ART 111 – Scientific Illustration

Drawing is communication. Drawing is not copying what is before you, but understanding, designing and communicating through mark making. Using both traditional and digital tools we will use proportions and design to make naturalistic and diagrammatic illustrations for use in scientific presentations and publications.

“My Description”

The Scientific Illustration class focused on communicating, through drawing, as much as possible without becoming too confusing. Several strategies to achieve this middle ground were discussed. This could mean simplifying the details in the drawing, or even purposefully removing concepts within a drawing. Another goal of the class was spending less time on projects (without decreasing the drawing’s quality). This is something that I have struggled with in the past, and I usually don’t know when to stop. However, between my other courses needing attention and the professor’s insistence that I tend to “overwork” my projects, I have gotten better at managing my time for art. The class didn’t actually end up using a lot of digital tools because the professor recognized that the class didn’t like using them.

The class is different from a traditional drawing class, because it may involve changing the image that you are drawing to communicate other aspects. This was much different from the other art courses that I have taken that have focused solely on drawing whatever is in front of you. We were able to explore new mediums as well, many of which I had never had access to before (such as toned paper, ink pens, highlighting pencils, and quality water colors and colored pencils).