Author | Yang Chen
In the absence of cameras or color films, the records of specimens in field expeditions were all based on a single pen. The pen can write down what you have seen and heard, and it can also retain the precious figures of animals and plants, which is convenient for subsequent research or for use in the illustration of the work.
Such drawings are collectively referred to as scientific drawings. Unlike the paintings seen in everyday life, scientific drawing is the unity of artistry and science, and science is placed in the first place.
Scientific means rigorous and truth-seeking. In the history of amphibian and reptile research at the Chengdu Institute of Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the Chengdu Institute of Biology), a small number of people insist on sketching and coloring on the drawing paper, carefully recording every inconspicuous spirit of nature.
Doing our best to "restore" every detail of the amphibian, behind the "magic pen Ma Liang" painting technique, it takes accumulated skill and enough patience.
Drawing tools are specially selected for special procurement of drawing paper
In the 1950s, Liu Chengzhao, the "grandfather" of amphibian and reptile research at the Chengdu Institute of Biology, published the first set of English monographs on amphibians and reptiles, which were accompanied by a number of colorful scientific drawings, which were drawn by wang Yisheng, a draftsman around him.
The collected specimens will change color once soaked in formalin, so in the era without cameras, as long as they go out in the wild, Liu Chengzhao will take Wang Yisheng.
After collecting the species, Wang Yisheng quickly outlined the shape of the animal with a pen and paper, and recorded the characteristics, colors and other information of each part.
Drafts are typed in the wild, returned to the lab, and then carefully crafted according to the records to keep the animals in their most vivid appearance.
The drawings come to life, even the tadpole's translucent tail is faithfully presented. So far, these scientific drawings have high scientific research and artistic value, and are the characteristic business cards of the Amphibian Research Laboratory of Chengdu Institute of Biology.
After Wang Yisheng left, the burden of the scientific drawing in the institute was handed over to Li Jian.
Like his predecessors, he did not come from an art class, relying on self-study, on the road of scientific drawing, from weak crowns to flower shells.
At the age of 17, Li Jian was exposed to scientific drawing, initially drawing plants.
Later, when he was in his 20s, he transferred to the Chengdu Institute of Biology to paint amphibians.
A painting was a whole day, and cervical spondylosis plagued him for decades.
The reason why Li Jian can persist is because of his hobbies. "Coupled with the needs of the industry, I think this is what should be done and where the responsibility lies." Every time he completes a work that he is satisfied with, Li Jian can harvest a sense of accomplishment.
He calculated that he has completed more than 700 scientific drawings so far.
Li Jian shows off his scientific drawings. Photo by Yang Chen
The "criterion" of satisfaction is that it must be at least the same as the actual thing, and it is consistent with the written description of the researcher. "Sometimes frogs of the same species, affected by the sunlight in the habitat, will have slight differences in the color of the skin, so as long as the color is grasped within a certain range, it is considered to meet the requirements." Li Jian told China Science Daily.
Scientific drawing mostly uses gouache, and the selection of brushes and drawing paper is very exquisite.
Li Jian used a very fine brush, and he would also go to the White Horse Temple in the north of Chengdu to purchase special drawing paper.
The paper is not as smooth as coated paper, and it absorbs water and is wiped, making it easy to draft.
In the words of Li Jian, a stroke of painting, pen and paper work together "harmoniously", delicate and clean, never drag mud with water.
Drawing a frog a week is the most important quality
Scientific drawing emphasizes scientific nature and requires that the draftsman must be rigorous and meticulous. Slow work can only produce fine work, and a ten-centimeter-long frog may take a week, or even half a month.
Li Jian's scientific drawings. Courtesy of Li Jian
The process is grinding and boring. Before writing, the draftsman should observe every detail of the animal with a microscope or magnifying glass, and use the card to measure the length of each part to ensure proportional reproduction.
You can't paint blindly, the frog's fingertips have hooks, how long to hook, how many warts on the back, how big each one is, a millimeter is sloppy.
Li Jian basically does not go to the wild, and mostly draws according to specimens or photos indoors. "In most cases, it is a painting of a specimen, and if it changes color, it is 'restored' according to the recorded information, and it is necessary to communicate with the researchers in detail to achieve the most satisfactory effect."
Drafting, coloring, polishing details, drawing lines, drawing eyes... This is a customary step of Li Jian's painting.
"I like to draw the eyes at the end, because the eyes are to match the whole, and the overall tone of the color of the whole picture is determined, so that we can better grasp the 'finishing touch'."
Coloring frogs does not happen overnight, it needs to go from light to deep.
"Some skin colors are from yellow to green, respectively, after the good yellow and green, in order to make the two colors blend and naturally transition, you also need to use the pen over and over again to 'wash' the color lightly, slowly wipe, slowly fill." Li Jian said that sometimes in some details, it is necessary to draw shadows to enhance the three-dimensional sense, which needs to be slowly pondered.
No matter how strong the painter is, if he does not have patience, he still cannot draw a frog. Li Jian said that enough patience is a necessary quality for scientific drawing.
In the Chengdu Institute of Biology, many draftsmen have come and gone over the years, some have changed careers, some have transferred posts, and some brushes have not been hot, so they have retreated.
The only people who persisted were Li Jian and Wang Yisheng's elders. It is even more regrettable that the scientific drawings in the Institute are no longer "taken over".
Today, if the researchers need it, Li Jian, who is more than sixty years old, will still pick up a paintbrush and carefully polish each work.
Although he was already familiar with the morphological characteristics of various types of frogs and was already at ease with such paintings, Li Jian could not speed up his progress.
"It still has to be slow and thin, and if the painting is sloppy and rough, you can't pass your own level first."
Over 80 years old and still learning PS painting responsibility is the biggest driving force
Although the advent of cameras has provided great convenience for research work, scientific drawing still has its existential significance.
"Drawings can more clearly reflect the characteristics of animals." Li Jian said that although there are specimen references in indoor studies today, some features of the specimen will disappear after being soaked in the potion, and the drawing can help leave this information and restore its former "color". "Especially when writing a monograph on two reptiles, it contains hundreds of species, but some species have disappeared and no photographs have been preserved, so scientific drawings are needed."
"Drawing is represented more flexibly than photographs." Li Jiatang, director and researcher of the Amphibian and Reptile Herbarium, showed China Science News a scientific drawing of a black-webned tree frog, in which the tree frog appeared in a "flying" posture in the air. "Being able to glide in the air is a major feature of the black webbed tree frog, and it is not easy to capture such a moment with a camera, but it can be used to 'restore' and reflect this feature with scientific drawings."
For the importance of scientific mapping, Fei Liang, a researcher at the Chengdu Institute of Biology, also has a say.
At present, he and his wife and partner Ye Changyuan are working on the compilation of a new edition of the Chinese amphibian English monograph, one of the highlights of this edition is to record and display the different skeletal characteristics of various families, genera and species of amphibians.
"Different bones lead to different functions of animals, and bones can reflect the systematic relationships of animals, the history and process of evolution, and are of great taxonomic significance." Fei Liang explains.
The book insists on using a large number of scientific drawings, precisely because drawings are to some extent more intuitive and clear than photographs to reflect the skeletal characteristics of animals.
Most of the scientific drawings were done by Fei Liang, but the form of drawings changed.
"I first dissected the specimen, put its skull, sternum, vertebrae and other parts under a microscope, and photographed it with a camera."
However, Fei Liang was not satisfied with the photo, because there were muscle fibers around the bones, and the camera recorded that the photos were "not clean", and the millimeter-level boundaries between the bones could not be clearly presented.
In order to solve the problem of illustrations, the eighty-year-old man spent a week with his granddaughter learning Photoshop.
Fei Liang used Photoshop to make scientific drawings of frog skulls. Photo by Yang Chen
Now, while observing the specimen under the microscope, he can grope at the computer, process the bone photo according to the scale, "P off" the excess part, highlight the important bone details, and draw a map.
Completing a complete set of frog skeleton drawings requires three stages of dissection, photography, and drawing, which takes ten days or even half a month.
Such a set of figures roughly includes more than 20 figures, showing the morphological characteristics of the frog skull maxilla, mandible, and vertebrae, feet, toes, etc.
"What sustains you for keeping this job going?" Faced with the same question, Fei Liang gave the same answer as Li Jian: "This is what I should do and where my responsibilities lie." ”