Medical illustration is as old as medicine itself. From Hippocrates' early medical diagrams, Leonardo DaVinci's and Andreas Vesalius' research and drawings, to Max Brodel's and Frank Netter's modern medical illustrations, medical illustration has a rich history. Medical and biological illustration is the fusion of science with graphic communication. Medical and biological Illustrators are highly trained professional artists who choose medicine and other scientific procedures, theories, or artifacts as their subject matter.
Medical illustrators use a variety of media and tools, to tell a complex story.
They can use digital or traditional media and tools to create extremely realistic, schematic, abstract, or conceptual images. These images are used for advertising, editorial, institutional, instructional, or for academic publications and presentations, which can all be displayed in print, digitally, or in an interactive multimedia program. Medical illustrators in the United States have a master's degree from one of the five accredited graduate programs in medical illustration. Universities, authors, commercial medical corporations, and many other patrons of medical art need scientifically accurate medical communication materials. Medical illustrators are highly trained in the medical and biological science field.