketchbook held in the foreground

A photograph of the twisting trunk of a tree in a grassy park, and a sketch of that tree in a sketchbook held in the foreground

A photograph of a fig tree in the background, with a sketch of that tree in a sketchbook held in the foreground

Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· Jan 8

My science illustration commissions are open! If you want to visualise your research this year through custom illustrations, logos, or infographics, please get in touch Visit emmarehn.com for my portfolio and contact info #SciArt #SciComm #ScienceIllustration

A graphic showing six vertical panels of digital illustrations and a title box that reads "Commissions are open"

Dr Emma Rehn@bluerehn· Jan 4

'Cascades', my last painting for 2024 Acrylic on canvas, 20x25cm #Artsky #landscapepainting