Artist and FSU alumna Jodi Slade comes to the university and talks to students about her work. To some, illustration does not qualify as “art.” Even less people would think that medicine and illustrating could be combined into one job. Jodi Slade proved any non-believers wrong by finding a balance between her love of making art and her curiosity for sciences. On February 26th, Medical Illustrator, and Florida State Alumnae, Jodi Slade presented her Visiting Artists lecture, “Pursuing Illustration as a Career and Passion.” She spoke to students, of all different majors, about making things you love work for you as a career. |
Her lecture was broken down into 3 sections: The short and ideal version of her story so far, the truth about her story so far, and some tricks of the trade for students. Speaking with confidence and humor about her journey of becoming an illustrator and incorporating medicine into her job gave the lecture an upbeat tone.
Before graduating from Florida State in 2008, Slade had some trouble deciding on a major. She, like most college students, struggled between two areas and felt as though she had to choose. Studio Art and Biological Sciences are not a common double major, and Slade was not unaware of this. “I kept biology half out of fear and half out of curiosity.” This changed one day when a professor mentioned that there were graduate degrees offered in Medical Illustration, and that it was an actual career. With a love for drawing, developed skills in graphic design and biology on her brain, this sounded like an ideal career path for someone like Slade. She heard about this program in 2006, but waited until 2008 before turning in any applications, and even waited tables for 6 months waiting to hear back. But, in the end, she made it work for her and continued onto graduate school at John’s Hopkins for a degree in Medical Illustration.
Before graduating from Florida State in 2008, Slade had some trouble deciding on a major. She, like most college students, struggled between two areas and felt as though she had to choose. Studio Art and Biological Sciences are not a common double major, and Slade was not unaware of this. “I kept biology half out of fear and half out of curiosity.” This changed one day when a professor mentioned that there were graduate degrees offered in Medical Illustration, and that it was an actual career. With a love for drawing, developed skills in graphic design and biology on her brain, this sounded like an ideal career path for someone like Slade. She heard about this program in 2006, but waited until 2008 before turning in any applications, and even waited tables for 6 months waiting to hear back. But, in the end, she made it work for her and continued onto graduate school at John’s Hopkins for a degree in Medical Illustration.
In her time at John’s Hopkins, she really got the chance to continue to develop her skills as a graphic artist, make a network of reliable colleagues she could learn from and see things most artists would not normally be exposed to. The Medical Illustration students were able to sit in on surgeries in the operating rooms and sketch while referencing real organs. Slade was even asked to ‘scrub in’ by a doctor to hold a retractor once, but had to decline as she was there to sketch. However, she did get to spend time dissecting a human cadaver. The program offered great exposure to both art and medical practices, offering students a chance to grow in programs and spend three months as medical students as well. “Should you go to grad school, yes. Should you look at your financial aid options before you go, YES.” Slade offered a lot of insight for students looking to take the graduate school path, and was encouraging towards taking that route if means allow it. Her time at John’s Hopkins expanded her knowledge and network, so much so that when she graduated she had three job offers from her newfound networks, alone. Fortunately for Florida State, when a friend of Slade’s stumbled upon an open position here, for a medical graphic designer, she willingly came home. Her life is now spent working with professors to illustrate teaching methods for students. |
The main message of her lecture was that illustrators, by her definition, “enhance concepts by visual representation to clarify complicated concepts.” If you’ve taken a science class at FSU, and been exposed to graphic representations of conceptual anatomy, chances are Jodi Slade designed them. She also can create 3D models of organs and create 3D scans of MRI’s and CT’s to help doctors get better visualization. “It’s about knowing your audience and knowing how to communicate to them,” explained Slade.
Even after all this innovative work, Slade’s most meaningful project to date was a redesign of the traditional FSU logo. After much controversy over the drastic change the Athletic Department decided to make on our logo, someone had to appease students, fans, and loyal alumni. Slade took the logo, made moderate updates to it, and explained what changes were made and why. After making a simple project that barely took her an hour, she decided to post it on her blog and share to Facebook. What she thought to be a basic communication of change actually turned out to be a viral discussion around campus. One of her colleagues had to tell her the next morning, when she woke up, that her post “broke the internet”. Slade knew that the community needed an explanation as to why the school was compromising a major tradition, and was happy to be the illustrator to tell them. After a meeting with the Athletic Department about potentially using smaller changes on the logo, the matter was settled; it isn’t much of a surprise of which logo they went with. |
Concluding her lecture, Slade left the audience with two tips for navigating the path to graduation:
Jodi Slade has only been away from FSU undergrad for 10 years and has already amounted to a great deal. She is an example of the caliber of students our university holds and was innovative in going about her degrees and career path.
For further examples of Jodi Slade’s work check out the College of Medicine’s YouTube channel, FSUMedMedia.
-By Christie Childers, Contributing Writer
- Don’t be afraid to master a technique/program
- Love your style but know your audience
Jodi Slade has only been away from FSU undergrad for 10 years and has already amounted to a great deal. She is an example of the caliber of students our university holds and was innovative in going about her degrees and career path.
For further examples of Jodi Slade’s work check out the College of Medicine’s YouTube channel, FSUMedMedia.
-By Christie Childers, Contributing Writer