Biography
Michael E. Leonard is an illustrator and educator who teaches fine art, art history, biomedical illustration, and graphic design at University of the Pacific and San Joaquin Delta College. Additionally, Michael runs an illustration and design studio mainly working for hospitals and academic institutions. After graduating in biomedical illustration from Johns Hopkins Medical School, he worked four years for the Duke University Medical Center. While at Duke, he specialized in the carbon dust illustration technique becoming a frequent presenter at the Association of Medical Illustrators meetings. After Duke, he established an illustration studio based in Baltimore and ran this full-time for the next 20 years mainly focusing on anatomic and surgical illustrations for print. He won many awards for medical illustrations, textbooks, and atlases over the past 40 years including a national Best of Show from the Society for Technical Communication and an Award of Merit in Milan, Italy, both for Neuroanatomy: Text and Atlas. Besides presenting at meetings, Michael also began teaching fine art part-time and playing lead trumpet in the jazz band at Frederick Community College. At this time, he also played trumpet in the Frederick Symphony Orchestra and the Hopkins Symphony Orchestra. Moving to California in 1999 started a new career shift where teaching became the primary focus. Living in Sacramento, he started a family, played in the Camellia Symphony Orchestra, and taught desktop publishing for the Sacramento Unified School District. His family moved to Clements in 2003 where he also operated a cow-calf ranch for seven years. In 2005, he was hired by Delta College to teach art history, and in 2008 he joined the Pacific art department where he has taught both full-time and part-time. At Delta and Pacific, Michael has taught a wide range of courses from digital design to traditional painting and drawing. Recently, he taught art three years on Saturdays in the California state prison system. He continues to be recognized in the medical illustration community with awards and invitations to present the carbon dust illustration technique. He was recently featured in the Association of Medical Illustrators Newsletter for the award he received for the Glenn Procedure illustration.
Artist Statement
I am a medical and scientific visual storyteller creating educational experiences for many people, from patients and laypersons to nurses, general practitioners, researchers, scientists and surgeons. My work is a form of visual communication creatively combining both sight and insight, drawing from our visual legacy, knowledge of anatomic and physiologic content and the needs of the intended audience to create images that instruct, inform, influence and enlighten. The work is often created in collaboration with surgeons to accurately illustrate the anatomy and specific procedures.
Work Statement
Much of my medical illustration work the past 15 years has focused on complex surgeries for heart anomalies. Most of my academic collaborations have been with Stanford University and University of Cincinnati, both leading pediatric heart centers. My interest in heart anatomy and surgery, however, goes all the way back to my medical school education where I authored and illustrated an article about embryonic and fetal development of the ductus arteriosus published by the American Journal of Anatomy. After medical school, I continued working with heart surgeons at Duke and became well-known for my carbon dust heart illustrations. Decades later, I now combine traditional illustration techniques, such as carbon dust, with Photoshop to create my anatomic and surgical illustrations. The featured award-winning illustration in this show is an example of this current illustration technique. You can view the entire illustrated article at: https://www.optechtcs.com/article/S1522-2942(23)00101-0/fulltext
Scanned Graphite Drawing and Photoshop
23” x 18” (framed)
Client: University of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital 2023
Publication: O’Donnell, Alan P., Lehenbauer, David G. How He Did It – The James S. Tweddell Approach to Single Ventricle Palliation in Patients with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome Operative Techniques in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. 2024; 29.1: 71-115
NFS