Medical Illustration

Any medical illustration is known to be one of the forms of biological illustration as a general term. It helps to record as well as to disseminate anatomical, medical and medical-related knowledge.

Medical illustrations must have been made approximately since the beginning of medicine itself. Many of the illuminated manuscripts, as well as scholarly treatises of the Arabic origin of the medieval period, contained medical illustrations. They represented various anatomical systems, such as nervous, urogenital and circulatory, pathologies and different treatment methodologies. Many of the mentioned illustrations can look strange to us as they reflect early reliance on classical scholarship. Also, the representation of some of the internal structures can be fanciful.

First medical illustrations found were those from 1543 CE publication of Andreas Vesalius's. Being called “De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septum”, it contained over 600 woodcut illustrations.

Medical Illustrations in ConceptDraw DIAGRAM

Medical illustration as a profession itself has a more recent history. Thus, in the late 1890s, Max Brödel, who was known to be a talented artist from Leipzig at that time, was asked to go to The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore for illustrating for Harvey Cushing, Howard Kelly, William Halsted, and other notable clinicians. He also created a few new techniques, such as carbon dust one, that were especially suitable to his subject matter as well as the so-called “then-current printing technologies”. In 1911 Max presided over the creation of the first academic department of medical illustration. It continues to this day. His graduates spread out across the whole world founded a few of the academic programs.

Notable medical illustrators also include Dr. Frank H. Netter. Nowadays there are already more than 1000 medical illustrators active 1450-1950 and specializing in anatomy, embryology, and dermatology. Being widely used in the history of medicine, medical illustrators not only produce a very useful material but can also function as administrators and consultants within the field of bio-communication. Any certified medical illustrator has to obtain the extensive training in science, medicine and art techniques throughout their career.

The Association of Medical Illustrators is one of the well-known international organizations. It was founded in 1945 in Illinois. This company’s members are mainly artists who are specialized in creating the material, specially designed in order to facilitate the dissemination and recording of bioscientific and medical knowledge via visual communication media. All its members are known to be involved not only in the creation of such material but also in a process of serving in advisory, consultant, administrative and educational capacities in all aspects of bio-scientific communications and bioscientific-related areas of visual education.

The professional goals of the Association of Medical Illustrators are to promote the advancement and study of medical illustration as well as the allied fields of visual communication, promoting the common understanding and co-operation with the medical profession and medical-related health science professions. But there is no need for being a part of such organization in order to create the professionally-looking medical illustrations as the ConceptDraw DIAGRAM diagramming and drawing software is the right tool to use for making the smart-looking drawings having no experienced in it.

Medical Illustrations using ConceptDraw DIAGRAM

The obvious abilities necessary for becoming an illustrator usually include being able to visualize the subject-matter having some degree of originality in style of drawing as well as the refined skill of colour discrimination, but one the pre-made drawings are already available to be used from the Medical Illustrations solution, there is no need for anything else while working in ConceptDraw DIAGRAM

It is much simpler to become a medical illustrator creating all the needed medical illustrations by using the digital techniques which the ConceptDraw DIAGRAM drawing software offers to its users. The results can later appear in medical textbooks, professional journals, medical advertisements, instructional videotapes, instructional films, animations, computer-assisted learning programs, web-based media, exhibits, general magazines, television and lecture presentations.

Although many medical illustrations are usually made in order to use them for either presentation media or print, at the same time all the medical illustrators may also work in three dimensions, creating anatomical teaching models, facial prosthetics and patient simulators once they are made as a two-dimensions drawing first.

This sample demonstrates the versatility of the medical sphere, the diversity of existent doctors and medical specialists, and their patients.

To complete the task of making a great looking medical illustration, the ConceptDraw DIAGRAM diagramming and drawing software as well as the ConceptDraw STORE tool are needed as the first one provides its users with the workspace, specially developed for making any needed drawings, including the medical illustrations, and basic stencil libraries, while the last mentioned, offers more specific stencil libraries full of medical representations in one of the solutions – the Medical Illustrations one.

ConceptDraw DIAGRAM user may base on the previously mentioned templates in order to edit them for creating the unique-looking medical illustrations.