Saggital brain portrait.
Date: February 7, 2022
Medium: Adobe photoshop and illustrator
Audience: General Public
Purpose: To orient the brain correctly within the skull, exterior features of the head and face; an illustration of the brain in situ.
DEVELOPMENT 1: TEXTBOOK REFERENCES
Textbook references of parasaggital sections of the brain were first collected from various anatomy atlases and studied for anatomical accuracy and placement of cerebral structures relative to each other, the skull, and the cerebellum.
DEVELOPMENT 2: IDEATION
The inspiration for my illustration came from the nineteenth-century anatomical atlas Traité complet de l'anatomy de l'homme which was illustrated by Nicolas Henri Jacob. I decided to have my illustration look in vivo- as if you could pull back the flaps of the skin and see the living brain within rather than simply ghosting in the brain over the profile portrait.
DEVELOPMENT 3: WORK IN PROGRESS
Screenshots of my work in progress first began with lineart of my brother’s profile portrait and a sketch of the cerebrum, cerebellum, midbrain, brainstem, and cross section of the skull. The brain and face were then rendered out while the details were referenced using the above illustration references.
DEVELOPMENT 4: COLOURIZING
A grayscale version was created first as I wanted to focus on ensuring the realism of all the components before adding colour. The illustration was colourized using various blending modes and clipping masks, and the colours (as well as the final formatting) were chosen to emulate the style of the anatomy atlas I was inspired by.
