Find a job in medical illustration
If you’re a student or planning on shifting careers, this page will help you step towards finding a job in the medical illustration and animation industry.
If you have any questions or suggestions on how to improve, do get in touch. Let’s help each other out.
Where do medical illustrators work?
Medical illustrators work for a variety of organisations. We thought that we’d list a few below:
Teaching hospitals
Universities
Journals
Medical animation studios
Medical communications agencies
Medical device companies
Medical-legal agencies
eLearning companies
Publishing groups
Film & televisions
Freelance
The Association of Medical Illustrators (AMI) also do regular surveys to see where people are working in the field. Below are their findings from a few years ago:
“Approximately one-third of medical illustrators are self-employed. They may work primarily alone or they may form creative teams, perhaps with allied professionals such as writers, graphic designers, photographers, or filmmakers. Other medical illustrators work at medical schools, hospitals and clinics, research institutions, medical publishers, law firms, advertising agencies, web/animation firms, and other creative services businesses.”
What kind of job roles are available
It’s nice to know that there are a lot of positions available for a person with medical illustration skills. One thing to note, however, not all jobs are listed under the keywords “medical illustrator”.
Below are some job titles that medical illustrators have worked under:
Production
Production artist
Artworker
Digital designer
Graphic designer
Motion graphics artist
3D modeller
3D animator
3D generalist
APP developer
eLearning developer
Game/VR developer
Video editor
Web designer
Management
Program director
Lecturer
Art Director
Project manager
Account executive
Account director
Creative director
CEO
Not all jobs available for people with our skillsets are listed under the job title “medical illustrator”
Knowing this will mean that you need to broaden your job search and use different keywords
How hard is it to find a job in medical illustration?
Job competition in the industry is fierce so you need to prepare yourself for the job search. Nevertheless, you can put some things in place whilst you’re still at school or before you shift careers so that you’re better prepared when you enter the job market:
1) CREATE AN ONLINE PORTFOLIO
2) PREPARE YOUR CV AND COVER LETTER
3) ESTABLISH AN ONLINE PRESENCE
4) FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF WITH INDUSTRY BEST PRACTICES
Where can I find medical illustration jobs?
Yon can find medical illustration jobs by checking out the Learn Medical Art Job board. But don’t let this be your only resource for a job search. Make sure you set up automated search results with Indeed and LinkedIn.
It’s also useful to join organizations like the Association of Medical Illustrators where they have job postings advertised for their members.
Networking and referrals are also a great way to find jobs so make sure you’re connecting with other medical illustrators on social media or joining one of the professional organizations to introduce yourself to the community.
Rather than do all the hard work, you could make the job search easier and put yourself in a position to be head hunted. In order to do this, you need to make sure you’ve established a solid online presence.
Do you think the medical illustration industry will grow?
This is a common question that many people ask before they take the leap to embark on their journey towards becoming a medical illustrator.
Those asking these questions might be happy to hear that market research reports that our industry is going to continuously grow in the upcoming years.
“Medical animation market is expected to gain market growth in the forecast period of 2020 to 2027. Data Bridge Market Research analyses the market to account for USD 917.82 million by 2027”
How much do medical illustrators make?
A medical illustrator’s salary and earnings vary depending on where they work, the type of work that they do, what company they work for, whether they are freelance, and many more factors.
Below are some numbers from the Association of Medical Illustrators in the USA:
“The median salary for a medical illustrator / animator in the U.S. is $70,650 and can range up to $173,000. The salaries in the AMI compensation surveys reflect AMI member demographics, the majority of whom have a master's degree education in medical illustration from an accredited graduate program. Adept professionals who advance their role to art director or creative director earn between $89,000 - $122,000 and up to $250,000 (2018 AMI survey data). About 48% of salaried illustrators supplement their income with freelance work.“
— The Association of Medical Illustrators
The medical illustration sourcebook
The medical illustration sourcebook is a paid portfolio platform that advertises medical illustrators and studios to art buyers, healthcare marketers, and other potential clients. It’s also a great resource to see what kinds of companies are our there and where you could apply for jobs.
I want to become a medical illustrator, what are my next steps?
If you’re new to the world of medical illustration you might be wondering where to start. Luckily there are a lot of resources and people out there who can help you broaden your knowledge of the industry, and through that, you will be able to personalize your own path towards entering into the field.
Check out the organizations
Organizations like the Association of Medical Illustrators (AMI) have a great introduction articles to people who are new to the field.
We recommend you check out the following articles they’ve written as they give a great overview of the kind of careers that we have and what kind of education we need to enter the field.
Though the AMI is a pretty large organization, there are others out there that are worth checking out and you can find links to them on our website on the organizations page.
Check out the type of work that we do
The great thing about the medical illustration industry is that it’s filled with so many different types of projects. Not only does it include illustration but it also includes animation, design, interactive content, virtual reality and so much more. People can hone their passions and expertise within and already niche industry.
To see the kind of projects that get created you should:
Check out the award-winning projects showcased at conferences and also on organisation websites
Look at the student and alumni work produced at each medical illustration school
Review the Medical Illustration & Animation Sourcebook that lists some of the companies within the industry. Use their directory to check out different company websites
Learn about different people
Interviews from people in the field are also super useful. A quick Google search and you can stumble upon a lot of them. Here are a couple of interviews that we’ve come across:
Learn Medical Art interview series
Start following people and companies
Start following the companies and artists that you’re interested in on social media to get an idea of their studio culture, how they work, the type of people that they are and the kind of work that they do. Social media is a really powerful tool that can give you more personal insights into people’s careers.
Reach out to professionals
By this point, you will probably be following a couple of medical illustrators on social media. You can also find medical illustrators from the Medical Illustration Sourcebook.
Reach out to them to ask about their experiences and if they have any advice they could offer. Remember to be polite and courteous and thank them if they do take the time to respond to you.
Check out the schools
Now that you’ve learned more about the field, you might be ready to take the next step to enter into the field.
We’ve listed all of the schools that offer courses in medical and scientific illustration. These can be found on Learn Medical Art’s education page.
Is it necessary to obtain a degree in medical illustration in order to find jobs?
This is a hot topic of debate for many of us in the industry. Some people feel that not having a degree in medical illustration devalues the training of those that did obtain a degree. This is further reinforced by some unfortunate cases where people call themselves medical illustrators but have no experience in our industry’s best practices and produce content that is not up to industry standards.
On the other hand a few of us have worked with many medical illustrators and animators who did not go the 'traditional' route into the profession; a couple of those individuals became great leaders, art directors and production artists; bringing great value to the projects they did.
So what is our takeaway form our experiences?
1) The important thing we need to have is the science training; that’s our speciality and is part of the value we bring to our projects. If you find that you’re missing the science training then you can get this through schooling or learning on the job as part of your professional development. We’ve found that if you have a good attitude and talent, employers are willing to invest in your training to bring you up speed.
2) Secondly we need to have the creative training and be able to convey complex science into beautiful and engaging visuals. Understanding the fundamentals of art and design is key. Then there are visualization techniques that you can read about or learn through school.
3) Thirdly we need to keep up to date with industry best practices such as how we structure our files, how we use real MRI data to create visuals, what our production pipelines look like etc. This can be achieved by attending conferences and workshops, keeping an eye on what’s happening in social media and websites of industry leaders, following and connecting with other professionals in the field and regularly chatting with them.
“An interesting topic, and for the most part I would agree. I think that training/Degree in the sciences does help vastly for scientific illustration, because knowledge and scientific understanding is important for accuracy. But I don't think a Degree or training is needed in every specific field of science illustrators (i.e. Degree training in biological illustration AND medical illustration). For example, I am doing a PhD in marine biology and tend to focus on biological illustration. I have been offered to do medical illustrations and am now looking into it. While I don't have a degree in the medical sciences, I am obtaining the highest scientific training available that allows me to network with scientists in other fields, and obtain resources/papers to get an understanding of how to illustrate that request accurately. I certainly hope that people wouldn't expect me to have a Masters on top of a PhD in two different fields when my work would speak for itself. I think the creative training is great for most, but not necessary for everyone (i.e. those with high skillsets). A lot of sci-artists I know are self-taught and beyond the fundamentals stage, but up to learning specific skills now (i.e. animation, 3D rendering etc.) I think the important part is how to accurately visualise data in conjunction with the illustration. This is something that a lot of illustrators and scientists struggle with to this day.”
“I believe the Masters degree combined with the education from a medical school holds a lot of weight in the public eye, keeping the medical illustration industry professional and highly paid, especially moving into the future as medicine and science and software technology develop. We can get in trouble if we call ourselves artists and settle for art design salaries. Be proud, our profession is unique and necessary in the world.”
— agcmi
Our resources for you
Medical illustration organisations
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Medical illustration jobs
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Study medical illustration
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
How to build your medical illustration portfolio
Your medical illustration CV/resume
Learn some of the best ways to showcase your skills to potential employers and gain an understanding of what employers in the industry want to see.
Promoting yourself as a medical illustrator
Marketing your skills and building an online presence is a vital part of gaining clients or landing your dream job. We have collected some resources to help you begin promoting your services.
External resources
Below are some external resources that we’ve listed above and have collated them all here for you. Happy researching!