(Special thanks to our fetal pig, Cornelius, for donating his organs to our learning)
In the beginning of the semester, my drawings were quickly scribbled, one dimensional, and very inaccurate. I came in to the year having some natural observation skills, but I was too impatient to transfer those into my journal. If you see my drawings from the abstracted observation, a mini project where we used a framing device to detach images of our school and make them into art, this is very obvious. At one point, Ms. Nuvia even told me, “Slow down!” when she saw me scratching some images that were supposed to be trees onto my paper. I had this problem for most of the semester up to my final anatomical drawings.
There were 2 keys to my success: 1) I actually followed her advice and slowed down, and 2) I drew what I was seeing, not what I thought I was seeing. Thanks to these tips, I saw A LOT of improvement on my drawings, especially my brain. The first draft had little value, the shape was off, and the lines were boring and the same width throughout the whole thing. I wasn't looking at the image closely enough. I created lines when my brain had shapes. The gyri and sulci (bumps and creases on the brain) looked 2 dimensional because I didn't shade them individually. In my second draft there was some improvement of the overall shape, but in my final, I really added drama to my values in order to make everything look more 3-D.
Basically, to get work I was proud of, I observed, hypothesized, experimented, revised, and drew conclusions. It may seem as though my creative process was a bit more abstract than this, but in reality, it was very close to the 5 step scientific method that we all learn in the third grade.
Observation: I had to first look at my brain and take in all the details that eventually sparked my ideas for what I wanted to draw. I liked the dimension and simplicity of it. It was very round and I wanted to develop my drawing skills to learn how to add this feature. I took a picture from the perspective I most wanted to capture.
Hypothesis: I then began by drawing basic shapes that I thought would help me to get to the image I wanted on my paper. As you can see, my hypothesis was somewhat right, but the experimenting showed much improvement to my understanding of the organ.
Experimentation and Revision: I created many drafts and compared them to my original image. I looked back at my brain to look deeper at the gyri and sulci and noticed where I saw different values when I shifted it under the light. I got lots of critique from my peers and revised my drawing over and over until I got the results I was looking for.
Conclusions: I reflected on my process and wrote about it on this very website.
I think the most important step in science and art is being patient and revisions. These two things are what connect the two so much. You need to be able to learn from your mistakes and correct them over and over again, which may suck and take up a lot of time, but in the end it is most always worth it. This was something I struggled with a lot this semester because I didn't like how much of my personal time these assignments would end up taking. I didn't want to sit there and shade every single part of my image, so I skipped it, but in doing so, I created work that I was embarrassed to showcase. I have learned that in the end, putting your best effort into each draft ultimately means that you have to do less of them. Being patient and taking your time actually saves you from having to make it up later. Now that I have learned this lesson and developed a habit of putting in my best each and every time I work, I know that next year I will have much less to worry about.
I am so proud of my final products. I am proud of the time I put into it and love how everything turned out looking very close to my original images. I have never taken an art class where I was pushed to draw realistic looking images, so I am happy to know that I have this ability with me to carry into future projects. With me, I will take newly strengthened observation skills, patience, and work ethic.