MD Communications - Medical Illustration Book

By Mike de la Flor, published by Charles River Media

The Digital Biomedical Illustration Handbook has been translated into Japanese, good news indeed!

9 out 10 review from 3DWorld Magazine, issue 62!

The Digital Biomedical Illustration Handbook is the only book currently available that provides in-depth coverage of the medical illustration field. It includes a brief history of the field, a state-of-the-industry, an overview of the training required to be a medical illustrator, and the techniques and tools used to create high-quality digital illustrations with Photoshop® CS and 3ds max 6. This beautifully illustrated book is written for artists, graphic designers, art directors, art students, and those interested in learning about medical illustration.

The goal of the medical illustrator has always been to educate, conceptualize, and clearly communicate biomedical knowledge visually to the scientific community and the public at large. However, the tools used to achieve this goal have changed significantly in the past few years, and this book teaches artists how to adapt their skills to the digital realm. Artists will learn how to use digital tools to create a variety of professional quality illustrations-surgical, editorial, veterinary, patient education, real-time 3D for the Web, and molecular and cellular animation.

If you are interested in learning about medical illustration and the skills it requires, or if you are a practicing illustrator looking for new insights, this is the one resource you'll need.

Key Features

Teaches practical techniques through step-by-step tutorials using Photoshop® CS, 3ds max 6, and Anark Studio 2.5.

Includes in-depth explanations of various medical illustration specializations.

Features interviews with medical art buyers, students, and practicing medical illustrators.

Provides information about copyrights and a glossary of the medical terms found in the book.

Author
Mike de la Flor ( Houston, TX ) is a freelance medical illustrator, instructor, and writer. He is the author of The Carrara 5 Pro Handbook (Thomson 2005), The Digital Biomedical Illustraiton Handbook (Charles River Media 2004), The Carrara Studion 3 Handbook (Charles River Media 2003),and is a contributing writer for 3DWorld, Computer Arts, MacFormat, MacWorld, and Computer Graphics World magazines. Mike is also an adjunct instructor at Kingwood College where he teaches computer-graphics. Mike has served as staff illustrator at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, and Baylor College of Medicine.

Contributing Authors
Bridgette Mongeon (Chapter 1, 2, 3 and Interviews)
Bridgette Mongeon is an accomplished freelance writer and journalist. She is also a renowned sculptor having created numerous bronze sculptures in private collections all over the world. Ms. Mongeon teaches and lectures on creativity, writing and art. Visit www.creativesculpture.com for more information.

Lee Rose (Technical Reviewer)
Lee Rose has extensive experience in medical illustration and holds a master's degree in medical illustration from the Medical College of Georgia. He has worked as a medical illustrator at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston Texas, AV Corporation/WBS Post Production, Baylor College of Medicine, and the Medical College of Georgia. He has also been a medical illustration consultant for the Texas Heart Institute Journal. He currently resides in Houston, Texas.

Scott Weldon (Chapter 4)
Scott Weldon is the medical illustrator for The Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery of The Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine. In addition to this position, he provides his award-winning services to clients from a wide range of medical specialties throughout The Texas Medical Center and beyond. He has recently illustrated Top Knife: The Art and Craft of Trauma Surgery and contributes medical visual content for clinical texts, surgical atlases, medical journals, patient educational materials and presentations.

Acknowledgements
This book began as a suggestion from my publisher Jenifer Niles. While working on my first computer-graphics book, The Carrara Studio 3 Handbook Jenifer asked me if I would be interested in writing a book on digital medical illustration. Until that moment the thought had never crossed my mind, but I accepted the challenge. In the almost two years since Jenifer posed the question, this book has gone through many changes and inevitable delays, but through it all, Jenifer was always understanding, supportive and never lost her cool. For her vision and support, I want to thank my publisher Jenifer Niles.

Also many thanks to the people behind the scenes at Charles River Media that worked to polish the manuscript, without them this book would not have been possible.

Special recognition goes to Lee Rose who worked as technical reviewer for this book, but more than just a reviewer Lee was a valuable source of support and encouragement. I'd like to express thanks to Scott Weldon for his insightful chapter on the working relationship between artist and physician.

I am sincerely appreciative of the art contributions by; Chris Akers, Bruce Blausen, Kip Carter, Michael Cooley, Tiffany Gagnon, Peg Gerrity, Scott Holmes, John Karapelou, Michael King, Jim Perkins, Spencer Phippen, and Scott Weldon. Their artwork is truly inspirational.

Additional thanks to Ranice W. Crosby and Gary P. Lees at the Department of Art as Applied to Medicine at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine for allowing Max Brödel's artwork to grace the pages of this book. Thanks to Alison Hankey at Icon Learning Systems for granting permission to use Dr. Frank Netter's artwork in the book.

At discreet I would like to thank the very knowledgeable technical support team for their quick and thorough response to my questions. At Anark I would like to acknowledge Tiffany Moore for providing the software for Chapter 9 and Jeremy Tomlinson for superb technical support. And thanks to Alan Yip Choy, who assisted with many 3ds max issues.

Once again, I am most grateful to my talented wife Bridgette Mongeon, who not only had to live with me as I went through the ups and downs of the writing process, but for her journalistic contributions to chapters 1, 2 and 3 and for working on the interviews found in this book.

Finally, thanks to my children Larry and Christina for giving me a source of inspiration and allowing me the time to write this book.