Scientific Illustration

I once thought that science and art were as similar as night and day. It was not until I met someone majoring in scientific illustration that I realized the two fields frequently overlap. In fact, I believe that scientific illustrators are the artists most dependent on science and technology. On the most obvious level, a scientific illustrator must have a great understanding of science in order to visually replicate it. This includes biological processes, medical protocol, and anatomical characteristics. An acute eye for detail is necessary to accurately represent organisms, because medical students and doctors rely heavily on these diagrams before entering the operation room. These artists must understand proportions, scales, and textures to a great extent (Medical Illustrator). However, this intensive study of science is not entirely new to the art field. For many years, fine art students have relied on science in drawing classes. Artists “trained by drawing from skulls and models of skeletons, as well as from life, and turned to the study of anatomy to enhance their knowledge” (McDaniel and Robertson 252).

Beyond a thorough understanding of science which is not entirely new, scientific illustrators also must employ science in order to produce up-to-date images. Advancements in computer science have opened the field of scientific illustration to three dimensions, made images more precise, and made the representations more interactive (Medical Illustrator). “Scientific images…have also affected how visual artists see and think about the fundamental elements of visual art, such as space, texture, movement, and pattern” (McDaniel and Robertson 251). These illustrators are impacting artists far outside of the medical and technological realm. In conclusion, scientific illustrator’s vast knowledge of science and art and their dependence on computer science proves that they are among the artists most heavily reliant on science.

McDaniel, Craig, and Jean Robertson. Themes of Contemporary Art: Visual Art after 1980. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2010. 251-252. Print.

"Medical Illustrator." MHA Health Careers. MHA Health Career Center, 2002-2004. Web. 23 Mar 2010. http://www.mshealthcareers.com/careers/medicalillustrator.htm.