News & insights - Now Medical Studios

Plan First, Vector Fast: A Production Method for Illustrators

Emily Holden — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 15:46:23 +0000

One of the biggest time sinks in illustration isn’t the drawing itself, it’s re-drawing. If your sketch isn’t planned and structured well, you’ll spend hours fixing problems in the final artwork that could have been solved much earlier.

That’s where planning and vectorizing a tight sketch comes in. By investing time upfront to refine your composition, separate elements, and think about how the file will be built, you set yourself up for speed and flexibility later. Once the sketch is approved, moving into vector is almost a trace-and-polish exercise rather than a re-invention.

In this mini tutorial, I’ll walk you through how we approach tight sketch planning, how to set up your production steps for efficient vectorization, and why this method saves both artists and clients from headaches down the line.

Example project

In this project, our client required a vectorized stylized illustration of a doctor talking with a patient. This image was going to be used as part of a larger series of illustrations within a slide deck.

Personal approach to work

For me, sketching and ideating in Photoshop always feels more natural than jumping straight into Illustrator. It gives me freedom to explore shapes, layouts, and characters quickly without worrying about perfect lines. Once I’m happy with the design direction, I’ll also block in colour to see how things play together.

When the client signs off on those sketches, that’s when I move into Illustrator to vectorize them. I’ll be honest, this stage can sometimes feel like a slog. That’s why I’ve developed a few quick tips and habits that make the vectorizing process faster, smoother, and (dare I say) more enjoyable. And that’s exactly what I want to share with you today.

Take references to help you sketch

In our studio, we always lean on reference images when drawing figures. A quick snapshot of ourselves holding a pose can save a huge amount of time later. It helps us explore different options for gestures, check proportions, and reduce the guesswork that comes with drawing from imagination alone. Even rough, low-quality reference photos can be enough to guide the sketch and make the process more efficient.

Reference images really help when drawing figures

This approach allows us to get ideas down quickly while still keeping form and perspective accurate. It’s especially useful when deadlines are tight or when you’re producing a large number of illustrations in a short timeframe. Reference photos cut down on second-guessing and let you focus on design and storytelling rather than wrestling with anatomy or perspective.

⭐ The main goal for image development is to:

Ideate quickly – get ideas out fast without overthinking.
Reduce drawing fatigue – save your energy for problem-solving, not redrawing.
Seek feedback early – catch issues before investing too much time.
Plan everything – don’t leave major decisions for the vector stage.

All of these steps are designed to optimize your time in concept development. They keep your workflow efficient and your mind fresh so you can focus on solving problems for your clients rather than getting stuck in production bottlenecks.

Vectorizing process

By this stage, you’ll have a colourized tight sketch in Photoshop that’s been approved by the client. We work this way because Photoshop is much faster and more flexible for making quick edits, especially when a project goes through several rounds of feedback and revisions. Once the sketch is locked in, that’s when we move into Illustrator to vectorize, knowing that the design and colour decisions are already solid.

Step 1: Import your sketch into Illustrator (.ai)

Place your tight colour sketch into a new Illustrator file.
Embed the file (not link it) so you don’t run into missing file issues later.

Step 2: Block out your shapes

Lower the opacity of your reference sketch to make it easier to trace over.
On new layers, begin drawing out your shapes with the Pen or Shape tools.
Use the Pathfinder tool to cut, merge, or refine your shapes as you go.
Keep your layers labelled and separated (this will save you a ton of time down the line).

⚠️ Important: Don’t add colour yet, and don’t worry about line weights. At this stage you’re only focusing on clean, accurate vector shapes. Colour will come later, if you start too early, you’ll end up redoing work unnecessarily and risk drawing fatigue.

By the end of this stage, you should have a clean black-and-white vector version of your sketch that looks something like this (see image below).

Step 3: Add colour

Now that all of your shapes are cleanly blocked out, it’s time to bring them to life with colour.

Use your tight colour sketch as a reference.
Apply flat fills to your shapes to match the approved palette.
Now you can use this time to add additioanl colour elements like gradients, or texture.
If line weights are applicable, you can use this time to adjust and edit those

✅ By the end of this step, you should have a fully colourized vector illustration that mirrors your approved sketch.

In summary

It really is a simple 3-step process, but there are a few principles that make it efficient and keep decision fatigue low:

Plan early. Colours and character designs are locked in during the sketch phase. This reduces back-and-forth with the client and ensures they know exactly what to expect.
Separate your focus. In Step 2, we only worry about outlining core shapes. By leaving colour out of the equation, your brain can problem-solve form, silhouette, and placement without being distracted.
Add colour last. Once shapes are complete, colouring in Step 3 becomes quick and intuitive. You’ve already done the thinking, now it’s just a matter of applying the approved look in vector form.

This workflow keeps production smooth, reduces rework, and helps your brain stay fresh for solving the bigger design problems that matter.

Have you got your own workflow like this? I’d love to hear how you tackle sketch-to-vector, drop a comment and share your tips or questions!

Scientific American: How we created the vitamin D infographic

Emily Holden — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 15:06:15 +0000

Not all projects we do require us to create everything from scratch. Sometimes, our client may provide us a concept map to start with. It is the initial blueprint of what they envision, filled with text boxes and graphic descriptions that are crucial to understanding the concept.

Read Original Article on Substack

In this case study, we will show you how we execute a client's vision, using a project with Scientific American as our example. The concept map was created by Jen Christiansen, Scientific American’s art director and concept lead. You will see how our in-house researcher and medical illustrator, Angela Yeung, brought forward the concept map provided, turning initial research to the final visuals.

👉 Read the full Scientific American article here

[For a deeper look at our process on start-from-scratch projects, we also have an extended article on how we created a four-page feature without a provided concept map.]

Step 1: Analyse the client’s concept map

A concept map is more than just a quick sketch. It is a roadmap to understand the client's vision and become their collaborator, not just a production artist.

The sketch here outlines a linear story: the journey of vitamin D from intake through the skin and food, to its processing within the body's organs and a final genetic change. Keeping this story and its key players in mind throughout the entire process is essential for creating an impactful graphic.

We also have to consider the target audience. A broad readership like Scientific American's requires a simplified, accessible representation, whereas if your audience were medical professionals, the graphic would need more technical detail.

As you analyse the map, a list of research questions, specific to the graphic you have to create, should naturally emerge.

Step 2: Research

A common pitfall for beginners is getting lost in a sea of complex scientific information. To avoid this, remember that your research is best guided by the client's initial vision and their concept map. The map determines whether you need to do broad, exploratory research or targeted, focused research.

Broad Research and Filtering

Sometimes, what is shown in the concept map is more open-ended, and a broad research has to be done first to secure an accurate representation.

Take the skin pathway as an example, the map asked for a skin schematic where UV enters and converts, but it doesn't specify which layer. Start with researching the entire cross-section of the skin helps you understand how its layers work. A broader search gives you the context needed to accurately identify and filter out the single detail you have to highlight: the keratinocyte, the layer responsible for absorbing UV light.

Your research questions might start broad and become more targeted:

How does the cross-section of skin look like?
Which layer specifically absorbs and converts UV light?
- What is the size and shape of the cells in this key layer?
For context, how much detail on other skin layers is needed for an accurate but not overwhelming illustration?

Use your research to find microscopic data and understand scale. It’s okay to start with a brain dump, but always finalise it with focused sketch notes that make your key message explicit.

Targeted Research from Visual Cues

Alternatively, a concept map can provide "hints" that allow you to narrow your research from the very start. For example, if the client uses a simple circle to represent different forms of vitamin D, you can assume you can save time on figuring out the molecular structure of the key players in transcription process. Instead, focusing on market research to see how other graphics simplify concepts like DNA and proteins would be a more sensible step. This approach saves time by letting the project's visual language dictate the scope of your research.

Step 3: Concept sketch

Concept sketch is the important step of transforming your understanding into a clear visual. In this stage, critically evaluate what is truly essential for your graphic is the key. Ask yourself, ”Does this detail truly matter for the story I am telling?”

For the vitamin D infographics, since we are focusing on the keratinocyte, it should be the central focus on the illustration. While other skin layers are necessary to be added in to give a sense of texture and context, keratinocyte should be the star. Stripping away unnecessary details like the structure of the dermis layer, is the key to creating a clear and impactful visual. Good research helps filtering through information to find exactly what's needed for the final graphics.

Here is how the infographic looks like at the concept sketch stage. Take note of how the keratinocyte is highlighted and the dermis layer is left out:

Step 4: Tight sketch

For the tight sketch we are going with our usual company style: a thicker outer line and thinner inner line. In the midst of production, again it’s easy to getting lost in the weeds. That’s why we always keep a list of our creative directions handy. This simple habit of marking down creative directions keeps us on track and ensures all our final graphics stay true to the initial vision.

At this stage, we also consider the practical aspects of the design that affect both workability and legibility.

For example, to simplify future edits, each element should be drawn on its own layer and masked out. This means the salmon and the plate, pill bottle and individual pills should each be organised into separate groups. They also have to be well-labelled and grouped properly to make sure colours and shadings can be added easily at the next stage.

Additionally, we must ensure the graphic is legible at size where the graphic is printed. Tangents, where two lines meet in a way that creates an unintentional point of visual tension, has to be avoided. Consider how the image is viewed at a distance or in a smaller size is the key here.

This is how the infographic looks like at the tight sketch stage:

Step 5: Final full colour illustrations

The main consideration at this stage is colour. Scientific American infographics are known for a wide range of colour palettes in their new brand update. In order to choose the right colour, planning ahead is crucial.

Creating a colour script, which is a guide for your colour choices, is a good way to ensure a clear and consistent visual language. For this colour script you'll notice we relied heavily on colour connotations for many of our choices, such as using orange for salmon and a warm, pinkish hue for organs.

After the colour script is all set up, the final step to a high-quality illustration is to consider value shading. A common mistake for beginners is getting bogged down in unnoticeable details. Instead, it's more effective to focus on getting the tone and value right in the big picture, which create form, depth and visual interest.

Feedback and revisions are a normal part of the process, even at the later stages. For instance, a client requested a clearer representation of the salmon. At this point, you've already done the deep research and have a solid grasp of the information. This lets you quickly problem-solve and adapt without needing to spend a lot of time redoing research.

This is how the infographic is presented in the physical and online copy:

That’s a wrap on this project breakdown! We hope it gave you some insight into the care and craft behind every scene. Got questions or want more behind-the-scenes content? Drop us a comment over on our Substack!

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Behind the Scenes: Visualising the Future of Sickle Cell Treatment for Scientific American

Emily Holden — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 13:47:08 +0000

We recently had the opportunity to create a 4-page feature spread for Scientific American, visualising the evolution of treatment for sickle cell disease.

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This was an exciting and meaningful assignment, not just because of the topic, a rare disease entering a new era thanks to advances in gene therapy, but also because of the format. A four-page layout gave us room to build a cohesive visual narrative, guiding readers through the history, biology, and breakthroughs in sickle cell care.

In this post, we’re taking you behind the scenes of our design process, how we structured the spreads, chose what to show (and what to leave out), and worked closely with Scientific American’s team to bring the visuals to life.

Big thanks to Jen Christiansen, Scientific American’s art director and concept lead, whose direction helped shape the story from start to finish.

👉 Read the full Scientific American article here

Read the Original Substack Post

Step 1: Laying the Groundwork - Research and Understanding

Before we picked up a pencil, we dove deep into the article to understand the key takeaways. What message did the editors want the reader to walk away with? Which parts of the science needed the most visual support? As always, Jen Christansen provided us with an excellent creative brief that highlighted these priorities and helped anchor the story visually.

As with any medical illustration project, our process began with research, led by our in-house lead researcher and medical illustrator, Angela Douglass. Angela gathered the most relevant information from the materials shared by Jen and the article’s authors, and also looked further afield to deepen our understanding of the biology and treatment landscape surrounding sickle cell disease.

Her findings were distilled into research cards, bite-sized summaries organized by sub-topic, from disease mechanism to normal anatomy to gene therapy strategies. We house these in Notion so our whole team can easily access, edit, and build on the foundational knowledge throughout the production process.

This early collaboration helped us outline our understanding of the science that surrounds this topic, breaking down complex science into digestible, information to quickly onboard ourselves for the next stage of production.

Step 2: Understanding Our Canvas Constraints

With projects like these, we’re usually given an indication of the space we’ll be illustrating, how many panels, what size, and how the layout flows across the pages. That early information is crucial. It helps us understand the parameters we’re working within and ensures that we can fit each part of the visual story into the allocated space without overcrowding, or missing important moments.

Step 3: Planning the Panel Graphics

Once we’ve digested the research and know our layout parameters, we begin planning the panel graphics.

We always start by establishing the science story first, what are we trying to explain, and in what sequence? At this stage, we write out rough label text for each panel. These are usually refined later by a Sci Am copywriter, but even early on, having draft labels helps communicate our ideas clearly and quickly, especially when timelines are tight.

In parallel, we begin mapping out what visuals we want to create for each part of the story (see text in blue in the image below). This step is crucial, it stops us from jumping straight into “pretty pictures” and forces us to think critically about what’s most important to show, and how best to show it. Each visual choice needs to support the science and narrative, not just fill space.

We take this opportunity to challenge ourselves by asking what’s truly necessary to include, and what can be left out. This focused approach saves us a lot of drawing time and helps decisions come together quickly and efficiently.

Step 4: Concept sketches

By this point, only a few days have passed, but we’ve laid a solid foundation and a clear plan of action. Our medical illustration team can now get to work sketching rough concepts tailored to each panel.

We create semi-rough black-and-white sketches, keeping all elements on separate layers to allow easy adjustments and rearrangements as needed.

Don’t be fooled by these final concept layouts, behind the scenes, we explore many different options. Thanks to our careful preparation and well-organized files, our team can iterate quickly and experiment with various layouts until we find the one that works best.

Step 5 Tight black and white sketches and locking in the layout

At this stage, we send the concept sketches to Jen and her team for review. Feedback from Jen or the authors often helps refine our direction, and we use these notes to tighten up the sketches. Here, our focus shifts to the illustrative design of the visuals, solving challenges around size, shape, and silhouette.

Sometimes, we’ll use extra tools to speed up problem-solving. For example, in this project Angela D created a 3D blood vessel cross-section. This gave us a reliable structure to work from and made it easier to draw a vessel background at a tricky angle. Since we only have a day or two to complete this stage, using the right tools helps us work effectively and quickly.

Once everything is drawn and in place, we send the sketches off for layout approval. This sign-off is the green light to move into full colour development. At this point, the layout is locked, and the focus shifts entirely to refining the final look.

Here’s what those approved layouts looked like:

Step 6: Final full colour vector illustrations

By this stage, the science story, layout, and all key visual assets have already been approved. That means there isn’t much heavy lifting or problem solving left to do. Instead, our team can shift focus to polish and colour, selecting brand colours, refining details, and making sure everything feels cohesive.

This step-by-step production process might seem a bit overkill from the outside, but in practice, it’s what allows us to juggle multiple problem-solving factors without losing momentum. It keeps us, our team, and our reviewers from feeling overwhelmed by the volume of content that needs to be created, refined, and approved.

With the story and layout locked, we finally have the headspace to focus on colour choices, deciding how to represent the pathology, the drugs, and the supporting characters. Contrast is especially important here. Too much and the scene feels cluttered; too little and readers may miss the key points in the science story.

To strike the right balance, we adjust line weights and play with opacity, subtly pushing and pulling characters within the scene so the most important elements stand out without overwhelming the viewer.

We work in Adobe Illustrator, tracing over our tight sketches to build the final artwork. At this stage, our priority is organization: every element is separated, labelled, and kept flexible so it can be moved or adjusted easily. That way, if the Scientific American team requests last-minute edits, we can make them quickly without disrupting the entire illustration.

Until Next Time

That’s a wrap on this behind-the-scenes look at how we build layouts for Scientific American. We hope you enjoyed this deep dive into our process. If you’d like to see more posts like this, or have ideas for future topics you’d love us to unpack, check out our Substack!

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From PDB to Production: How to Prep Protein Structures for 3D Animation

Emily Holden — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 13:16:59 +0000

We are frequently asked to create animations that depict complex interactions between molecules. As medical illustrators, it’s essential to deeply understand the molecular processes we illustrate. Our goal is to convey key scientific information with clarity and precision, making it accessible to our audience, whether they are researchers, clinicians, or patients.

View original post on Substack

Step 1: Initial Research and Understanding

Our process begins with thorough research to develop a solid understanding of the topic. This involves reviewing current literature surrounding the protein interaction. The protein in question may play a role in disease pathophysiology or serve as a therapeutic target. Understanding this context, along with the client’s brief, allows us to ask the right questions:

Where is the protein located in the body or cell?
Is it part of a larger complex?
Is there a ligand involved?
If so, where are the binding pockets or interaction regions?

These questions shape our research strategy and guide how we visualize the story.

Step 2: Gathering Evidence and Structural Data

Once we’ve defined the key questions, we begin collecting peer-reviewed research papers and relevant data sources. These help inform the scientific basis of our visual storytelling.

We also consult several specialized biological databases to access accurate structural and functional information:

Protein Data Bank (PDB)

A critical resource for 3D structural data of proteins, nucleic acids, and complexes. It's especially valuable for medical illustrators as it allows us to:

Visualize protein folding and conformation
Identify active/binding sites
Explore structural changes due to ligand binding or mutations

UniProt

This is a comprehensive protein database providing:

Sequence and functional data
Expression profiles and cellular location
Information on domains, interactions, and disease relevance
Curated links to literature and other databases

UniProt is helpful when determining if a protein is expressed in a particular organelle or tissue, which can inform the design of broader cellular or anatomical scenes.

Step 3: Organizing Research into Visual Resources

We distill our findings into internal research cards. These are summarized, visual documents that compile all relevant structural, functional, and contextual information. These cards become part of our internal library and serve as a reference throughout the project.

We often create sketchnotes. These are visual summaries of complex topics to communicate ideas internally and externally. These help unify the team’s vision and ensure scientific accuracy throughout production.

Step 4: Preparing Structures for Animation

1. Download and Edit Protein Models

Use the PDB to download the protein’s structure file (e.g., .pdb or .glb)
Use Chimera to edit the model, add representations (e.g., ribbons, surfaces), or visualize interactions with ligands or other molecules

2. Import into Cinema 4D

Export the processed model from Chimera and import it into Cinema 4D (C4D)
Clean up the geometry, group structures logically, and label parts clearly

3. Optimize Mesh for Animation

PDB models can be highly detailed, resulting in dense meshes
Use remeshing or volume building tools in C4D to reduce polygon count while retaining shape fidelity
Align and scale molecules to match other scene components based on research findings

Step 5: Storyboarding and Team Communication

We condense all this information into a clear guide for the storyboard artists and animators. This includes:

Key concepts and molecular events to visualize
Scene composition and camera movements
Client branding or visual style guidelines

We often create notes along with our storyboards to help guide our team of animators on subtle movements and styles as well as things to avoid.

Why This Matters

Understanding protein interactions and structural biology is essential in medical animation. Proteins are the functional engines of biology, governing everything from cellular communication to drug action. Accurate visualization grounded in structural data:

Makes complex mechanisms accessible and engaging
Supports scientific storytelling in education and communication
Provides clarity in visualizing disease pathways or therapeutic interventions

We hope you enjoyed this behind-the-scenes look into our process. Stay tuned for more insights on how we continue to blend creativity and science in our projects! 🚀

Written by: Dr Angela Douglass, Lead Researcher and Medical Illustrator at Now Medical Studios

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How to Put Together a Creative Brief for a Medical Illustration Project

Emily Holden — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 13:04:52 +0000

Before diving into a medical illustration project, one of the most crucial steps to ensure success is planning, and that begins with a strong creative brief. Think of the creative brief as your roadmap, helping you stay aligned with your client’s vision and making sure you deliver exactly what they need.

In this post, we’ll break down how to approach the creative brief for a medical illustration project, covering the essential questions to ask and why each one matters. Plus, you can download a free creative brief template that’ll save you time and effort on your next project!

What is a Creative Brief?

At its core, a creative brief is a tool that helps define the strategy, goals, and direction for your project. It's a series of questions that guide your planning, design, and execution phases. The key goal? To ensure everyone involved (whether it's you, your client, or any collaborators) is on the same page.

This document helps eliminate confusion, reduces the risk of unnecessary changes, and keeps your project on track, especially when it comes to communication. If you're working on a medical illustration for a client, this is the first step to avoid scope creep and constant revisions.

Why a Creative Brief Is Essential

A well-thought-out creative brief isn’t just about asking questions—it’s about setting up your project for success. It’s the first step in making sure the work you produce aligns with your client’s expectations and needs. Plus, when everyone involved has signed off on the brief before work begins, you're reducing the chance of back-and-forth changes that can delay the project.

Protecting Your Time and Building Strong Client Relationships
Having a creative brief is a piece of administrative work that many creatives find tiresome. We just want to get down to the work and start creating! However, medical illustration projects often span weeks or even months and involve multiple stakeholders. At some point, we’re bound to experience fatigue or forget something. By taking the time to create a solid creative brief at the start, you’re not only protecting your time and effort but also your client's time. This essential step helps prevent confusion, last-minute changes, and wasted time on both ends.

In the long run, having a clear creative brief builds trust and encourages collaboration with your clients, helping to establish a working relationship that can last for years.

Avoiding Scope Creep and Budget Overruns
One of the most common challenges in any project is scope creep—when the project’s requirements expand beyond the original plan, often without additional time or budget allocated. This is why Change Orders exist, especially in Master Service Agreements (MSAs). Change Orders are formal documents used to outline changes to the original project scope, timeline, or budget.

A clear creative brief can help you avoid scope creep by defining boundaries up front. Be sure to outline the deliverables, timeline, and the number of revisions that might be required. If any changes arise during the project, you’ll already have a system in place (like a Change Order) to manage the updates and keep things on track as well as get paid accordingly!

It’s also important to clarify the budget from the start. If there are any adjustments to the scope, ensure the budget is updated accordingly, and communicate this with the client. Setting these expectations early will help you stay within the budget and avoid surprises as the project progresses.

Key Questions to Include in Your Creative Brief

To make sure you get all the necessary information to create the perfect medical illustration, here are some of the questions you should be asking:

1. Project Background

What are the overall goals of the project?
What are the key messages you need to communicate?
Who is the target audience?
Where will the illustration be used (website, presentation, print)?
What is the project deadline?

This is where you lay the groundwork and understand the "big picture" of the project. Knowing the project goals, audience, and where the final product will be used is crucial for setting the direction.

2. Creative Direction

Are there any visual references or resources to guide the design?
What style do you prefer: realistic, simplified, or somewhere in between?
What do you like and dislike in terms of design?

This section is all about the look and feel of the project. You’ll need to understand the visual style the client is aiming for, whether they have existing reference materials, and what their design preferences are.

3. Project Milestones and Communication

What is the milestone schedule (drafts, reviews, final approval)?
Who is the point of contact for feedback and approvals?
How should you deliver work for review (PDFs, working files)?
What communication channels will you use (Zoom, Teams, email)?
How will final files be delivered (via email, FTP, cloud storage)?

Planning your communication flow is just as important as the creative work itself. Setting clear expectations about timelines, feedback channels, and file deliveries will keep everything running smoothly.

Download the Free Creative Brief Template

To make this process easier for you, we’ve put together a free downloadable creative brief template. This template is tailored specifically for medical illustration projects, covering all the key questions you need to ask and structure in your briefs. Download it now, and use it again and again to streamline your process!

Download the Creative Brief Template

Want to Learn More?

If this free preview sparked your interest and you want to learn more about working efficiently as a medical illustrator, check out our full course, Working as a Medical Illustrator. Dive deeper into time-saving techniques, best practices, and how to streamline your workflow to maximize productivity while delivering top-quality results.

Explore the Full Course Here

Behind the Scenes: How the FastMelts Explainer Animation Was Made

Emily Holden — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 12:49:49 +0000

We’re excited to take you behind the scenes and share how we brought this project to life!

View Original Post on our Substack

🎨 Establishing the Look and Feel

Our first step was to dive into mood boards and character sheets to establish the visual direction. This phase gave us space to explore brand colours and problem-solve more complex elements, such as depicting anatomy inside a cartoonish figure while maintaining scientific accuracy.

✏️ Storyboarding for Pacing and Transitions

Once the visual style was locked in, we moved to black-and-white storyboards to map out the pacing and scene transitions. This step allowed us to fine-tune how information was presented and ensure smooth on-screen text integration.

🎨 Adding Brand Colors for Client Review

With the initial storyboard approved, we developed a full-colour version to incorporate all brand elements and provide the client with a clear preview. This gave them an opportunity to review and suggest any refinements before we moved into the animation phase.

🎬 Bringing the Animation to Life

By the time we reached animation production, the streamlined approval process meant that all character designs and colors were signed off, allowing us to focus on fun and engaging character animations. With the foundation in place, we could ensure the final video was both visually captivating and scientifically accurate.

📚 Establishing Internal Guidelines for Seamless Animation

As part of the animation production phase, our team developed internal guidelines and software settings to ensure that all animators worked seamlessly together. This approach helped maintain a unified look and feel across every shot, allowing us to preserve consistency in character movements, colours, and visual effects.

We hope you enjoyed this behind-the-scenes look into our process. Stay tuned for more insights on how we continue to blend creativity and science in our projects! 🚀

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How to approach layout design for medical illustration

Annie Campbell — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 12:22:31 +0000

Layout design is incredibly important in informational graphics, especially for some of our medical illustration projects. It incorporates graphic design, typography, text alignment, copy editing, image editing and more to create an optimal layout that informs your viewer of the key messages you want to show.

Layout design is something that I struggled with when I first started doing it. I have been known to spend a day on a small panel layout, and it was mainly because I fought with indecisiveness with my design choices, which built up some mental barriers in my mind. Plus I made the mistake of not doing enough foreplanning before I started production. I also spent too much time looking at other people’s layout work for ‘inspiration’ but I didn’t really have an understanding of how to translate what worked for them into my own layouts.

As with any other skill, it took me practice and research to finally get to a place where I can approach a layout with ease, make quick design decisions and know when to drop a layout and move on to a new concept if it’s not working.

Today I wanted to share with you some tips that I have for layout work, areas in your work where you can practice creating layouts and some further reading to sharpen up your skills.

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Understand the messaging

As with any other project, preparation is key and the first things you need to define are:

What do you want to show?
What do you want your audience to know?
What are the important key players of this story?

If you haven’t defined these things then you will find it challenging to move forward in an optimal direction when it comes to the final layout design.

Do some market research

Next, you want to see if anyone has done something similar to this in your field. I do this so that I have an understanding of what’s available in the market as well as what good or bad trends are being repeated. I can then use these examples as a baseline to try and do something a little different to what’s already available. Personally, I don’t think there’s any value in copying or repeating something that’s already been done — you’re only going to shortchange yourself and not grow creatively.

Do some inspiration research

Once I’ve done my market research the next step for me is to go and look at other parts of the creative industry, such as graphic design or web design, for layout inspiration. I usually save these as links, take screen grabs or pin them to a private Pinterest mood board. When I’m doing this I look for designs that catch my eye or designs that might be on-trend.

Translate what you like into design thinking

Now, this is probably the hardest part for most people and that’s breaking down what you like about a piece of inspiration into simple design thinking.

Once I’ve gathered about 5 to 10 pieces of inspiration I’ll have them opened together on my Pinterest board or on Adobe Bridge so that I can see them all at once. This way I can begin to pinpoint any repeating design ideas that I like, notice any immediate trends between these selected pieces, and also to identify what design ideas could be translated into my own layout.

When I was first starting out I wrote this stuff down, but now that I have more practice I can list and remember these in my head. If you want to practice putting design ideas into words, reading up on design fundamentals might also be useful.

Speed layout

Once I have all of this information in place I’ll dive into Photoshop or even pen and paper to start creating multiple layout ideas for my project. To make sure that I create multiple layout options and ideas with speed I’ve adopted Aaron Draplin’s approach to logo design because I feel that his methodology translates well to creating layouts.

The approach that he takes with creating logo concepts of one logo is to duplicate and retain various copies of each logo design change. If he finds that he’s going down a not-so-great design path, he can look back and pinpoint where he went wrong and revert to a previous design. By the end of his logo design process, he has a wonderful overview of the various design iterations he made to reach the final product.

Before I adopted this method I would do multiple layouts within the one canvas and delete layouts that I didn’t quite like, which meant that they were lost throughout my development process. After a couple of hours of pixel pushing, I would have no record of what I had achieved and would come out feeling pretty disheartened. Once I embraced Aaron’s method I found my process sped up and felt like I could gain a good overview of my process and ideation.

The goal for speed layouts is to do it quickly, do as many as you can and to not overthink things. At the end of it you’ll have a couple of layout examples where you can pull elements of what’s working into a final layout and drop what’s not working. Speed layouts take practice, at first you might only come up with 3 variations but after much practice that number might increase to more.

Choose the best parts and refine

After I’ve done all this I can then select the best layout design choices and go deeper to refine the overall layout. This is where I can hone in on certain areas without losing the overall messaging because I’ve already established that.

I’ll still follow the iteration method as I refine the layout, making sure not to lose a record of any changes made in case I need to revert back to a previous version.

Now that you know one method of how to approach layout design it’s useful to put that into practice.

Layout design practice in your portfolio

You can adopt the same methodology for pieces in your portfolio. Rather than just showcasing an illustration by itself it’s always more impactful if you see the illustration in-situ. This shows your audience that you consider where your work will live when you create content for them.

Another advantage of using past portfolio pieces to practice on is that you know the content of your portfolio pieces well, probably better than anyone else, so it will be easier to describe your design thinking and key messages of your work.

Analyze and break down layouts you like

It’s also useful to consider the design thinking of work that you admire. Try to break down their layouts into simple elements or shapes to see how things are grouped together. Then see if you can put simple words to explain why it makes that layout effective, this will help in inspiration research.

Final thoughts

I hope these tips help you get started practicing layout design for your medical illustration projects. Keep reading up on layout design fundamentals, take inspiration from various parts of the creative industry and make sure you stay consistent practicing this skill.

Resources to get you started

Scientific American Illustration | Our thought process as we sketch a layout

Visualizing Science: Illustration and Beyond — Jen Christiansen

Thinking with type

Beginning Graphic Design: Layout & Composition

Layout and composition tutorial: Grid variations | Lynda.com

6 Golden Rules of Layout Design You MUST OBEY

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Case Study: How Medical Visuals Helped NanoView Biosciences Grow and Get Acquired

Emily Holden — Wed, 06 Aug 2025 09:39:50 +0000

The Challenge

NanoView Biosciences develops advanced tools like ExoView and LentiView for analyzing extracellular vesicles and viral vectors, critical in gene therapy and diagnostics.

But their challenge?
Communicating complex, cutting-edge science to a diverse audience, researchers, investors, and potential partners, without losing clarity or credibility.

They needed:

Clear visuals to explain product workflows
A strong, unified brand across platforms
Custom graphics for website, conferences, and investor decks

The Solution: Visual Storytelling by Now Medical Studios

Over a multi-year collaboration, we supported NanoView with a full suite of medical visuals that turned complex science into compelling stories.

🔬 Website Medical Illustrations

Custom visuals explained NanoView's exosome capture and lentivirus analysis platforms in a clean, branded format.

👉 View the illustrations

🧪 3D Product Visuals

We created high-detail 3D renders of NanoView’s hardware—including instruments, chip cartridges, and reagent kits—based on CAD files and internal schematics.

👉 Explore the visuals

🌐 Branded Visual Assets

We developed graphics for:

Website banners
Conference booth displays
Social media and fundraising decks

👉 See our work on chip technology

These assets ensured consistency and polish across every touchpoint.

The Results

🚀 Tangible Impact on Business Growth

Investor Materials - Enhanced storytelling in funding and M&A discussions

Product Comms - Clarity and trust in sales conversations

Brand Presence - Consistent visuals across web, print, and digital

Conference Visibility - Eye-catching booths that drove traffic and partner interest

🎉 Acquisition by Unchained Labs

In May 2022, NanoView was acquired by Unchained Labs, a global life sciences company focused on gene therapy tools.

“We’ve been watching exosomes for a while and the NanoView platform is the real deal… We’re pumped to have this killer team and technology on board.”
— Taegen Clary, SVP Marketing, Unchained Labs
Read more here
Our visuals helped NanoView:

Communicate the value of their tech during acquisition discussions
Deliver polished investor presentations with custom visuals
Stand out in a competitive gene therapy landscape

💬 Client Testimonial

"We just love the work that Now Medical Studios do for us!
We've worked with Annie and Emily on projects ranging from our website to conference banners, technical diagrams, social media templates, and amazing 3D renders of our products.
They understand exactly what we need from both a technical and design perspective, and they always deliver beautiful, high-quality results.
Highly recommended, and happy to speak with prospective customers.”
— Sarah Hargreaves, Marketing Director, NanoView Biosciences

Why It Worked

Science-accurate visuals - Built trust with researchers and investors

Visual consistency - Unified brand across all channels

Fast, flexible assets - Used easily in decks, meetings, and promos

Trusted creative partner - Trusted creative partner

Let’s Bring Your Technology to Life

Looking to simplify your science and scale your brand?
We’d love to help.

Get in Touch

Medical Animation Showreel 2025 | Medical Devices and Products

Emily Holden — Mon, 04 Aug 2025 13:22:42 +0000

Get in Touch

We are excited to share with you our latest medical device showreel!

At Now Medical Studios, we create high-quality 3D models that allow you to highlight the precision, craftsmanship, and innovation behind your product.

Unlike static photography, 3D visuals give you full flexibility to view from any angle, the ability to zoom in on intricate details and options for animation to demonstrate function.

Whether you’re presenting to stakeholders, need visuals to support regulatory submissions, building a product launch campaign, or refreshing your marketing assets - 3D rendering gives you the power to communicate more clearly and effectively.

If you’re looking to elevate how your product is seen, we’re here to help.

Learn more

Medical Animation Showreel 2025 | MOA, MOD & Patient Education

Emily Holden — Thu, 06 Mar 2025 10:04:02 +0000

Get in Touch

🌟 Our team at Now Medical Studios are delighted to share with you our updated medical animation showreel, showcasing our skills in 2D and 3D medical animations that are designed for our healthcare, pharmaceutical, and medical communications clients.

From patient education and medical devices to mechanism of action (MOA) and mechanism of disease (MOD) animations, we have had the pleasure of working closely with our clients to create custom visuals that bring their medical stories to life.

Clients trust us to understand and explain their science accurately and effectively and we are focused on providing imagery that does just that. Our top priority is to get the science right from the beginning. We don’t make a move until we really understand that science—that means thorough, challenging research upfront.

Our passion is to deliver beautiful designs, engaging narratives and top-quality artwork that not only achieves scientific accuracy but also creates a cinematic experience for your audience. We help our clients to explain their complex science stories and make them accessible and engaging. We share our expertise to help inform our clients of tried and tested methods to come up with the right solution, tailored to their individual needs.

Online Course: Working as a medical illustrator

Emily Holden — Sat, 12 Mar 2022 20:24:25 +0000

BIG NEWS! We are delighted to announce that we are launching our first online course on 31st March 2022! The Learn Medical Art team has been very busy behind the scenes over the past year putting together this course focussing on working as a medical illustrator. ⁠Preorder now and get it at a discounted price, offer ends 31st March 2022!

This is a truly unique course, offering you over 23 lessons on how to work effectively as a medical illustrator.⁠ We cover everything from client communication through to the production process.⁠

Production Pipelines & Project Planning

Knowing your production pipeline will give you the confidence in explaining your process to your clients or managers. It also reduces the risk of scope creep, multiple change requests, and helps you to deliver work on time and to budget. Present yourself as a professional medical illustrator in the field by streamlining your production.

Tips & techniques

Common tools and workflows for a medical illustrator

Learn about the common tools that professional medical illustrators use and how they use them so that you can implement that into your streamlined process.

Put theory into practice

See how we work

We explain the theory on how to manage your productions but we'll also show you how we implement them into our 4 example case studies—giving you a deeper understanding of how this pipeline can be adjusted for various projects.

Example case studies

We'll share our process with you and then show you how we implement them into our 4 example case studies.

Who is this course for?

Freelance medical illustrators

If you're looking to streamline your freelance production, then this is a super helpful course to help you get organized, do the work, and deliver on time and within budget.

New medical illustrators

If you've just joined a studio as a junior medical illustrator or a new hire then this course is really helpful for you to learn how to work effectively with your art directors and project managers. Learn how to streamline your process so that you come off as a seasoned artist that has been working in the field for many years.

Creative scientists & researchers

If you're a researcher who has a creative flair and are always busy making graphics for yourself and the rest of your research team, then this course might be helpful for you as you collate everyone's feedback and streamlined the creative process so that you can develop materials that are ready for publication.

Interested in this course?

Learn more here

What is a Medical Legal Review Process?

Angela Douglass — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 14:28:52 +0000

You may be well versed in the medical-legal review process or perhaps you've never even heard of it, but it forms an important part of the job for medical illustrators and animators. Here we'll discuss the collaborative role medical illustrators play in the review process and what questions you need to ask your content creators.

>> Insights from our Now Medical Studios team

Case Study

Read more about how we developed branded medical illustrations for medical-legal review for the Friedman Center.

What is a medical-legal review?

A medical-legal review (MLR) simply is the review process that all the content (from illustrations, to animations, and text) undergo prior to publication. It forms an important part of the content creation journey and is something medical illustrators know a lot about when it comes to helping their clients prepare for one.

The process usually involves the company commissioning the content and their team of legal specialists and medical content experts who undertake the review.

As medical illustrators, our role can vary depending upon the requirements of the brief set by the commissioning company—it can involve all aspects of content creation itself as well as packaging suitable reference materials used to create the visuals.

Why are MLRs so important?

MLRs are important checkpoints for content prior to being published and unleashed to the public. It can include a wide range of material; from training content to drug mechanism of action (MOA) animations, to patient or product information guides. In fact, any published material with medical or scientific content that is commissioned by a company can be subject to an MLR.

These are required to ensure that any scientific or medical information that is portrayed verbally, visually, or written is accurate and not misleading to the public. It is particularly relevant in the pharmaceutical industry where the promotion of any products need to be highly accurate and comply with regulations of not only the National Institute of healthcare and Excellence (NICE) and/or the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but other regulatory bodies and stakeholders.

Media focused infographic, done in partnership with BioScience Communications.

When is an MLR carried out?

The short answer is: at anytime really, depending on the project. Ideally, some consideration should be given at the start of the project, during the planning stages, where internal reviews can be scheduled at each production milestone. This ensures that the science is accurate and the correct sources are being used to inform decisions along the way.

In some cases, it may not be obvious when an MLR should be carried out, in which case professional medical illustration studios can advise you on where MRLs can be scheduled for your project.

Case Study

Take a look at how we build detailed cranial nerve illustrations for our client KU Leuven.

Learn more

What does a medical illustration company do to assist with MLRs?

Depending on your role within the process of preparing for one, whether you are part of the pharma company preparing an advertising campaign or part of the content production process, the tasks required will be different.

As medical illustrators, we need to be aware of the information that the med-legal review teams require. This information includes the references that we use to create our visuals, as everything needs to be traced and supported with scientific evidence.

This is not just limited to peer-reviewed scientific papers. If we are placing anatomy or depicting a surgical procedure, any measurements or equipment used will need reference data such as MRI or CT scans. At the molecular level, we may also reference protein structures from the Protein Data Bank or perhaps show intracellular detail that required high powered scanning electron microscopes to guide our illustrations and help us to build a 3D environment—these are some of the tools we use to understand the spatial relationships between organelles.

The MLR process can cost a lot of money. If a product such as an advertisement for a new drug is about to be launched, the commissioning client will no doubt have a legal team reviewing the material. This reduces the risk of litigation (a more extreme example if the content produced is not accurate or in any way misleading). Having steps in place to reduce the risk of money loss or damage to their reputation is an investment that many companies make. This is why agencies and companies choose to work with specialist medical illustration studios, reducing risk and making the process more efficient.

How we can help

The Now Medical Studios team are well versed in the MLR process. Consider partnering with us for your medical visuals and let's work together to create something amazing.

Get in touch

How Medical Illustrations Can Boost Your Start-Up Business

Angela Douglass — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 13:22:59 +0000

Medical illustrations are a great addition to support you on your journey as you build your companies brand. They offer great versatility in helping communicate who you are, your values and mission to a wider audience. But, what can they be used for and how can they help you?

>> Insights from our Now Medical Studios team

What are medical illustrations and why do I need them?

It may sound simple, but the term medical illustrations encompass more than just diagrammatic images. It can include static images like hyper-realistic renderings of surgical procedures to simple vector icons or it can also mean moving images like animation, motion graphics, or video. The choice of medium very much depends on the aims of the client requesting the commission.

As a start-up the process of branding and marketing yourself may seem a little foreign and also knowing what sort of illustrations you require can be overwhelming. Often we are approached by start-ups who want to create a more polished feel to their physical and online presence, but their ideas can be a bit muddled when it comes to requesting medical illustrations.

It can be easy to feel intimidated by the slick marketing campaigns produced by large healthcare, medical device or pharmaceutical companies. These larger companies often work with external medical communications agencies to create their campaigns. As part of this, these agents will often have close connections with preferred medical illustration and animation studios, like Now Medical Studios, who provide visual and design support to these agencies.

It’s a fruitful collaboration where everyone brings their specialised expertise to the table as they collaborate to help these companies develop their campaigns.

Smaller enterprises and start-ups may not have the large budgets to work with big medical communications agencies, but that doesn't mean they cannot produce similar content and achieve their goals. They can take a more cost-effective approach and work with experienced studios directly.

In this article, we want to share with you the various ways a medical illustration and animation studio can help you grow your business as a start-up or small business.

Case study

Take a look at how we created branded medical illustrations and redesigned our clients Nanoview Biosciences website.

Learn more

Branding and Style

Depending on what stage your business is at in its development journey, you may have given a lot or very little consideration to your company's brand. Often, a start-up will quickly produce a logo to match their company name but haven't progressed beyond that point. Spending a bit of time thinking about your branding can give a consistent and well put together feel for any content or materials you produce that represents your company. This can be as simple as having a couple of specific brand colours and fonts that you use, to more a complex set of regulations for logo, colour, pattern, typography or supporting graphical elements - to name a few!

Having clear branding and a company style can help to communicate to the wider audience who you are, what you do, your values, aspirations and goals. Having a brand guide can then help ensure that this messaging is translated into everything you do, portraying consistent messaging no matter who is producing your content or promotional materials or representing your company.

Whichever way you decide to build your brand, medical illustration studios can provide an essential cornerstone of your company's messaging, by including the hallmarks of your brand and translating these into your content.

Branded medical illustrations

But what can you do to make sure that there is consistency in your brand? Using the services of a medical illustrator can help carry your brand into all the content that you use across all platforms, making sure that even the images you use are recognised as part of your brand before people see your logo or company name. Social media platforms are already saturated in content from companies competing for attention. Branded content can help you stand out from the crowd without being invasive, it can attract an audience in a more organically. It also helps to encourage loyalty and generate viewer engagement as you can create an emotional connection with people who can identify with your story or mission.

Medical illustrators can also take your brand identity and style guides and adopt these into your illustrations. At Now Medical Studios we have several examples of this in our portfolio, by telling your science story and combining this with your brand colours and style to create a look and feel that's unique to you.

Case Study

Find out more about how we created branded medical illustrations for the redesign of Entradas website.

Learn more

Medical illustrations and diagrams can help explain your USP to your customers

Your company will no doubt have a clear unique selling point (USP), a product or service that you provide that is exclusive to you and the way in which you set yourself apart from the crowd. Your USP will likely form part of your key messaging on your website, but getting this to a wider audience can be challenging. Also, if your area of expertise is very niche then wordy explanations may cause your audience to switch off and quickly forget who you are. This is where medical illustrations or scientific diagrams can really help you.

There are many ways you can quickly explain your science—whether it's a drug's mechanism of action or how your medical device works—you can use illustrations or animations to onboard investors, patients, or even healthcare audiences to understand what you can offer and cement your USPs.

Standing out from your competitors

In a competitive marketplace, standing out from the crowd is important for the survival of your business, attracting a wider audience to understand what you do and increasing engagement is what you should be aiming for to take your company to the next level.

Branded medical illustrations can do this efficiently but also cleverly—helping to define who you are and differentiate your company from your competitors.

Using a striking and powerful image can also help you to be memorable to your audience making good quality illustrations an excellent investment. People can immediately identify your booth on conference floors or on social media thanks to your branded visuals.

Medical illustrations are also very versatile. In the beginning, you can invest in one "hero" graphic to help represent your business. Some medical illustration studios can cleverly repurpose one hero image across multiple channels: brochures, banner designs, posters, websites, and social media. This gives you a lot of return of investment (ROI), especially in the early days of your business growth. This can also prove invaluable at conference trade shows where your investment in medical illustrations will really be put to the test against your competitors.

Standing out to investors

Not only do you want to stand out from your competitors but you'll also want to attract the attention of your potential consumers and investors. If this is something that you want to do continuously through your website, or via your social media channels. But your medical illustrations will truly come into their own when you are preparing an investor pitch deck.

You'll be hard-pressed to find investors that are not tight for time, so you need to be able to explain quickly and efficiently what your technology does or the service is that you provide. Medical illustrations are a proven clear and engaging method of achieving this. We've all heard the phrase "a picture says a thousand words" but it really is true. Images and animations can help to quickly set the scene and get across your key messaging without wasting time verbally describing pathways or systems in great detail. Effective illustrations will give a highly polished edge to your presentations and help investors to buy-in on your ideas.

Marketing

If you are a small business then you may be undertaking a lot of the marketing yourself. This is normal for startups, but creating your own content can be risky and could potentially actually, be damaging to your brand. Inaccuracies or low quality work will leave a long-lasting and negative impact if you don't strike a good first impression.

Your budget may not allow you to take on a marketing team just yet, but commissioning a series of illustration assets that can be repurposed and used across online and print materials can be a very cost-effective solution and yield a great return on your investment.

Helpful medical illustration studios will set you up with tools and templates that you can edit yourself. This gives you more flexibility on your end and it also means that you don't need to commission them for a change or a small edit each time you need a new marketing blast.

Who can help?

Bringing a studio onboard in the early days gives you the added advantage that you can gradually add to your visual library marketing toolkit. The studio and your company can form a solid partnership, meaning as your brand grows and changes, your chosen studio will have a deeper understanding of your development and can more efficiently tailor your marketing materials to suit every step of the way.

If you found this useful and think your start-up could benefit from some medical illustration work, feel free to reach out to us to start a discussion on how we could help your project.

What is a pharmaceutical MOA animation and why you should have one?

Angela Douglass — Mon, 01 Nov 2021 14:10:10 +0000

Explaining the complex science behind your drug or medical device can be challenging, particularly when you have to pitch to a diverse range of people from KOLs, investors and patients to name a few. Helping your audience visualise your research is a great way to quickly share how you are addressing unmet medical needs in your specialism. Making information simple to understand and sharable to a wider audience.

>> Insights from our Now Medical Studios team

Case study

Check out this case study where we helped our clients Ortho Solutions explain the mechanisms as well as the the subtypes of ankle fractures for surgeons.

Check it out

What Is A Pharmaceutical MOA Animation and How Can It Be Used?

You might have heard this term being banded around within the pharmaceutical or medical illustrations fields, but what does it actually mean? MOA stands for Mechanism Of Action and refers to the specific process as to how a drug or therapeutic candidate works. This usually means the molecular pathways that are involved or maybe receptors that a drug interacts with to induce its effect. An MOA animation can help to illustrate the molecular, cellular and systemic effects of a therapeutic drug.

In some cases, the MOA of a drug is not actually known, but we are able to measure the effects it has on the body. In other cases, we know exactly how a drug works, which receptors it may be interacting with and how it elicits its effects.

An MOA animation can take this information and break it down into easier to understand and visually appealing material.

Case study

Illustration is versatile and can be used to build your MOA animation as well as provide supporting elements across your website and social media pages. Take a look here how we worked with Shofsky to develop illustrations explaining MOA for their client Entrada.

Learn more

Explaining the Science.

Being able to clearly explain the MOA of a drug helps patients or healthcare providers conceptualise how disease mechanisms and medicine works. This can also be advantageous in helping to understand what effects drugs have on the body and also to identify potential health conditions where it might be inappropriate to use them or have contradictions when used alongside other drugs.

In the pharmaceutical industry, it is important that any drugs are explained well and to a broad audience. this is important for two reasons:

You want potential patients to understand more about their health as well as what the drugs they are taking are doing to help them make better-informed choices in their healthcare.
Healthcare professionals from a diverse collection of backgrounds can quickly understand what the drug does and can make better-informed decisions on behalf of their patients. Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) can also use this to inform those working in the field and share this information more readily.

Case study

Take a look at how we created medical animation for a project working with the Vivomotion freelance team for their client, Aqdot™

Learn more

How can MOA animations be used?

The great thing about MOA animations is their versatility, they can be used in a huge number of ways across a wide variety of platforms. they can easily be embedded into a website, shared on social media or used in conference trade stands to capture a passing audience.

The most important aspect is that videos and animations hold the attention of viewers longer than other forms of marketing or infographic material. Which can be a significant advantage over competitors in today's market. When considering putting together marketing materials or preparing for an investor pitch it would be wise to grab your audiences attention straight of the bat with scientifically accurate, sleek animated graphics.

Using a specialist medical animation such as Now Medical Studios means that the animations you commission will be scientifically accurate whilst keeping ahead of the ever-changing design and animation trends.

Do I need an MOA animation?

To stand out from the crowd and hold your audiences attention, nothing quite compares to animated video content. It is used widely across most industries for communicating to customers, stakeholders and investors alike and the medical and scientific fields are no exception.

Being able to communicate your research efficiently to a broad audience is key to helping people to engage in your work. Increased engagement is more likely to lead to better funding prospects and improved patient awareness.

It can also assist to support your brand giving your audience a consistent and professional message of who you are and what your company does as well as your values.

Who can you call to help?

Commissioning a MOA animation can seem like a daunting and risky process, but engaging the services of a professional medical animation studio who understands your research as well as the current and up and coming trends in the animation industry makes the process easier.

We hope you found this article useful and inspired you to think about how MOA animations can help you achieve your goals.

How medical illustration and animation can boost your medical conference booth or presentation

Angela Douglass — Mon, 25 Oct 2021 11:26:22 +0000

You may not have given illustration or animation a lot of thought for your conference presentation, after all if you're presenting your own data, you no doubt will have put together figures already for journal publication. So what more do you need?

>> Insights from our Now Medical Studios team

Case study

NanoView BioScience and their unique branded graphics.

Check it out

Don't tell a good story, tell a great story

When you are presenting at a conference, whether this takes the form of a presentation to a large audience or you are at pitching to potential clients at your trade stand booth, the key thing is communicating your message effectively. Truly connecting with your audience can be very challenging particularly in a busy conference environment where you will be competing with others in a busy trade hall, or maybe your talk is one of many lighting rounds pinned in the middle of a packed seminar session. You need to stand out and connect with your audience.

One of the best ways to do this is to make sure the information you want to get across to your audience is concise and easy to grasp—quickly. Long, wordy explanations or a stream of sequential graphs and data can be very off-putting to someone who's probably already suffering from information overload and thinking about when their next cup of coffee is coming.

When communicating your work, you want to tell a great story, something that leaves a lasting impression to your audience without them having to work to digest a lot of complex material in order to understand where you are coming from.

One of the best ways to do this is to think about information design. Like all good stories, this should involve setting out the scene, introducing the main players and telling us about a problem and how it was solved. As medical illustrators, this is something we are experts in. We can take your story and transform it into a visual language that will engage your viewers. The old adage, "a picture says a thousand words" is never truer when it comes to medical communication and well thought through imagery will lead people through your story and creating an easily accessible format for your audience.

Stand out from your competitors with a professional and polished edge.

Clean, glossy, and highly polished will always stand out from the crowd. How you present your information in this environment will say a lot about your research and/or the company or institution you are representing. Cluttered information that requires a lot of effort on behalf of the audience can result in you losing a bit of credibility. Expressing your information in a refined and polished manner will help your potential clients or audience lean into the ideas or products that you're offering.

This can be achieved in many ways:

Branding is on point: Making sure your story is clear is important but also including slick and consistent branding across your presentation materials help to add to that professional feel (inconsistency can be distracting).
Customized images: Medical illustrations can be used to help complement or reinforce your ideas or points you want to make. Combining verbal cues with images or better yet, using animation is a proven method that helps with the retention of information in a fast-paced conference environment.
Clear calls to action: Your illustrations must be of a high standard, however, careful thought should be given to the flow of information and final call to action. There is nothing worse than leaving the audience trying to work out how what should be their next steps in engaging with you more.

Use animations where you can

If a story tells a thousand words, imagine how much you can quickly say with an animation. But animations are not only important in storytelling they are a really great way to engage an audience. People generally have a limited attention span, and it is no wonder as there are so many things in their environment competing for their focus.

An animation is a useful tool for grabbing attention by evoking something in the viewer and leaving them wanting to follow the story to see what happens next. It's a well-tested method of growing and maintaining an audience. Memorable content can also translate into very shareable content on social media and has a lot of potentials to be far-reaching.

Use social media to your advantage

Conference venues, particularly international ones tend to occupy large spaces and have many speaker sessions running in parallel over a short time frame. It can be easy to overlooked with so much going on. Be the bell of the conference ball for visitors at your booth but you can also reach a wider audience for those looking in from afar. Repeat your story, visuals, graphics, and animations on your social media channels when you're at the conference. Use careful hashtags to drive people to your booth. Maybe they missed you on day 1, but after seeing your social posts, they'll be sure to drop in on day 2.

Who can you call to help?

Medical illustrators are skilled at knowing how best to engage with your target audience, not only do we get your science and technology, but we also have an understanding of who you are pitching your ideas to. We have a wealth of experience in creating visual material from your trade stand to your social media accounts. Bringing on board an experienced medical illustration team can not only save you a lot of time by putting together a slick branded package of materials, but can also insure that your visibility is maximised and memorable.

We hope you found this article useful and supplied you with plenty of inspiration on how you can take your conference presentations to the next level.

3 top tips for drawing faces in your medical illustrations

Annie Campbell — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 11:01:00 +0000

Hi friends, Annie here. Like I’ve said many times before, figures serve as our canvas for many of the medical illustrations that we create. So when it comes to drawing faces, we need to make sure we’re creating figures that are visually appealing as well as stay true to its form. Today I wanted to share with you some quick tips for drawing faces and making them look beautiful.

You can watch these tips on our Learn Medical Art YouTube video above (be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel so that you don’t miss other videos like this). Or you can check out the breakdown in the article below.

Tip 1: Soften the details

When you’re working with line illustrations, line placement becomes incredibly important as it can have a dramatic impact on how old your character looks.

If you want a younger character, avoid drawing too many lines around the eyes and mouth as this can easily age your character. Keep your character young by limiting the number of lines you add to the face.
To quickly ages your character, adding nasolabial folds or vertical wrinkles works really effectively.
Gravity if very prominent in thinner ageing skin, so you can also add jowls to help with aging your character.

Tip 2: Watch out for creepy children

Line placement in children is important because it can either make your illustration look like a cute kid or it could look like an adult pretending to be a child.

Babies and younger children have a plumper nasojugal fold and nose ridge, so avoid adding any lines in these areas.
Even though babies have chubby cheeks, it’s best not to outline them here as they can easily age the baby and the child starts to look haggard.

Tip 3: Line placement is important

Line placement is really important, not everything needs to be outlined to build a believable and appealing form.

Never fully outline the lips, this makes your character’s lips look clown-like and less attractive.
Give a lot of love and attention to the eyes. Don’t rush this part as pupil placement could easily make a person look cross-eyed.
Less is more when it comes to details like hair or skin folds.

Want to practice drawing heads? Here are some resources we love...

People say practice makes perfect when it comes to art, but it’s also important to make sure you’re reflecting and critically analysing your work so that you can spot areas for improvement.

There are some brilliant methods and guidance for learning about how to draw the head and facial anatomy. Here are some of our favourite resources to date.

“Drawing the Head & Hands” by Andrew Loomis

This book covers the “Loomis” method for drawing heads.

Check it out

“Mastering Drawing the Human Figure From Life, Memory & Imagination” by Jack Faragasso

This book covers the “Reilly” method for drawing heads.

Check it out

Proko - YouTube channel

Stan Prokopenko’s channel is so useful and engaging. You can see him using some of the above methods (like the Loomis method) for his figure drawing.

Check it out

Sinix Design - YouTube channel

Sinix has a great playlist for anatomy quick tips. These are worth checking out.

Check it out

Disclaimer: By making a purchase through our affiliate links above, we get commissions for purchases made through links in this post at no extra cost to you. This helps us continue to write and create free educational content about the medical illustration and animation industry.

Figure drawing quick tips: How to draw hair

Annie Campbell — Mon, 04 Oct 2021 10:45:00 +0000

Susie Brighouse is a medical illustrator and multimedia designer that works for Now Medical Studios. Her passion not only lies in the medical illustration industry but also spans towards figure drawing. She is the company’s resident expert in figure drawing and you can regularly find her teaching the fundamentals of how you can improve your figures.

In this video, you can get a glimpse into the type of in-house training she provides her team members at Now Medical Studios. Susie provides a clear and easy approach to drawing hair that has volume, is believable, and stands up to commercial medical illustration projects. Immerse yourself into the professional world and have a watch to get an insight into her thought process as she does a draw over and provides feedback to another medical illustration artist.

About Susie

Based in Glasgow, Scotland, Susie works as a medical illustrator and animator at the Now Medical Studios. Susie loves to practice and experiment with drawing fundamentals, techniques and media. Since qualifying as a medical illustrator from a background in psychology and special education support, Susie has had the privilege of working on a range of visual communication projects for organisations like NHS Wales, the University of Dundee and Kenhub. Learn more about Susie here: https://susannabrighouse.com/

Watch more tutorials by Susie

Susie has created lots of tutorials to help other medical illustrators level up on their figure drawing skills. Have a watch and start learning!

Medical illustration tutorial: How to create cross sections in tubes

Annie Campbell — Mon, 27 Sep 2021 11:51:00 +0000

I once heard a medical illustrator say that if you can master drawing believable tubes and spheres, then you can draw anything in your medical illustrations. After many years of creating 2D digital medical illustrations, I have to agree with them. Being able to master drawing primitive shapes can save you a lot of heart ache when it comes to highly complex medical illustrations. In this tutorial I wanted to share how you can draw a cross section in a bending tube.

Step 1

When creating cross sections, it’s always useful to start out with a simple primitive shape.

In this example, we’re going to add a cross section to this tube.

Step 2

By keeping your shapes simple, you can easily mark out the contours of the surface. Visualising the contours will help you create and build a believable form.

It’s a useful exercise to practice in primitive shape design.

Step 3

Let’s add in our cross sectional planes. I always find it more interesting to off-centre the planes as this creates a more dynamic cut and allows you to implement some cool perspective.

In terms of an information design standpoint, having one side more exposed means that you can draw in more information on that surface to help explain any pathology or structural details that you need to depict in your medical illustration.

Step 4

Now you can add in depth to your cross sectional cuts, using the theory and skills you’ve learning in studying perspective.

Be sure to think about the planes that are hidden. I find it useful to block those in or to visualise them in your mind as you draw.

Step 5

Once you have a solid base shape and cuts with believable perspective implemented, you can then begin building the illustration and add in details to make your primitive shape look organic and more like soft tissue.

Because you have built a solid foundation in your base shape, when it comes to adding in details, your medical illustration will look believable.

Step 6

And here’s what the final line work looks like.

Again, we’ve found that having a solid foundation in your base shapes really makes or break your illustration, so it’s useful to get your form and perspective correct before reaching this detail stage.

Thank you!

Thanks so much for checking out this mini tutorial. Let me know what you think in the comments below or if you have any questions.

Creative Studio of the Year Award

Emily Holden — Thu, 23 Sep 2021 11:00:00 +0000

We are absolutely delighted to share that we won Creative Studio of the Year 2021/22 for the Corporate LiveWire Scotland Prestige Awards!

Our company directors Annie Campbell and Emily Holden collected the award on behalf of Now Medical Studios. It is only through the hard work and dedication of our amazing team that we were able to receive this award.

About the award:

For the last 16 years Corporate LiveWire have been running national and international awards under the Luxury Travel Guide and Corporate Live Wire platforms, in 2018 they introduced regional awards to recognise businesses that are extremely successful and hard working on a local level. Judges consider whether the individual or business is providing the best product/ service in their particular sector or industry, this is primarily determined by the quality, efficiency and delivery of the product/service provided. Decisions are made based on service excellence, industry recognition, employee satisfaction, marketing & branding, ethical practice and of course customer feedback.

Here is to more success in the future! 🎉

The 12 Principles of Animation for Medical Illustrators

Susanna Brighouse — Mon, 13 Sep 2021 14:00:00 +0000

The 12 Principles of Animation: What are they?

When we're drawing and painting we hear a lot about how important it is to know the 'fundamentals' to make our work believable, readable and nice to look at. Things like perspective, lighting, proportion and colour all need to be carefully considered to bring a piece to life. When it comes to animation we want to do the same - we want our work to tell a story in a visually believable way.

Adding movement introduces a new set of fundamentals to learn and bring into our work.

The 12 principles of animation are a set of animation fundamentals developed by Disney animators in the 1930s to help give more realism to their animations.

Check out some animations that were created before the 12 principles were fully developed:

Although they were ground-breaking for the time, the animations above feel pretty unnatural, even a bit spooky and uncanny. This works well in some cases where it complements the story (like in 'The Skeleton Dance' above), but is definitely a look we want to avoid in medical animation.

Check out this clip from Fantasia (1940) just a few years later, after Disney had fleshed out the 12 principles into their production process:

Disney kept these principles under wraps for a long time as they developed them further. As far as we know, the rules Disney animators developed weren’t widely followed until the 1980s, when animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas officially introduced the 12 principles in the book 'The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation'. Since then, the 12 principles have become a standard foundation across the animation industry, and bringing them into medical animation is essential.

Here are some great video summaries of each principle in turn:

The 12 principles in medical animation

So we know what the 12 principles are in theory, and we can get pretty good at spotting them in cartoons and shorts. But what about medical animation specifically? When animating for education as opposed to entertainment, how does using the 12 principles make a difference?

Let's take a look at each principle in turn in the context of medical animation.

1. Squash and Stretch

We want to show forces acting on an object, and the way it behaves then tells us a lot about an object's speed, momentum, weight and mass.

Seeing an object squashing or stretching in response to some kind of force helps a viewer understand what it is made of, how fast it's moving, and how intense the force acting on it is.

In this way you can give the viewer a huge amount of information without having to say a word.

The rule of volume in squash & stretch: the total volume of an object should remain consistent at all times.

Check out the animation clip below by Hybrid and try to imagine how this same clip would look without squash and stretch. We would likely miss out on a good deal of information about what is being shown - the texture of the lipid membrane and the interaction between it and the receptor for example.

Squash and stretch also brings an added feeling of story and realism to the short clip, and the interesting movement is more likely to hold a viewer's attention.

This animation by Hybrid is a great example of squash and stretch being used in medical animation:

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2. Anticipation

When an action occurs on screen, we want to let the viewer know that something is about to happen first. This gives the viewer time to process what's going on and get prepared for the next thing.

In medical animation we want to guide the viewer through a visual in a way that is as easy for them to follow as possible. Quite often the information being portrayed in our animation is complex, and the last thing we want to do is block a viewer's ability to understand that information by making it difficult for them to follow what is happening on screen.

The animation below by Hybrid is an example of how anticipation can be used to help break down a complex and very fast process. Each step has been slowed and shown sequentially, and there is a pause (anticipation) before the next action takes place.

Here are couple of nice examples from Icom Creative and Hybrid that use anticipation effectively:

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See if you can spot the small way the molecules pause or move backwards before they move down to dock onto their receptors.

Anticipation offers a great way to control the pacing of an animation and maintain a viewer's attention and interest.

3. Staging

Similar to composition in drawing and painting, we want to set a scene in a way that is impactful and guides the viewer to where they need to look, and shows a concept in a way that it is completely and unmistakably clear.

This is a very broad principle and is vital in medical animation. Take a look at the animation below by Helix and see how they've used some pretty advanced staging techniques to tell an engaging story.

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Just a couple of the ways staging has been used in this animation include:

Key players: the E. Coli and macrophage are the only 'characters' being shown. Adding additional cells and structures to be 100% true to life might have been distracting or even confusing for the viewer in this case.
Environment: The environment is subtle and low-contrast. It has been designed to take a back seat from the macrophage and E. Coli.
Camera: the animators have borrowed techniques from cinematography in action movies to add drama and visual storytelling to the scene. It makes the animation exciting and engaging.

When watching the animation, see if you can spot more ways that staging has been considered in this scene.

4. Straight Ahead Action and Pose-to-Pose

This principle focuses more on animation production rather than the animation itself. The original principle is referring to hand-drawn animation, but can be applied to our digital animation processes too.

Straight ahead
- Animating one action after another without too much planning. This is great for organic effects that are difficult to plan and need to look random (like burning flames) or droplets flicking off a moving object.
- In our work this approach might work well for secondary action in a scene - any additional jiggles, waves and refinements that are not essential to the timing of a shot and would be difficult to plan in the early stages.
Pose-to-Pose
- Key movement needs to be planned beforehand and timed - we would want to apply this technique to the majority of our animation projects. In general, the process would be:
  1. Keyframes: Breaking a shot down to it's key moments and animating only these will help you to plan timing and identify issues very early on. This process allows for quick production of animatics that can be changed easily in response to client feedback.
    In After Effects you can use 'toggle hold' keyframes to quickly lay down the main action in a shot.
  2. Breakdowns: After the key movement has been timed and approved, you can begin to break down the action further. This stage is somewhere between a rough animatic and final animation.
    In After Effects this might include adding rough easings to keyframes and refining action paths.
  3. Inbetweens: This is where final refinements to an action are brought in and the animation is finalised.
    In After Effects this might involve refining speed graphs, refining secondary animation like bounces, adding lense/motion blur and other effects, and bringing an animation up to it's final swishness.

5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action

Follow through refers to when loosely connected parts of an object will continue moving after the object has stopped.

Overlapping action is a similar idea, it refers to how different parts of an object tend to move at different rates.

Here's a cool example of follow through & overlapping action in medical animation by Martin Stolle. Check out how the appendages on the parasites move at a different rate to the body they're attached to, and keep on moving in their original trajectory when the body stops or changes direction:

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6. Ease In, Ease Out

Movement with consistent speed doesn't occur in real life and looks unnatural

The only case you might use consistent (linear) movement would be if you were going for a purposefully robotic look

Generally most movements start slow, accelerate, then slow down to stop:

Here's what that might look like on a speed graph in After Effects:

It's important to be mindful of the easings on an action so that they look believable, and the above speed graph will not apply in every case.

Learning how to use easings in your animations is one of the most straightforward ways to make your animations believable, attractive and visually informative.

7. Arcs

Using arcs gives you another tool to add believability and further dimension to your animations.

Arcs are based on the working principle that almost every movement follows a circular path and continues in a smooth motion unless acted on by an external force.

Arcs can help you plan and breakdown complex overlapping/secondary actions into a manageable workflow too. They can be used for large sweeping movements, right down to minute and complex movements, like the corners of the mouth during speech.

Check out the way the molecules dock in this animation by 3FX - notice how each one moves on and off the binding site in its own small arc.

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8. Secondary Action

A secondary action is an action that results directly from another action. Secondary actions are important in heightening interest and adding realism to an animation.

It's important that a secondary action shouldn't upstage the primary action.

In this animation by Single Cell, the primary action is the arm lifting up. One thing that helps this animation stand out from others that are similar is the secondary action: the small shifts of the trapezius muscle and the movement of the head.

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9. Timing

Timing refers to how the speed of an action defines how well the idea will be read to the audience.

It is an important principle because it gives meaning to movement. This means as medical animators we have another way to convey information to our viewers.

For example, the speed of red blood cells flowing in an animation can tell us something about the health of the circulation system, like in this animation by Hybrid. Fast an unimpeded indicates a healthy circulation after treatment, compared with the start of the animation clip where the blood flow is blocked.

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10. Exaggeration

Exaggeration can best be explained as how it can be applied to the other principles in order to inject more energy into the animations you’re creating.

Many of the best examples in medical animation use exaggeration to get cool results. It's counter-intuitive, but pushing an animation principle a little beyond real-life can actually help to make it more believable. It can also bring clarity and express key information more clearly.

Here are some examples where exaggeration has been used to achieve some beautiful results. This animation by Neil Patrick McMillan makes cool use of exaggerated perspective:

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A lot of medical animations use exaggerated colours to define different structures and characters. This animation by Cameron Slayden at Microverse is a great example:

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This beautiful animation by Single Cell is a cool example of exaggerated depth of field:

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11. Solid drawing

Solid drawing refers to the ability to render a 3D object in 2D space, giving it weight, depth, form and balance. It's a principle that pre-dates 3D animation but is still applicable for us today.

In order to make an animation convincing, a traditional animator has to be able to draw a character from any angle. Although great draughtsmanship is not a prerequisite for a digital animation, an understanding of what makes a good drawing will always be an advantage.

Of course this is necessary for the storyboarding process, and for achieving 2D animation that has depth and form. But what about 3D animation?

A good understanding of drawing principles makes it a lot easier to interpret a storyboard drawing into a 3D environment. It makes it easier to answer the question, "Why does this drawing work and how can I recreate that in 3D?"
Being able to do this can also help you troubleshoot your animation shots, as well as provide targeted and constructive feedback to other team members if they are stuck on something. In other words, a good understanding of drawing fundamentals like depth, anatomy, composition, proportion and lighting can help you spot a problem (and therefore a solution) more quickly than an animator that might not have these skills.

Artist: Annie Campbell

12. Appeal

Last but not least, appeal refers to the principle that an animation should be visually enjoyable to look at. Pleasing, relatable characters and shapes and attractive colour schemes are more likely to engage us when we’re watching, and can therefore make an animation more effective at conveying information.

We often see this neglected in some medical animations, as pure accuracy often gets prioritised and appeal neglected or ignored completely. Accuracy should be first and foremost, but appeal is also vitally important in all cases:

For lay audiences:
- Patients, children & their parents, and the general public
  - Working with medical imagery every day can make it easy to become desensitized to images of incisions, blood, internal organs etc. But always keep in mind that the general public might be more likely to be very averse to anything remotely gory. A lot of parents hate to see brain anatomy overlaid onto a baby, for example. Or a patient preparing for major surgery might not want to see every realistic detail of a procedure - this might even be frightening for them.
  - When an animation is not stressful in a sensory way it makes it easier for audiences to relax and take in the information.
Expert audiences
- When designing animations for expert audiences the same principle of appeal still applies. More detail will be required, but this does not have to mean appeal gets ignored. Sometimes the best reactions we get are from surgeons who get to see their procedure shown in a new and visually appealing way. Remember that experts are humans too, who will find an attractive animation more engaging and easier to learn from just like anyone else!

Here’s an animation by Now Medical Studios where 'appeal' was a key driver for the design. The animation was designed to be shown to potential investors, keeping in mind that it might one day also be shown to parents of children being treated with this new technique.

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Summary

The 12 principles of animation make up a vital foundation for animation and this applies just as much to medical animation. Each principle can be adapted for 3D animation as well as 2D motion graphics in After Effects.

It's a lot of information to take on board so we hope this article is useful for you to keep referring back to as you work on animation projects. The foundations are always something we can keep learning and developing and they really pay off when we take the time to consiously consider them in our work.

We hope this has been useful for you and that you have fun using the principles above to spice up your animation work. Enjoy!