Department of Medical Illustration

This website presents information about the Department of Medical Illustration and the dynamic Medical Illustration Graduate Program, as well as about the profession of medical illustration.

Throughout this educational site you will find interesting artwork by our students and faculty. These images reflect our profound respect and reverence for the beauty and diversity of the human form, in sickness and in health. Between image quality and download speed, we have chosen quality. Please be patient while individual pages load into your internet browser–– we believe it will be worth the wait.

All images, text, animations and mutlimedia works within this site are protected under United States copyright law. All rights reserved.

Medical Illustrators are specially trained artists who communicate complex medical and scientific information and concepts in a meaningful, aesthetic and understandable manner. This fascinating and unique profession requires not only a love of art but an affinity for science as well.

The demands placed upon the contemporary medical illustrator are varied and numerous. Medical illustrators may illustrate innovative surgical procedures for medical journals, design multimedia websites, produce 3D animated films of cellular processes, or hand craft prosthetic appliances for patients. Many medical illustrators are employed by medical schools, urban medical centers, large hospitals, and specialty clinics. They may work in single-artist studios or in large production departments. Advertising agencies and publishers as well as pharmaceutical and medical product companies often use the services of private-practice medical illustrators. Attorneys may commission medical illustrators to produce art to be admitted as educational exhibits and demonstrative evidence in complex legal cases.

More information about medical illustration and related fields may be found by contacting the organizations listed on the Links page.

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The Medical Illustration Graduate Program within the School of Allied Health Sciences at the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) is one of only four such programs in the country. MCG is part of the University System of Georgia. Completion of the twenty-one-month curriculum in Medical Illustration results in a Master of Science degree granted through the School of Graduate Studies.

Our program is accredited by the Association of Medical Illustrators and the Committee on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP). The program was the very first to be granted accreditation, in 1967, and has maintained continuous accreditation ever since. For more than 35 years, the program has been meeting or exceeding the high standards for graduate education in medical illustration and biomedical communications. Use this link to review our program credentials.

In addition to being skilled artists, medical illustrators must be knowledgeable in anatomy and the health sciences. This is because an illustrator's work, unlike a photograph, must often show what cannot be directly observed in order to best communicate an idea or complex concept. Therefore, an understanding of basic medical subjects is essential. In addition to studying communication theory and illustration techniques, our students also take graduate-level science courses, such as gross anatomy and cell biology, with the medical students.

The program emphasizes anatomical and surgical illustration for print and electronic publication, as well as for projection and broadcast distribution. Because of the importance of good drawing skills, our students learn a variety of traditional illustration techniques during the first year. In addition, computer technologies and digital techniques, used to prepare both vector and raster images for print, projection, animation and multimedia are extensively integrated into the curriculum.

During the second year, students refine their illustration skills and are introduced to the various media, rendering styles and illustration techniques used by contemporary professional medical illustrators. They also learn professional production techniques for interactive communication media. In addition, they spend time each week in the operating room observing and sketching. Assignments are based on their observations, and are developed with the guidance of our internationally renowned faculty.

Visual problem-solving is a crucial skill for the professional medical illustrator. Throughout the curriculum, the faculty work with the students to develop their problem-solving abilities.

In addition to formal classes, seminars and lectures, our students learn by hands-on performance, by participating in project critiques and by cultivating creative thinking in peer-to-peer interactions. To better prepare our students to be productive in the rapidly evolving world of communications, class assignments are designed to give them not only theoretical knowledge but practical experience as well.

To request a printed brochure, which summarizes the information on this website, and a promotional poster for the Medical illustration Graduate Program, please contact Joyce Mentel at .

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