Sondra A. White
This unit will be written in two parts: the anatomy of the human skeleton and the anatomy of a shell. After the study of the anatomy of both the shell and the human skeleton, the students should be able to draw and paint with more intelligence and understanding of form and function of the two major biological groups—vertebrates and invertebrates.
In order to give the students a firmer foundation it will be necessary for the students to learn the basic human skeleton if they wish to draw the human figure. The lessons are presented as art lessons. The precise names and scientific background for bones in the human skeleton is secondary, but should serve necessary to assure recognition.of forms.
The unit’s objectives are:
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(1) To teach basic anatomy through life sketches of human skeleton and hells.
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(2) To teach the fundamentals of line (sphere, cylinder, cone and cube) using the human figure and shells.
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(3) To be able to observe life around you and to convey, through sketches or drawings, what you see. The twelve week unit is basically studied from an art point of view but it also introduces basic science and math into the curriculum. Teachers and students will find that academics can be fun when learning through art.
I have written this unit for students in 9, 10, 11, and 12th grades. Lessons may be used for students in Art I, II, or III increasing the intensity of the lesson according to their previous knowledge. This is a 12 week unit: 8 weeks on human skeleton and 4 weeks on shell anatomy.
In the first section, I give the basic vocabulary for the important parts of the skeleton that will enable the students to draw any man or woman. There are differences in the male and female body parts which can be shown in the form of lines drawn. There are six parts to this section that will lead up in sequence to the full figure drawings:
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(1) The front and profile head. Using spheres and a basic cross section through the circle, the students will be able to learn the relationship of the skull to them.
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(2) The neck and head. The study of the movement of the head and neck will show the limitations in drawing them in certain positions. Indeed, the thickness of the lines will play an important part in drawing a male or female head and neck.
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(3) The arm. Using a skeleton model, students will enjoy sketching several bones from the shoulder to the elbow, to the wrist, and including the fingers. The importance of understanding this section will enable each student to draw the arm in any position that will increase their understanding of proportion.
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(4) The hand. I will ask the students to study their own hand in use. I will ask them to make simple sketches of them to create a design. The hand is one of the most difficult to draw.
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(5) The leg bones including the foot (the femur, the patella, the tibia and fibula). In drawing this section of the skeleton, the students will see that the knee cap helps protect the knee and it is necessary to divide the leg into three sections (thigh, leg, foot) to draw the anatomy of the leg.
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(6) Simplified figure drawings. I will allow the students to study pictures from magazines and photographs. They can trace over the drawings to make studies of them. The final project in this section will be to draw from a live model which will enable them to apply the basic anatomy learned in the previous weeks.
Once the students have completed the six part lesson on skeletal anatomy, they will be able to make a final analysis of the human skeleton. I hope that the students will be able to see that the bones articulate by way of the joints fitting into other bones. This articulation will allow the young artist to draw the bending system and joints in each section of the human body.
The second part of this unit will look into exo-skeletons: univalve and bivalve shell. This will tie into what they have learned about the human skeleton and how to draw it. Humans wear their skeletons on the inside and shells wear their skeleton on the outside. Snails and mollusks live in-side their shells and use them for safety. As invertebrates grow they must increase their shell. There are many types of mollusks: snails, clams, oysters and scallops. Through observation of this range of shell structures students will be able to understand how layers of Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3), form on the edge of the shell to make the shell larger. Also they will be able to see how color becomes part of the shell.
Two kinds of shells will be studied. The first are shells called Gastropods or Univalves. They will be able to measure the height and length or width and length of a variety of shells. As the invertebrate grows the whirls also get larger. Many pencil, chalk and charcoal sketches will be made of the animals with one shell. The students will be able to correctly identify each shell and draw them in three dimensions to show their symmetrical shapes.
The second shell type the student will study is the Bivalves or the animals that have two shells, usually of equal size and shape, hinged together. The studies of these shells will become much more interesting because the shell will be drawn in an open or partially opened as well as a closed position.
A vocabulary unit will be presented for both the human anatomy and the shell anatomy. The terms will include scientific names as well as art terms.
The students will be able to experiment with the media of watercolors when adding color to their shell drawings. Line will play an important part in drawing the shells. Each student will use line to give a three-dimensional analysis of the growth of the shell. The projects will be enhanced by adding color to some and doing others in black and white.
The final test will be given to the students to see if the knowledge of the skeletons in shells and humans was achieved. Students will know that a Vertebrate is an internal skeleton and an Invertebrate is an external skeleton. Both have an architecture all their own.
