Medical Illustration Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree

RIT’s Medical Illustration BFA

This medical illustration major prepares you to work with scientists, physicians, surgeons, researchers, and other medical specialists to take complex scientific information and distill it into visual images that can be used in a wide range of applications, such as:

• Textbooks
• Brochures
• Infographics
• Interactive models
• 2D and 3D animations
• Motion graphics
• Courtroom exhibits
• Digital presentations
• Educational material

During the first two years of the Medical Illustration undergraduate program, you will focus on developing your drawing and traditional illustration skills. During this time, you’ll attend human biology, anatomy, and physiology classes.

Building on this foundation of science courses, the third and fourth years of the major emphasize 2D and 3D computer illustration and animation. As a third and fourth-year student, you’ll:

• Attend Human Gross Anatomy, a course that includes full head-to-toe dissection in RIT’s Cadaver Lab, one of the few undergraduate cadaver labs in the nation.
• Collaborate with area hospitals to draw from direct observation of in-progress surgical procedures and medical treatments in progress

The medical illustration degree explores all aspects of health care, from the molecular level through the macroscopic and into the theoretical.

Throughout your coursework, you may select elective courses that enhance your studies or enable you to pursue an area of personal or professional interest.

Refine Your Medical Illustration Portfolio

The medical illustration degree requires studio art experience and a portfolio of original artwork.

• View the portfolio requirements
• RIT’s School of Art offers an annual Pre-College Portfolio Preparation Workshop. This two-week visual arts class is designed to help prepare the portfolios of rising high school juniors and seniors for admission to college art programs. 

Furthering Your Education in Medical Illustration

Combined Accelerated Bachelor's/Master's Degrees

Today’s careers require advanced degrees grounded in real-world experience. RIT’s Combined Accelerated Bachelor’s/Master’s Degrees enable you to earn both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in as little as five years of study, all while gaining the valuable hands-on experience that comes from co-ops, internships, research, study abroad, and more.

+1 MBA: Students who enroll in a qualifying undergraduate degree have the opportunity to add an MBA to their bachelor’s degree after their first year of study, depending on their program. Learn how the +1 MBA can accelerate your learning and position you for success.

Graduate Study in Medical Illustration

RIT offers a medical illustration MFA. This is an advanced scientific illustration program and one of only five medical illustration programs at the graduate level in North America, and the only program in the northeast. The two-year program culminates with the production of a thesis project, which requires extensive background research and an original body of art and design work on a complex medical topic.