Today we’d like to introduce you to Melanie Connolly.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
After receiving my BS in Neurobiology from UT Austin, I knew I wanted to go into healthcare. I decided to work at Dell Children’s in Austin to determine whether I really wanted to work in direct patient care. Turned out that I loved it, but I had another side- this artsy, tech-loving side- that was not getting fulfilled. My mother is a medical illustrator, and I asked her about how she got into the field in the first place. She asked me if I could draw. Neither of us knew if I could! After a few extra classes, I went to grad school at the University of Illinois at Chicago and received my MS in Biomedical Visualization. After that I built my own business, MeCo Visuals, where I create custom medical artwork, predominantly 3D animations. My mother and I have a business together as well, a boutique med art firm known as Chicago Medical Graphics.
Please tell us about your art.
Working in healthcare greatly influenced the kind of art I create- I focus heavily on patient education, but also do a lot of provider and research-related visual education. I truly believe that many of our greatest problems in healthcare right now could be improved with a combination of better education and access. Lately I’ve been working with MedTech companies and creating work that highlights their devices. I also do a lot of pharmaceutical/molecular educational pieces as well- my favorite was on a virus that my uncle had created. The virus was “reprogrammed” to attack only brain cancer cells. Pretty cool stuff!
Given everything that is going on in the world today, do you think the role of artists has changed? How do local, national or international events and issues affect your art?
Social media has drastically changed the way we do business, as have advancements in tech generally. When my mother first graduated from the same graduate program in 1989, she was creating airbrush artwork and mailing it directly to her clients! She had to rely on cold-calling and word-of-mouth to keep her business going and had a fax machine and copy machine that were each bigger than a microwave. I don’t envy how much she had to go through to build her business then, but it greatly makes me appreciate that I can tweet out a “process photo” of my artwork whenever I want.
A big part of social media and networking is just reminding potential clients that you exist- they may not have an immediate need for your work at the time, but when the need comes up they’ll contact you! We have to be careful, though. Watermark everything, and file your copyrights! Be really wary of work-for-hire projects too, as selling your copyright could mean that you are later infringing upon your own style. I try to use best practices when writing contracts to make sure that I’m protecting myself and my business in the long run.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work? www.mecovisuals.com and www.ChicagoMedicalGraphics.com. Also, check out medical artists in general at www.ami.org
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mecovisuals.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mecovisuals
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/mecovisuals
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mecovisuals
Image Credit:
©mecovisuals.com
Getting in touch: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
