Whether it’s the image of a wound in the doctor’s office, or a diagram of the human nervous system in an anatomy textbook, most of us have seen some kind of medical illustration.
Medical illustrators are professional artists who create illustrations for the health and medical fields. This means that they have to have an understanding of science as well as artistic ability. Their work can be seen in a wide variety of places, including medical advertisements, textbooks, journals, magazines, brochures, charts, presentations, exhibits, and medicine packages. They may also prepare drawings for court cases.
Medical illustrators work with other types of media as well. They may work on films, videos, two-dimensional and three-dimensional computer animations, and websites. Some illustrators also create three-dimensional teaching models and prosthetic parts. A prosthetic part, or prosthesis, is an artificial body part, like an arm or leg.
Medical professionals, students, patients, and the public in general all benefit from the efforts of medical illustrators. Medical illustrations can show a doctor how to perform a medical procedure, and they can also educate the public about diseases and how the body functions.
There are different types of medical illustration. Some illustrations are precise and realistic, while others are abstract and interpretive. For example, illustrations of complicated procedures in medical textbooks must be extremely detailed and precise. On the other hand, there are also more basic or even humorous illustrations, such as the ones that are sometimes displayed in dental offices to show what happens if teeth aren’t brushed regularly.
Regardless of what they are drawing, medical illustrators start by gathering information about their audience and the subject matter. First, they need to know who will view the illustration and for what purpose. For example, is it for a public health brochure or a medical textbook?
Next, they read the written information on the subject, examine medical photographs and images, and perform any additional research. Finally, they create the images by hand or with computer programs. They may also add labels or captions to highlight important aspects of the illustrations.
Some illustrators choose to specialize in their work. For example, an illustrator may only do drawings that have to do with the eyes and eye surgery.
NOC Code: 5241