An interview with medical illustrator Susie Brighouse
Hello!
Hello everyone, Susie here! Those of you who’ve followed this channel for a while will know a bit about who I am and I’m thrilled to be seeing the team grow, and thought this would be a good time to re-introduce myself for those of you who don’t know me and tell you a little about me and my background.
My name is Susie Brighouse and I’m a Medical Illustrator and Multimedia Designer at CMI. I joined the company back in 2018 as a junior production artist when Annie first took the step from freelancing to starting a medical illustration studio.
The early years
My route into medical illustration was pretty indirect as I studied Psychology for my BSc at the University of Liverpool, and worked in special educational support before moving into the field. It became clear to me fairly soon after starting university that I wanted to move into illustration, so I started building a small portfolio on the side and exploring the different avenues that might be available after graduating. It was during this time that I came across medical illustration as a possible career option. It offered the exciting opportunity to keep growing in all the areas I found interesting in and I was drawn to the idea of helping people learn, so I decided to go for it.
Grad school & work
After graduating I went on to complete the MSc Medical Art programme at the University of Dundee, after which I spent six months working with the graphic design team at Costello Medical Consulting in London before moving on to join the video production team at Kenhub, where I worked on script edits, graphics, animations and video editing to develop the site’s premium content. Working remotely with Kenhub made it possible to travel, and during this time I had the privilege of working with some great freelance clients and projects for organisations like NHS Wales and the D’Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum in Dundee, which led me to my current role.
Life Drawing
Outside of the studio, one of the things I like to
keep up with is life drawing, which I find great for unwinding and practising. It’s one of the first things I started doing back when I first got back into drawing again at university and it’s been a pleasant surprise to find that it has translated into medical illustration projects really well, and it’s something I’d like to continue to develop both professionally and as a personal interest.
Looking forward
I first met Annie and Emily back when I was training in Dundee when they visited our class for a critique session. I continued to follow and admire their work, and always admired their passion and drive to support young artists coming into the field. It’s a privilege to be working as part of their team now. Joining Now Medical Studios was an exciting and scary moment and I’ve always been really touched by the kind reception from all of you since I first appeared here; I want to say thank you for being so welcoming and supportive all the way.
I’m really looking forward to seeing us continue to grow and can’t wait to join in with sharing that with you all.
