It’s always interesting for me to learn about others who have moved from the Sciences to the Arts, so it was great when Taiwanese illustrator Emma Cheng appeared on one of my design news sites this week. I find her style, and use of pencil crayons, quite unique. She describes her work as “a drama series called Health, in which warmth, quirkiness, and whimsicality play together.”

Emma spent years of working as an MD and an illustrator, illustration being something that she practiced in her spare time. Eventually she felt, “I was in a place where both sides needed me to invest more effort in order to break through. It's like dating two people again and again. You'll have to decide at some point.” When she had to move to the US for her husband’s work, she took the opportunity to wholeheartedly pursue illustration. 

It was when I finally had to really to commit to medical school that I decided to go to art school instead. While studying for my neuroscience degree, I had always studied art as well, so I had built up enough work to put together a portfolio to apply. I always thought I could go to medical school if things didn’t work out. Well, things have come full circle, and I have founded MOTHandRUST, where we do a lot of work for science organisations.

Emma is often asked how something as unrelated as science can inform her art. She says it perfectly when she conveys one of the challenges of moving from the Sciences to the Arts: “A challenge I faced was the lack of a clear career plan. As a doctor, there is already a ladder for everyone to climb in the industry. Basically, what you have to do is pass one test after another. You don't have to worry too much about your future in general. However, as a freelance illustrator, you must build the ladder yourself.” 

Read the complete article on Creative Boom.

Emma Cheng's site.

“Usually, we shrink images to fit on a postage stamp. In this case, we have enlarged the images to postage-stamp size—that doesn’t happen often,” said Luke Grossmann, senior vice president of finance and strategy for the Postal Service.

These stamps are gorgeous! But they are not works of art per se; they were created for science. But by incorporating aesthetic appeal into the ways they present their research, the scientists behind these stamps have created images equally suited for a gallery wall as for a scientific journal.

The images taken of parts of the natural world that is so small that we cannot perceive it with our eyes alone. Microscopes and specialised photographic techniques are used to capture details of red blood cells, the feather of a macaw, a knotted strand of human hair, moss leaves, diatom shells, freshwater protozoans, an acorn barnacle, a moth’s antenna, the front foot of a diving beetle, neurons from a mouse’s brain, bone tissue from a starling, scales on the wing of a Madagascan sunset moth, a juvenile zebrafish, mushroom gills, the tongue of a freshwater snail, a blue button (similar to a jellyfish), mould spores, the legs of a barnacle, flame lily pollen, and the surface of a southern live oak leaf.

These "The Life Magnified" stamps are issued in panes of 20. Learn more at the USPS site.

I’ve managed to find them on eBay where the seller can ship to the UK for a reasonable price, though I must wait a month to receive them here in London!

1.
Medical illustration is a rather niche field, with an estimated 2,000 trained practitioners worldwide.

2.
The majority of medical illustrators in the profession have a master's degree from an accredited two-year graduate program in medical illustration, of which there are only four in North America.

3.
The first school of medical illustration was formed in 1911 at Johns Hopkins University.

4.
Some medical illustrators are authors and co-authors of textbooks or articles in which they've made major contributions to the content.

5.
In the past, the majority of medical illustrations were produced for professional use, whereas now there is a growing need for illustrations aimed at the lay public, in order for them to understand the state of their health and medical options.

6.
Attorneys use medical illustration to clarify complex medical information for judges and juries in personal injury and medical malpractice cases.

7.
Medical illustration created for instruction (surgery, anatomy, obstetrics and medicinal plants) first appeared in Hellenic Alexandria during the 4th century BC or early 3rd century BC on individual sheets of papyrus.

8.
Leonardo da Vinci pursued his own anatomy book, and pioneered the use of cross sections and exploded views.

9.
De humani corporis fabrica (The Fabric of the Human Body) of 1543 is probably the most well known book of anatomy. It profoundly changed medical training, anatomical knowledge, and artistic representations of the body, an influence that has persisted over the centuries.

10.
Here at MOTHandRUST, we do create scientific illustrations (seen above) and we can work with specific medical illustrators when required.

As someone who runs a design studio, it is not uncommon to hold a design degree. However, I do have a neuroscience degree as well, and when people find this out, they always ask, “why?”