VISA2306 Scientific Illustration

Mr Gregory Ackland

2019

4.5

8 x 7-hour intensive workshops per semester

Oral, Practical work, Project, Tutorial participation, Folio of drawings, Work progress review

Students will learn how to produce accurate drawings of scientific specimens, especially relating to vertebrate anatomy. This intensive topic emphasises the refinement of observational skills and the translation of their essence to two dimensions. This will be achieved through a range of illustration techniques using different drawing tools, lighting and media. The topic culminates with the production of an illustrative piece of publication quality.

The aim of this topic is to provide students with the basic skills necessary to accurately draw an object in order to create an illustration suitable for scientific publication.

The topic provides an opportunity to:

Explore drawing systems
Gain experience in a range of media appropriate to scientific illustration including pencil and ink
Gain observational drawing skills that enable the accurate recording of scientific specimens and associated morphological features
Gain experience in a range of drawing mechanics for observation and rendering objects including drawing free hand and using lighting, shapes and contour lines to create form
Gain skills utilising a range of illustrative methods including shading with pencil, stippling and cross-hatching with ink
Create illustration in the service of scientific inquiry
Digitally process hand-drawn images for publication using programs such as Adobe Photoshop.

On completion of this topic, students will be expected to be able to:

Apply principles of visual communication to the development of scientific specimen illustration
Demonstrate the capacity to interpret illustration briefs
Generate publication-quality illustrations of scientific specimens
Discuss traditional and contemporary methods of scientific illustration in relation to vertebrate morphology
Research and apply techniques for illustrative work.

Key dates and timetable

Timetable details for 2019 are no longer published.

This information is from current details held on the Student Information System. Please report any errors or omissions to the relevant College Office.