Sketches: Journeying to the Brain Underbelly

crispr circuit final layout

A 8.5×11” poster depicting the brain from the ventral-lateral aspect.

Client

Dr. Shelley Wall
Prof. Dave Mazierski

 

Tools

Traditional Media
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
Cinema 4D

 

Creative Process

A ventral-lateral view of the brain is rarely seen in textbooks and atlases. Other than its scarcity in anatomy education, looking at the brain from this perspective has two advantages: clarifying how the cranial nerves connect to the brainstem, while highlighting how parts of the brainstem fits into the diencephalon and the telencephalon. 

 

Boy oh boy. This is going to be a long one.

It all started with a seemingly simple neuro assignment: depicting the cerebrum or the brainstem from two perspectives. Looking at the project description, I thought, what if you can do everything the project asks for in ONE illustration?

When the weather is cold and slimy, a walk to UofT’s anatomy museum just feels far. So instead, I stayed cooped up in our Mississauga workspace and stared at some models:

 

I was happy with the concept and sketch, then I proceeded to the photoshop render. Comes the deadline of the assignment and this is what I submitted:

Spring critique rolls around. The more I looked at what I handed in, the more I wanted to change it. I had a better idea of how everything fits together after a semester of neuro. The direction of the corona radiata looked weird? Change it. The cerebral peduncles looked pasted on and modular? Change it. The general shading of the cortex looked too schematic? Change it. Emphasize the shading of the orbit. Clarify the structures that have been removed.

 

 

Second re-revision of the brainstem drawing. The diencephalon focusing on the brainstem and the cranial nerves. Sketched and painted in Photoshop.

It was the night before the spring critique. I was reasonably content with the progress of the illustration. “Interesting. I’ve never seen a brain in this orientation before.” Someone commented. “Something is still off though, I need to look at more references.”

“The way you rendered the white fiber around the thalamus is interesting. Why not do the same thing for the cortex?” Another suggested.

“The optic chiasm looks weird. So does the cross-section.”

“You definitely need to look at more actual specimens.”

I went back to Grant’s museum and focused on specimens that showed how the diencephalon is connected to the cortex. On the model, you see a vacant space for where the 4th ventricle is –– and it looks awkward as hell when you add some depth shading to it. Looking at the sketches of the human specimens, I decided that I can either render the entire internal capsule or render the basal ganglia overlapping the thalamus to avoid showing that awkward, sans-cerebral-spinal-fluid black gap.

I also made maquettes with sculpey polymer clay to help me draw and shade the caudate nucleus.

 

 

 

This current render is the closest to what I had envisioned while sketching the first draft. Could it be better? Absolutely. But, for now, I’m letting my brain rest from looking at brains.

BMC Admission Portfolio

BMC Admission Portfolio

Portraits: The admission portfolio asks for Four examples of observational life drawing, including the human figure (clothed or nude), hands, feet or portraits. For this category, I included a commisioned digital sketch. The project came from a (then) new mom...

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Location

Toronto, ON M6K 1X2

tracy.xiang@mail.utoronto.ca

Affiliations