Dear Jawwad,

Perhaps my approach is a bit old-fashioned - and not the answer you are looking for - but I still prefer to work from a pencil (via camera lucida) and ink these with a pen. The most important benefit of this is that I'm not on a computer during the "ink" phase. So, I can do inking at home and not be anti-social with the family. I might half-watch a movie with the kids, or watch a game of sport. I can do it pretty much anywhere I please providing I have a table and a USB battery pack for the light board - outside, watching birds etc. Any time spent off a computer is good.

After inking, I transfer to Adobe Photoshop, clean the image, add lines if needed, and label. It's then back to the microscope for checking.

If I could not afford Adobe, then I recommend GIMP and, for vector graphics, Inkscape. I haven't used GIMP a great deal, as I've not lost access to Photoshop. I use Inkscape for non illustrative figures but I'm sure it can do scientific illustration. I just find the whole process much slower, less satisfying, and has to be done at my workplace.

There's at least one Acarology-based paper on this topic:

https://hal.science/hal-01565290/document

Katya made extraordinary illustrations, so it's a fine technique if you have the technology and patience.

Best wishes,

Owen.

I will recommend reading two excellent articles; the first one by Fisher and Dowling in mite study techniques. Acarologia 50(3): 395–409 (2010)

DOI: 10.1051/acarologia/20101981

MODERN METHODS AND TECHNOLOGY FOR DOING CLASSICAL TAXONOMY

J. Ray FISHER and Ashley P. G. DOWLING

the second one by E. de Lillo Æ C. Craemer Æ J. W. Amrine Jr. Æ G. Nuzzaci

Recommended procedures and techniques for morphological studies of Eriophyoidea (Acari: Prostigmata) Exp Appl Acarol (2010) 51:283–307 DOI 10.1007/s10493-009-9311-x

Dear Jawwad,

I have used Adobe Illustrator for drawing mites. It is easy to use, but needs almost several high-quality photos from a view to draw details from different aspects of those photos. For example, if you want to draw the ventral side of a mesostigmatic mite, you should have good-quality photos from both sides of the body (e.g. coxae, peritreme, peritrematal shield, lateral setae, etc.) and also from front and back of the ventral part to be able to draw the figure in a good shape. After drawing the figure with AI, you need to check all parts of the body with your microscope precisely. I mean you may need to check and edit details of your figure via microscope.

Hope you can make the best decision for drawing your mites :),

Ali