“I actually got turned down twice when I applied to medical illustration school. I took time off, reassessed, and just drew and drew. When I finally got in, I was excited, and I have been doing this ever since.”
Rick Sargent is a professor of art at The Citadel, where he teaches drawing, painting, animation, and illustration. He is also a seasoned freelance medical illustrator specializing in medical-legal illustration. A native of Columbus, Georgia, now based in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, Sargent holds a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies from the University of Georgia and a Master of Science in Medical Illustration from the Medical College of Georgia (now Augusta University).
Interview
Transcript
Rick Sargent 00:00
I am Rick Sargent. I’m originally from Georgia, Middle Georgia, a smallish, mid-sized town called Columbus, Georgia. And right now, I currently reside in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.
Sara Sobota 00:12
What do you do for work? And where are you working from right now?
Rick Sargent 00:16
I am primarily a college professor at The Citadel, and I teach art. I teach drawing, painting, animation, and illustration. What makes me suitable for that is my other career. My other gig which is being a medical illustrator. When I’m teaching, obviously it’s in person, not online. As a medical illustrator, I work from home.
Sara Sobota 00:43
Okay, next question. How long have you been working there, and what is your official job title? You have two of each of those?
Rick Sargent 00:50
I do, yeah. I’ve been at The Citadel for 10 years. I have been a medical illustrator for 22 years.
Sara Sobota 00:59
Okay, wow. How did you end up in the field? We kind of went over that already, but if you could just give us a recap?
Rick Sargent 01:06
Yeah, absolutely. So, I ended up becoming a medical illustrator from the inspiration and advice I had from my high school art teacher, who knew a medical illustrator and thought I would be a good fit.
I changed my major at the University of Georgia, earned an undergraduate degree in Interdisciplinary Studies, and then went on to get a Master of Science degree in Medical Illustration. From there, I started practicing medical illustration in New Jersey, came down to South Carolina, and had a colleague who was teaching at another school who turned me on to the idea of teaching. He eventually left the program, and I took over his role and fell in love with teaching. I have been a teacher ever since.
Sara Sobota 02:08
Wow, that’s great. So, your graduate degree was an M.S. in Medical Illustration?
Rick Sargent 02:15
Correct.
Sara Sobota 02:16
Wow, that’s fantastic. You don’t often hear or see that.
Rick Sargent 02:21
Yeah. Different programs offer different degrees. Some, like Johns Hopkins, offer a Master of Arts program. At the Medical College of Georgia now Augusta University they wanted to provide a stronger scientific foundation, so they offered a Master of Science degree while teaching the arts.
Sara Sobota 02:49
Forgive me, I don’t know what’s the Medical College of Georgia’s name now?
Rick Sargent 02:56
It is now Augusta University.
Sara Sobota 03:00
Oh, I didn’t know that.
Rick Sargent 03:01
It changed maybe five years ago. It used to be Georgia Regents University, but they were absorbed into Augusta University.
Sara Sobota 03:10
Got it. What background helped you land your roles?
Rick Sargent 03:16
Yeah, for sure. For being a professor, it was a real-world experience plus having a master’s degree, which is the terminal degree for medical illustration, since there is no Ph.D. in the field.
Sara Sobota 03:34
Are there any medical illustration programs in South Carolina?
Rick Sargent 03:40
There are not.
Sara Sobota 03:40
So you need to go to another state?
Rick Sargent 03:46
Yes. There are about six schools across the country offering a master’s degree program. Some, like Rochester Institute of Technology, offer a bachelor’s degree in medical illustration.
Sara Sobota 04:01
Can you walk us through a typical workday? What’s your process and what’s expected?
Rick Sargent 04:08
Sure. I’ll focus on the medical illustration side. I specialize in what’s called medical-legal illustration. I work for attorneys who need to explain in layman’s terms and visually what happened in an accident or a procedure.
A typical day involves reviewing operative reports and radiology films, then making a proposal on the best way to present their case. That gets reviewed by a medical expert. We usually schedule Zoom meetings to clarify the case, and once I have the supporting materials, I begin creating the illustrations.
Sara Sobota 05:04
Wow, you are blending law, medicine, and art.
Rick Sargent 05:08
I’m telling you, it’s all over.
Sara Sobota 05:10
That’s amazing.
Rick Sargent 05:12
Yeah.
Sara Sobota 05:14
That is awesome. Can you describe a defining moment in your creative journey, something that had a significant impact on you, or something you produced that really showcased your creativity?
Rick Sargent 05:27
I will say, medical illustration-wise. Yeah, there was a defining moment; I was the senior medical illustrator at Houston Sports Medicine Orthopedic Hospital in Columbus, Georgia. And there was a conference coming up, where a surgeon wanted to display a new surgery technique. And he was; this was back in 2002. Um, 2003, time. And he was cutting edge. And even in technology as far as visual communication. And so, he was really pushing the department to move to 3D. While we were just scratching the surface of that, a lot of stuff that we did was in Photoshop. Every now and then, we would dip into After Effects and things like that to make things move for animation.
And so, in a very quick turnaround, he bought the software for 3D, told me to learn it, and created an animation of his procedure. So, we had a roughly three-week turnaround time, from start to finish, of storyboarding of creating the models and rendering to get ready for his presentation at his conference. And we actually won an award for it. It was, it was insane. It was long nights spent. I slept there over the weekend trying to create something. But it’s well worth it. And I think he is still using some of the components of it.
Sara Sobota 06:37
That’s amazing. So, when you say “we,” who was on the team? Was it just you and him or?
Rick Sargent 07:19
It was me and him as; we had another medical illustrator on staff, who was helping to kind of give art direction to it. Since she was more, publications. But she was definitely lending a hand to the process. We had all hands-on deck, so to speak, right?
Sara Sobota 07:39
That’s amazing. Was it for you to find this career path? Or to figure out how to apply your background to this task? We talked about that.
Rick Sargent 07:49
Definitely a challenge, for sure. And I definitely wrestled with, could I make a career, I’m just gonna go with medical illustration, like, it was definitely challenged to say that I was going to be a medical illustrator. I actually got turned down, twice, to apply to the school. And so, with my portfolio I just kept, I was more kind of not really, I was a little bit wishy-washy, at least on the second round, because I was debating on this career or this career. And I was like, well, I’ll just submit my application.
And then I took a year off. And that kind of sat down, reassessed where I was going, and what I needed to do, and I think, really put the nose to the grindstone and just drew and drew and drew and drew, you know, everything that they wanted for the portfolio, took their advice from the previous portfolio, and it’s like, Alright, I’m going to, I’m gonna hit this hard, you know. And then, when I finally got in, I was pretty excited.
Sara Sobota 08:50
Yeah, that’s amazing. Great. Can you recommend any specific skills that an aspiring applicant should have to increase their chances of landing a role in your field?
Rick Sargent 09:04
I know that, obviously, rendering and the timeless skills are line, shape, accuracy, value, accuracy, being able to communicate visually, and being confident and effective about the way that you communicate with line and value. That is something that, hands down, digital or non-digital, you have to know.
So, but I know that, you know, AI is coming up and you know, or people say, is that going to replace, you know, illustration and things like that, and then relying on generative AI, things inside of software such as Adobe Photoshop, which we use a ton. That software only gets you so far, and that reliability on that can only get you to a certain level.
So, I would say you need to; don’t rely on those things. You can use them as tools, but you’re making case specific and what’s going to make you relevant is that you can be case specific, and not generic and not rely on things like AI, or generative art that’s going to make you seem more clip art and non-relevant.
So, I would say, keep being creative, I would say, keep up your draftsmanship skills and your ability to learn how contrast of how atmospheric perspective communicates and makes a hierarchy. That will be the most important skill that I would recommend.
Sara Sobota 10:30
Okay, great. Okay. Are there any local organizations, programs, or events that you recommend for aspiring creatives in South Carolina?
Rick Sargent 10:41
In South Carolina, I would say, you know, Piccolo Spoleto, getting involved in getting your artwork out there as much as possible. Being involved in art and art competitions, I found it really useful. I won the Cooper River Bridge run poster design contest, you know, way back when, and just getting involved in competitions, like those sort of things, even though the Cooper River Bridge one, wasn’t medical illustration at all, you know, but it’s designed, and it got my name out there. It gave me a little bit of, you know, clout. As I approach and talk about design, they are like, well, what did you do? And I say, well, here is this or people recognize my name from certain things.
And I have always been a proponent of just finding any competition that interests you make stuff and find ways to get into it. You get connected to more artists that way, that, oh, I saw your work and filled in the blanks, right? And so, design organizations, graphic design organizations, I would be a part of or try to connect with. There is the Association of Medical Illustrators, as far as my own career that I am a part of, I would connect with them, you know, follow them online, look at their stuff on Instagram. See what is happening? What are hot topics? And learning those topics? The research know, is it on your own?
Sara Sobota 12:10
One more aside, have you ever been to Artfield’s?
Rick Sargent 12:16
I have never been to art fields. I know, stop. I know, I know. It’s my own fault. It’s my own fault. Some of that, I’ve submitted fine artwork to art fields that were not accepted. It is one of my goals to have a piece that is accepted that way; a lot of my stuff is more illustration-based rather than pushing the envelope of art.
I’ve had friends; one of my best friends here, who is a painter, you know, got in several years ago, and just spoke highly of that and loved it. And I want to take my kids there; they are now traveling at an age where we can do that sort of thing. And so, yes, it is my own fault. But I want to be part of that.
Sara Sobota 12:59
I only ask because I’m so proud of that gem for our state.
Rick Sargent 13:04
It’s amazing. Really incredible.
Sara Sobota 13:07
It’s really nice to have you here. Do you have any advice for current college students or pre-professional creatives?
Rick Sargent 13:18
Yes, I do. I would say there are two main schools of thought for creatives currently. Number one is that you find your thing and do it really, really well. It seems more of a single focus. And so, I would, I would say, it’s easy to get distracted from social, in social media, and discouraged and say, well, I’m not that person, and then just quit what you’re doing. I would say, first and foremost, find, figure out what you like, and figure out what you want to do. And what gives you energy, what feeds your creativity, and do that thing and keep going at it. It is discipline. And so focus on that. And just keep going, keep going, keep going.
Rick Sargent 14:09
Draw, sketch. If you are a fanatic about birds. How can you communicate, birds, and do it over and over and over and over and over and over again? The thing is, to not resist the temptation to have diversity. So, are you an acrylic painter? Are you an oil painter? Are you a sculptor? Do you have a creative inkling to move into other realms? Don’t limit yourself.
So, I know it seems like a little bit of a disconnect or contract or I’m contradicting myself a little bit. But at the same time, man, there’s some really cool stuff that you can be involved in, and you’re never going to know that if you follow this little track of creativity it’s going to come back to that other bit that you were just passionate about or like oh, wow, now I see these connections.
I’ve had so many things that have strangely connected me and developed my artwork. You name it. sand sculpting, you know, like what? Sure, you know, like sculpting has helped me become a better draw or like a better illustrator, like learning in depth and plains of the face as maybe a better portrait painter by becoming better by sculpting like things that you would never think that could be connected somehow gets connected.
So, if there’s something doesn’t ignore things that give you fire as far as a creative like, Man, that is so interesting. pursue it, learn about it, and figure some things out because it may come back to bless your drawing, so to speak, or enhance your drawing, so to speak, or enhance your other part of your creativity.
Sara Sobota 15:45
Yeah, fantastic. Well, that’s all the questions that I have for my interview; you have given me so much; I really appreciate it and your input, I know it will really be helpful to the students. And there is also a few other things that we might have gone on with creative careers in the future. So, is it okay if I reach out to you again if anything comes up?
Rick Sargent 16:06
Yes, absolutely. Yes. Okay, well, I love talking about this stuff. I love meeting other medical illustrators or other illustrators or aspiring medical illustrators. For you know, Zoom calls, I’ve had text, Zoom calls, coffee, you know, with people who are interested in this. So, either that or any sort of creative, please let me know.
Sara Sobota 16:28
Okay, that sounds great.
Rick Sargent 16:29
Yeah.
Sara Sobota 16:30
Thank you for your time!
Rick Sargent 16:31
You’re welcome, Sara. Nice to meet you.
Sara Sobota 16:33
Have a great weekend!
Rick Sargent 16:34
You too!