Homeostatic response to morphine
Medium: Digital (Adobe Photoshop)
Date of Completion: July 2018
Supervisor: Paulina Rzeczkowska
Content Advisor: Dr. Joe Kim & Dr. Michelle Cadieux
About: A redesign of a quarter-page editorial illustration used to communicate the effects of morphine with relation to instrumental conditioning for an undergraduate psychology textbook. This illustration was created as part of a larger project of revamping the textbook's 2017 edition illustrations to be more effective and accurate. A comic strip style was chosen for this illustration to make the content more approachable and entertaining for students, providing a different and fun way of visualizing the concepts.
ProCess work
1. Evaluating the Current Illustration
First, the illustration and figure caption currently being used by the textbook was evaluated for effectiveness through how visually clear the image is, its utility and relevance to the surrounding text, and its accuracy. After, Dr. Kim approved the need for a new illustration for this concept, a rough sketch was then drafted.
At this time, specific image and style requirements (i.e. font, colours, image size/format) were confirmed by Paulina and Dr. Cadieux.
Image: The original image used in the 2017 edition of the textbook
2. Drafting a Rough Sketch and Writing a Caption
A rough sketch of a potential replacement image concept was proposed. With feedback from Paulina, another iteration of the illustration was created. At this stage, Paulina, Dr. Kim, and Dr. Cadieux were required to green-light the concept and I began working the illustration to completion.
Additionally, once the concept was finalized, a more appropriate figure caption was written to accompany the illustration. This was also reviewed by Paulina and Dr. Cadieux.
Images: The original rough sketch (top) and the revised rough sketch prior to moving forward in the rendering process
3. Digitally Rendering and Revising
As the illustration continued to be rendered, I frequently communicated with Paulina and Dr. Cadieux for feedback to ensure that I was able to realize the concept of the illustration.