Combining the TimeTree of Life database with the skill set of a naturalist, transitional changes, speciation, and evolutionary concepts emerge as a process in which students create and are fully engaged in a narrative & theme-based lesson plan/lab that merges with a scientific drawing experience that shadows the life of the naturalist and author Vladimir Nabokov. The interdisciplinary story and science of Nabokov offer a glimpse into applied arts as an exploratory scientific practice that encourages creativity and evolutionary thinking.