Andrea Dingeldein

Andrea Dingeldein, M.S.

Andrea Dingeldein specializes in visual depictions of the maritime environment. She illustrates everything from the flora and fauna of the ocean realm, to the vessels and lighthouses that have guided generations of humans towards scientific discovery. With watercolors and field notebook in hand, she sets out into California’s tide pools, redwood forests, and coastal prairies to document the wonders and oddities of the natural world. Back in the studio she transforms her field studies into polished science illustrations for researchers, parks, and local environmental organizations that fight to protect the ecosystems she knows and loves.

In addition to working as a freelance artist, Andrea is an instructor for the Science Illustration Program at California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB).  She teaches Field Sketching, Design of Graphics for Motion, Print, and Web, and Botanical Illustration. 

If you are interested in hiring Andrea for an illustration project, please send an email to thelocalnaturalist@gmail.com. 

Contact

Email:  thelocalnaturalist@gmail.com

Instagram:  @the_local_naturalist

Education

Graduate Certificate in Science Illustration, California State University Monterey Bay

M.S. Marine Biology, University of North Carolina Wilmington

B.A. Studio Art, B.S. Marine Biology, University of North Carolina Wilmington

Illustrated Books

Harvell, Drew. The Ocean’s Menagerie. Viking Press, 2025.

Published Scientific Journal Illustrations

Jackson, EW et. al. 2018. The Microbial Landscape of Sea Stars and the Anatomical and Interspecies Variability of Their Microbiome. Frontiers in Microbiology 9: 1829.

Conti-Jerpe IE, Freshwater DW. 2017. Hedera caerulescens (Alcyonacea: Alcyoniidae), a new genus and species of soft coral from the temperate North Atlantic: invasive in its known range? Invertebrate Systematics 31: 723-733.

Leigh SC, Papastamatiou Y, and DP German. 2017. The nutritional physiology of sharks. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 27: 561-585.

Feehan et. al. 2017. Kelp detritus provides high-quality food for sea urchin larvae. Limnology and Oceanography 62(5): 1–8.

Zehr JP, Weitz JS, and I. Joint. 2017. How microbes survive in the open ocean.  SCIENCE 357(6352): 646-647.

Borrett, SR, Fath, BD. 2014. Introduction to the special issue "Systems Ecology: A Network Perspective and Retrospective. Ecological Modelling 293: 1-3.

Stallings CD, ***Dingeldein AL. 2012.  Intraspecific cooperation facilitates synergistic predation. Bulletin of Marine Science 88: 317-318 (Portraits of Marine Science).

In the Media

“Immortal Words, Historic Boat,” Passagemaker Magazine, 2023

“Exploring the Water World Through Tidepools,” Monterey Herald, 2022