“I was on a super high science route, but it wasn’t making me excited. I wasn’t really finding my fit. It wasn’t until my high school art teacher said, ‘Hey, there’s this career called medical illustration’ that I was like, ‘Wait, so I can do science and drawing, and they merge together?” I quickly changed my major.”
Rick Sargent is a visiting professor of art at The Citadel, where he teaches drawing, painting, animation, and illustration. He also leads a freelance career as a medical illustrator. Sargent is from Columbus, Georgia, and now resides in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Sargent attended the University of Georgia, earning an undergraduate degree in Interdisciplinary Studies, and the Medical College of Georgia, where he earned a master of science in Medical Illustration.
About
The two parts of Rick Sargent’s career have blended together well. Sargent began a career in medical illustration in New Jersey, then moved to South Carolina, where an ilustrator who was a professor at the Art Institute of Charleston suggested Sargent become a professor. Sargent became an adjunct professor, and “fell in love with teaching, and I have been a teacher ever since.” Sargent has been teaching at The Citadel for 10 years. Sargent talks to students about his career as a medical illustrator. “There are many incredible artists at The Citadel who didn’t know they were artists or didn’t think they could express themselves artistically or visually,” said Sargent. “So for me, coming from a medical illustration background – that’s something they can get their minds around.” In the last two years, art has become the college’s largest minor.
Sargent specializes in medical legal illustration, meaning he works largely with attorneys. “They have to explain and communicate in layman terms and visual terms what happened in an accident or medical procedure,” said Sargent. Sargent assesses documents, operative reports, and radiology films and produces illustrations – print, digital, and 3D — based on the needs of the client.
Sargent said his advice for aspiring creatives is twofold. “Find ‘your thing’ and do it really, really well. It’s easy to get distracted in social media and say, ‘Well, maybe I’m just not that person,’ and just quit. First figure out what you want to do, what gives you energy and feeds your creativity. Do that thing and keep going at it,” Sargent said.
“The other thing is not to resist the temptation to have diversity. Are you an acrylic painter, oil painter, or sculptor? Do you have an inkling to go into other realms? Don’t limit yourself. It sounds contradictory, but you’ll never know – if you follow this little track of creativity, it’s going to come back to that other thing you’re passionate about, and they’re going to connect in ways you never thought possible.”
