Q: What's a typical workday like for you?
A: I do a lot of cardiac work, drawing parts of the heart, illustrating the positioning of a medical device within the heart or demonstrating a cardiac surgical procedure. I usually start with a hand sketch and scan it into the computer, where I airbrush it. It's really not about the computer, though. It's about whether you can paint. My studio does a mix of tissue and device work for our clients, who are mostly Fortune 500 companies. We also create technical illustrations and diagrams.
Q: How does your role fit into the bigger health care picture?
A: At the very least, I do things that are demonstrative or instructional. At the high end, I'm defining a brand with my illustration. On the other side, I can be working on things that are conceptual, such as an invention or a new concept in health care, and that's really exciting. I can help to define a technology at its really early stages.
Q: Who do you interact with during the course of the day?
A: I talk to some clients, but mostly to my employees: Valerie Bradt, account executive and content expert; and art director Ben Hovorka or whoever else is working with me in the studio.
Q: Why did you become a medical illustrator?
A: I've got a background in oil painting and was trained as an illustrator at Columbia College in Chicago. I worked illustrating for screen printing and for the record business, for Pearl Jam and Lyle Lovett. I eventually became an inside contractor at Medtronic doing computer production. That evolved into medical illustration. I incorporated as Diem Design in 1996.
