A day-to-day blog/vent of my transition to city-living in Chicago, relationships, and the perils of graduate school in Biomedical Visualization (aka Medical Illustration) and life after grad school. Be prepared for irony and things to not go the way they should!
So exciting! Biomedical Visualization at UIC was presented on the CBS 2 Chicago News this evening. Program Director, Scott Barrows and students Leslie White and Michaela Calhoun (with a cameo by Erin Stevens) were interviewed for the newscast. I think they did a great job showing what we do in our unique program. Props!
Furthermore, the newscasters seemed quite impressed with our unusual skill set, calling us "Renaissance men and women, like Leonardo da Vinci for this century". You can see a video of the newscast by CLICKING HERE or checking out the article HERE!
More news about our program and the people in it. Three Biomedical Visualization students, myself included, were selected as winners and finalists in UIC's 2010 "Image of Research" competition. Congrats to me, Lindsey Brake and Annie Campbell! Take a look HERE! Hands off! to H1N1. Finalist in UIC's Image of Research. Lindsey Pionek. 2010. Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign.
Need a tutorial? Though I'm no fan of working with 3D modeling programs, I thought this was fantastic. If you ever thought "Hmmm, I wonder how I can create a realistic scrotum in 3D", look no further! Here you have a step-by-step tutorial on how to build and texture a pair. This guy knows what he's doing and has some very funny narration to go with. Even if you don't do 3D it is worth watching.
Well today was the day - the beginning of the 2009 Frank Armitage Lecture that our Biomedical Visualization graduate program. It seems like just yesterday I was building the website for the event. I swear, this semester has to slow down! Anyway, I wanted to be prepared for the morning and be on-time and put-together for the event so I picked out my outfit the night before and everything else was ready to go for the smoothest morning possible.... of course that didn't happen. When my alarm went off in the morning, I realized it went off too early so I set it for a later time.... too bad I turned it off and ended up waking up at 8 instead of 7. Well, I guess I will just have to take a cab again. Annoying, but still on time. I hop in the shower and get ready to look presentable-professional and I'm out the door with coffee-in-hand on-time. To my surprise, even with living right off of Clark Street in the heart of Lincoln Park, there are no cabs to be seen... and it is raining. No, not today, just not today. After hoping to see a vacant cab for 10 minutes, I decided to call for one. The operator said it would be less than 5 minutes. Okay, I can handle that. Well after another 10 minutes, I said screw it and I finally was able to hail a cab. The cab I called for called me 10 minutes later... not quite the time they gave me. Oh well, I got another one. Later, when I was about to be dropped off they cabbie figured out I was in school and stated that I was too beautiful to be in the medical field... whatever that means, but I took it as a compliment. Public compliments seem to be my thing; I can't go anywhere without someone noticing me even though I don't feel like I stand out. Oh well; there are much worse things that could happen.
Needless to say, I was late again by 10 minutes. Even though I attempt to be as prepared as possible, there is always some unexpected variable that destroys the plan. I just can't seem to catch a break. I walked into the lecture to Noah Lowenthal, Vice President of Abelson-Taylor. He discussed working in pharmaceutical advertising, more specifically working with the client, different animators and companies to create the product, as well as the working team. The drug, Kapidex, was the example the he discussed. Abelson-Taylor needed to build a booth for a convention that was promoting the drug. The A-T team decided that interactivity was key to captivate the audience, in which they decided to utilize Microsoft Surface. The work that A-T did was very impressive, especially as this was the first time that the company was working with this software.
Greg Blew was next, in which he discussed Emmi Solutions and patient education. More specifically, he started with the beginnings of the company, the significance of patient education for the patient as well as the hospitals, planning, budgeting, and survey scores from patients. Since Greg is also a professor for our program, he has discussed some insider info with us prior, but nothing like this. It was great to see even more of such a beneficial business.
After lunch, we had our last, and main, lecturer, David Bolinsky. Starting out with prehistoric art and man's ability to create artwork and evoke movement. Bolinsky went on to bring this idea into his own life and his progress to where he is today. Starting out in med school and doing pen and ink illustrations on the side, he was always interested in animation. Taking a leap of faith, he decided to drop everything and follow his dream. Can you believe this man started his company XVIVO, a 3D medical animating company, without ever owning a computer? They started off small and not well-known, but after submitting a short on the process visualizing the process of extravasation at a Siggraph conference and getting rave (yet unexpected, or so XVIVO thought) reviews, the company was jet-set to stardom in an instant. It was amazing to see the success that he had through his hard work and following his dream, which were his words of wisdom for the audience as well.
I couldn't believe what a success the first day of the lecture was this year. Usually, the talks, other than the main lecturer, are attended mainly by Biomedical Visualization students and faculty. This year, all the seats were full for every talk. It is fantastic to see how more people are becoming aware of what we do. All of the speakers were captivating, interesting, and the work they showed was just incredible. I don't think our program could have asked for a better day. We'll see how tomorrow goes!
Video courtesy of youtube.com. Inner Life of a Cell.
Today the Biomedical Visualization program hosted professional biomedical animator, Drew Berry. He held a talk during the day today discussing his rise to success by hard work and self-promotion as well as his process in creating his animations. Drew works at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia, a prestigious medical research establishment, in which they have received an Emmy for DNA documentary series in 2005.
My approach is the opposite tack to simplifying the science,” says Berry. “Rather than dumbing it down, I set out to show the audience exactly what the scientists are talking about. By building accurate visualizations founded on real scientific data, the animations come alive of their own accord, engage the audience, and go a long way towards explaining what the science is about. The science is rich, detailed and fascinating, and if you can watch it in action you will intuitively get to know how it works.
It was a pleasure to get to see, listen and meet with a professional in our field yet again and this man was stellar and this is just the first one this week! Stay tuned for a recap of the Frank Armitage Lecture later this week!
Photo courtesy of cgsociety.org. Still from animation of the malaria life cycle in human hosts. Drew Berry. Animation courtesy of youtube.com. Molecular Visualizations of DNA - DNA Chromosome Wrapping. Drew Berry.
Though it may be early for Halloween, I just found out that every year, Lionsgate promotes the Red Cross and its new SAW (VI, if you aren't familiar) film with the "Give 'Til It Hurts" blood drive. And as part of the ad campaign tradition for this event, they include the SAW nurse... yikes!
This year's ad campaign was created by Ignition Print and was photographed by Co-President of Marketing Tim Palen - and is considered the wildest yet with the SAW nurse sporting a uniform you won't see at just any old doctor's office. The corset, designed by The Blonds, looks pretty sharp to me if you know what I mean. The Blonds have been designing and outfitting celebs such as Britney Spears, Beyonce, Rihanna and Katy Perry.
Though the image may be uncomfortable to look at, it does the job grabbing attention and getting the point across. Furthermore, you can see the craftsmanship and quality of the garment, the makeup and the lighting to make this an incredibly striking and beautiful image.
Oh, and of course I can't forget to let everyone know this too: Happy 19th birthday little brother!
Photo courtesy of current.com. "Give 'Til It Hurts" 6th Annual Halloween Blood Drive advertisement. Ignition Print - Tim Palen. Syringe corset by The Blonds. 2009.
Getting back into school from a great weekend was tough, but I think I have a handle on it now. I was doing a bit of research online pertaining to my subject for my Flash interactive that I have to do for class. At the moment, we just have to create a little outline of what we want to include and how we are envisioning the layout. I am planning on doing mine about the different stages of obesity, particular health hazards, and BMI. While researching, I was thinking about adding the anatomy of an adipocyte, an individual fat cell, and I ended up finding this little guy. Though I have seen these critter, creatures, whatever you want to call them, I thought I would present them anyway since I didn't know that cells were included.
The stuffed cell is from a brand named Giant Microbes by Drew Oliver. Drew Oliver was initially a lawyer educated at the University of Chicago Law School, but creating cute stuffed microbes and cells and being his own boss was more up his alley. Started in 2002 to be an education tool for children, his small business attracted national attention a year later and the rest is history. The Giant Microbes collection contains Health (microbes like the kind that cause the common cold and the flu as well as cells), Critters (such as dust mites), Calamites, (such as those that are responsible for black death and ebola), and Exotics. Each stuffed microscopic 'critter' comes with information and illustrations about the real thing it is symbolizing. Get one for your sick friend or family member (they have a new Swine Flu one as well!), or as a little reminder to keep that waistline!
Photo courtesy of giantmicrobes.com. Giant Microbes Fat Cell (Adipocyte).
Looking for an interesting way to get inked next? Try it on your teeth! Steve Heward is a trained tattoo artist that paints images on crowns at his Utah-based company, Heward Dental Lab. Amy Winehouse, David Letterman and Mickey Mouse are just a few celebrities that he has miniaturized and put in someone else's mouth. These creations range in price from $75 to $200 depending on complexity. Find out more about this ink job at toothartist.com.
Um, excuse me, but I think you have a little Simon Cowell on your tooth, just thought you should know......
Photo courtesy of toothartist.com. Tooth Tattoos. Steve Heward.
