Life Sciences Illustration Courses

BFA Thesis + Exhibition

Course No. IME 402  Credits: 3.0

These courses provide a platform for senior Animation, Biomedical Art, Game Design, Illustration, and Photography majors who are BFA candidates. The course is structured to support the individual in shaping her/his own project and the production of all elements of the BFA thesis. Strong conceptual skills developed through professional planning and research are core to this process. 3 credits.

Principles of Biology II

Course No. LSI 115  Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s) Principles of Biology I

A continuation of the concepts and principles learned in LSI 114.

Anatomy for the Artist

Course No. LSI 250  Credits: 3.0

This course is required for sophomore Life Sciences Illustration majors and is also open to elective students on a space-available basis for studio or liberal arts Social + Natural Science (SNS) credit. The course is designed to strengthen the students’ understanding and use of figure anatomy within their work, reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of biomedical art. These components reflect a multidisciplinary approach to muscular anatomy and figure drawing. Study in this area is designed to provide the student with a solid grasp of muscular anatomy as it strongly relates to drawing the figure and its proportions. This course will provide the student the opportunity to interpret anatomy knowledge by working directly from the human model. This course is designed to provide the student with a solid basic understanding of muscular anatomy as it relates to surface anatomy, proportion and movement of the human figure. The course incorporates lectures on anatomy, figure proportion and drawing techniques linked to direct and accurate observation of the figure model.

Natural Science & Zoological Illustration

Course No. LSI 253  Credits: 3.0

This course is designed to develop strong observational skills, and integrate traditional and digital media within the scope of monochromatic production. The goal will be to convey an aesthetically powerful illustration, which effectively provides a solution for a specific visual communication problem. The student will learn a vocabulary for expressing pertinent natural science and medical art concepts in relation to technique, design, composition, object accuracy/integrity and context. Students outside the major of Life Sciences Illustration will be required to apply the concepts and techniques taught in class to observational subjects pertinent to their major of study. The emphasis will be tonal and line base methods in various media, including graphite, ink, black/white color pencil, carbon dust, and introductory digital illustration techniques in Adobe Photoshop. The rendering concepts learned will provide a solid foundation for subsequent semesters and be integrated further into the broader scope and applications in Life Sciences Illustration.

Intro to Digital Biomedical Illustration

Course No. LSI 254  Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s) Natural Science & Zoological Illustration

This course serves as a continuation of the first iteration Natural Science & Zoological Illustration course. In this section, the student will continue to focus on natural science and anatomically based concepts and subject matter. Utilizing knowledge from Principles of Biology I & II and anatomical references, the student will continue to develop keen observational skills and apply those concepts through digital methods. Course work will include visitations to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and CWRU Gross Human Anatomy department. Students outside the major will learn techniques in digital illustration and concepts in visual communication for editorial and narrative based projects. The integration of digital media using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator will be used in methods unique to scientific illustration to explore the boundaries of medium and convention in modern production. The rendering concepts learned will provide a solid foundation for subsequent semesters and be integrated further into the broader scope of the biomedical art major.

Line: Information Visualization

Course No. LSI 260  Credits: 3.0

This course serves as a comprehensive investigation of line to communicate simplistic to complex informational systems. Both traditional forms of media (graphite, pen/ink, charcoal pencil etc..) and digital forms of line (vector ink, vector paint, and raster ink, raster paint) will be utilized to explore subjects in plant science, animal science, general biology and micro and macro processes and human systems. From gesture, quick sketching in line, preliminary line concepts, to sequential narrative in line, and fully rendered line projects; will be central outcomes in the course. All non-majors are encouraged to enroll; the course is specifically design as course support for Illustration, Drawing, and Animation majors. The subject matter for non-majors will NOT be science based but editorial, experimental, and sequential narrative.

Digital Color: Style & Representation

Course No. LSI 264  Credits: 3.0

This course is required for sophomore Life Sciences Illustration majors and is open as an elective on a space-available basis to all students interested in techniques and concepts in traditional and digital color media. The course will focus on principles of color theory, light on form, line, texture, aesthetic impact, and accuracy of content in the illustration of scientific information and editorial content. Through research, planning, and the application of medical and scientific knowledge, the students use color to effectively communicate conceptual and observational problems. Assignments focus on the creative use of color to express specific communication objectives to a range of audiences for both majors in Life Sciences Illustration and other majors of study. This course supplements the integration of traditional and digital illustration techniques for non majors, focused on editorial, and narrative based course work.

Veterinary Illustration

Course No. LSI 330-440  Credits: 3.0

Veterinary illustration is expanding as pet owners seek information explaining pet care in their home and/or farm. Once reserved for the veterinarian, articles in magazines, brochures and pharmaceutical pamphlets are popular outlets where the lay audience seeks to be better educated about medical and routine care for their pets. This course will define selected taxonomic groups of the animal kingdom and how they correlate anatomically in a veterinary environment. Drawing assignments will apply techniques to depict anatomic detail of various types of animals, particularly those common in veterinary fields, such as equestrian, canine, feline, aves. Emphasis on basic anatomy, comparative anatomy, behavior and movement are key elements to describe and illustrate an accurate image as applied to a specific veterinary topic. Using appropriate media, students will complete several veterinary projects addressing topics found in both veterinary (professional level) and lay audience applications. Pre-requisites: Strong drawing skills and an interest in understanding biology and animal science. Open only to junior and senior BMA majors. Others with instructor permission.