Art of Natural History
SYLLABUS
Week One: Intro to Natural History, with its origins in botany. Intro to final project.
Week Two: Collectors, Cabinets of Curiosity, and Museums (demo in imitating chromo-lithography by underpainting and shading with acrylic inks
- (DUE: Blossfeldt drawing started in class)
Week Three: Comparative Anatomy and Zoology (bestiary drawing/ demo in imitating woodcuts/drawing with brushes/markers)
- (DUE:2 complete color charts; chromo-litho drawing started in class)
Week Four: Human Anatomy and Medicine (copying Albinus/ demo in shading with graphite)
- (DUE: rough animal skeleton sketch started in class, 3 rough sketches of a vegetable for final project; optional- bestiary drawing as woodcut imitation )
Week Five: Ornithology (wings and feathers study/ demo in imitating hand-colored etchings with ink washes and hatching with Micron pens)
- (DUE: Albinus copy completed; 3 rough sketches of mineral for final project)
Week Six: Entomology
- (DUE: Completed wing study started in class; 3 rough sketches of animal for final project due. 3 rough sketches of animal for final project are due NEXT WEEK)
Week Seven: Marine Life (researching health of species and effects of fish-farming/ demo in underwater scenery)
- (DUE: Entomology sketch completed in mixed media.)
Week Eight: Geometry in Nature (demo in geometric drawing with compass and ruler)
- (DUE: Marine Life project with text from short research included in final composition)
POST YOUR ARTWORK TO THE JAMBOARD and follow the directions below.
to share your work with the class, upload a 72 dpi jpeg of your graphite drawing to this google jamboard:
BEFORE PHOTOGRAPHING YOUR ARTWORK, please do the following:
- take a few minutes to find the best lighting for your artwork
- hold your camera parallel to your artwork so that it is not foreshortened
- crop your image
- adjust lighting if necessary
- adjust file size and save as jpeg (a large file will take a long time to upload and will slow down our class discussion)
REMEMBER to include your name with your submissions.
ALSO: In order to help you, I need to see the source that you are working from so that we can compare them. Please be sure to include a photo of the object that you are working from (in the same light that you are working from) next to your art submission on the jamboard. If you are working from a photo, master print or drawing (an etching, for example), be sure to include that image next to your own work.
PEABODY CLASS, WEEK 4: HUMAN ANATOMY
link to recorded presentation on human anatomy here
IN CLASS: We will review the various approaches to composing an illustration based on the many examples you have seen in the presentations. We will spend time looking at your sketches and discuss how to explore other options to conveying information. We will then begin sketching the skull from Albinus' book (by Jan Wandelaar) and you will complete the drawing independently in pen this week.
link to BRIEF part 2 of recorded presentation on the unfortunate truth of early anatomy here
Due next week: Completed Albinus skull drawing in pen
PEABODY CLASS, WEEK 5: ORNITHOLOGY
link to recorded ornithology presentation here
Due next week: Completed wing study started in class PLUS three animal sketches for final project
PEABODY CLASS, WEEK 6: ENTOMOLOGY
link to recorded presentation here
Due next week: completed entomology study in mixed media PLUS three mineral sketches for final project
PEABODY CLASS, WEEK 7: MARINE LIFE
link to recorded presentation here
Due next week: color sketch of a fish with notes from independent research on the impact of fishing and commercial breeding on the population/health of the species
PEABODY CLASS, WEEK 8: GEOMETRY
link to recorded presentation here