Reflection

Overall, I’ve learned so much from this project. My original motivation for doing it was due to simple happenstance. Originally, I was debating about doing undergraduate research and had been considering doing this since it could look good on a potential resume or a CV form for graduate school. I heard about Dr. Bonnie Bain and her research through a friend and decided that I could definitely help her with illustrations. Since I still had the EDGE project to do, I thought this would be perfect for it. Most of what I did for this project involved just sitting down at a microscope for hours sketching the minute details and shading my drawings. In the process, I learned what features to look for when drawing the sea spiders as well as became much more adept at both drawing with pen and ink as well as making accurate plates that showed the important features that make each sea spider unique. All of this is invaluable as these illustrations will definitely help expand my resume and CV form. My original goal was actually ambitious for this project as I had hoped to accomplish three things: write a scientific paper, draw half a dozen sea spiders, and apply for the Festival of Excellence. Now, I was only able to partially achieve these goals largely due to setbacks in trying to find the time to complete all of the drawings. I was able to write a scientific paper, albeit an unpublishable one. My original goal of drawing 6 sea spiders was also too ambitious and in the end I was only able to complete 4. I was able to apply and present for the Festival of Excellence however. Overall, I’d still consider this a success as I was really able to do so much. I was able to increase my art portfolio, develop skills specific to scientific illustration, learned how to identify main morphological features in animals, and was able to identify two new species. This is huge! I’m really proud that I was able to even discover two new species, which isn’t something most people can’t typically say.