Having a script able to generate an exact figure in a publication is good for open science. However, if you manually draw a panel, it is not easy to incorporate it into the figure using matplotlib.pyplot. If you, like me, find converting an SVG/PDF to PNG/JPG mysteriously unsettling, try this.
svg_layout.py combines manually-drawn SVG panels (e.g. Inkscape SVGs) and
pyplot-plotted SVG panels into an entire figure,
with straightforward layout and labeling options.
To get started with an example, run demo/demo.py.