It’s All About Observation
You may be wondering (or your children
may ask): why bother with a scientific
drawing? After all, most people have cell
phones with excellent cameras. Why not
just take a high-res photo of whatever
you are studying? The answer is that, although a photograph will provide a precise and accurate rendering of the subject, that isn’t the primary goal. The goal
is to study and observe the subject.
As an artist, observation is an important part of my creative process, but it is
a means to an end. For example, if I am
drawing a butterfly, I will spend a great
deal of time studying and observing my
subject. However, when I begin to paint it,
I might take creative liberties with color,
shape, background, and so on. My goal is
artistic expression and creativity, not necessarily accuracy. Although observation is
a means to an end for the creative artist,
with scientific drawing, observation is the
goal. Whether it’s an astronomer carefully
drawing what she sees in her telescope or
a biology student drawing a dissection,
the purpose of seeing with a pencil is that
the observer might catch all the details of
what is before them.
Draw What You See
It might seem as though I’m stating the
obvious here, but scientific drawing
means that the student must draw what
he sees. Unfortunately, when most people
draw, they do not draw what they see but
what they think they should be seeing.
For example, if I ask beginning students
to draw a table, they often draw the table’s
legs as all having the same length, not
taking perspective into account. Part of
learning to draw is learning how to draw
what you see, and drawing it accurately.
This is as important in scientific drawing
as it is in artistic work.
A simple exercise that will help you
learn to draw what you see is blind con-
tour drawing. In this type of drawing you
keep drawing your subject without look-
ing at the paper. Slowly “trace” the out-
side edge of your subject with your eyes
and, to the best of your ability, allow your
pencil to follow along. I tell students to
imagine that their hand and their eyes
are connected. Needless to say, at first
your practice drawings will not look like
much, but in time your eyes and hand
will learn to work together. When your
practice drawings become somewhat
recognizable, it is time to move on to
modified contour drawing. This is similar
to blind drawing, but with this type of
drawing you are allowed to glance back
and forth between your paper and your
subject. As you practice this, you will in
time gain the skill of rendering what you
see fairly accurately.
Focus On Shapes
Another way to improve the accuracy of
your scientific drawing is to reduce your
subject to shapes. I was at a homeschool
convention recently and was working on
a watercolor painting of a butterfly. One
young man came up to our booth and
asked me how I had drawn the butterfly.
When I told him I had sketched it freehand, he was amazed. But it was actually
quite simple. The wings were roughly four
triangular shapes and the body was little
more than an elongated tube. Of course,
after I drew in the basic shapes, I refined
them to look more like the actual photograph I was working from, but the initial
sketch was little more than a rendering of
several basic shapes. (See photo above)
In scientific drawing, if you focus on
the basic shapes that make up your subject, you’ll find that it’s much easier to
draw.
Keep It Simple
Finally, keep your drawing simple. Art-
ists talk about shape and form, and in
scientific drawing it is important to
note the difference. A shape is flat and
two-dimensional. For example, a circle
is a shape. On the other hand, a draw-
ing of a sphere has the appearance of
being three-dimensional. A sphere is
a form.
When you are doing scientific drawing,
as a rule, there is no need to shade or to
give your subject a 3-D look. Remember
that the goal isn’t to create a work of art.
The goal is to observe your subject and
record as many details as possible.
Scientific drawing can be challenging
and at times frustrating, but it is worth
incorporating into your science class.
With a pencil in hand, you will notice
many details that might otherwise escape
your attention.
James H. (Jim) Pence is a man of many
talents. He is a former homeschooling dad,
a published author, an accomplished singer and speaker, a performance chalk artist, and in his spare time he teaches karate,
writing, and art to homeschooled children. You can learn more about Jim at his
website: jamespence.com. James also represents and blogs for See the Light (www
. seethelightshine.com).
Remember that the goal
isn’t to create a work of art.
The goal is to observe your
subject and record as many
details as possible.
