Scientific drawing is a technique,
not art. It is both representation of the object and scientific interpretation.
It may show structures that a photo would not show, like a dark element
in front of a dark background. It may emphasize structures considered important
by the scientist. At the same time, it always remains as close to the object
as possible.
1 | 2 |
3 | 4 |
This series shows four steps,
beginning with the original (1: a male spider palp as seen under the microscope),
then the tracing of contours using a camera lucida on a compound microscope
(2), adding of shadows and degree of sclerotization, using a dissecting
microcope (3), and final illustration after editing in Photoshop (4).
I use simple copy paper,
a hard pencil for the contours and a soft one for the shadowing. This saves
a lot of time in comparison to stippling with ink, but it is not done quickly
either: I spend about one hour on a drawing like the one shown here.
Click here to download a Powerpoint presentation containing this sequence in higher resolution.