一位医生的超写实人体器官插画：每一门职业都是艺术 | Hyper-realistic anatomical paintings

Gastrointestinal surgeon Zhou Shuyang became an online celebrity for his medical illustrations thanks to the super-realistic heart he drew in February last year.

2017年2月，胃肠外科医生周舒扬画的一颗超写实的心脏被媒体发现，他从此成为网红医学插画师。

Zhou loved painting before studying to become a doctor. However, the medical illustration thing is a total "byproduct." 

在成为医生之前，周舒扬一直是个绘画爱好者，只不过因为学业的关系没有继续。踏入医学插画的领域则纯属偶然。

"Back in graduate school, a senior school mate had improved a surgical method and was looking for some illustrator to help him explain it in pictures. As he couldn't find the perfect pictures to go with his original concepts, I went to the bookstores for the published illustrations, only to get more confused by their uneven qualities in the domestic market. So I decided to try it myself," he said.

“研究生的时候，一个师兄改良了一个术式，他需要来找人画原创的插画来说明这个手术的方式。因为这个是原创的，所以很难在网上找到相对应的图片。于是我去书店去看了一下前辈们画的画，发现国内这个市场相对比较乱，大家画的水平参差不齐。我就觉得我可以尝试一下。”

Unexpectedly, his superb graphic illustrations impressed netizens, and the detailed depictions of the human organs and surgical methods were generally applauded by his medical peers. 

一试不打紧，他高超的绘画技术很快折服了众多网友。而对各种器官结构和手术方式的细致描绘，则受到医学界同行的广泛称赞。

As a kind of applied art, medical illustration should be scientifically accurate. It is popular internationally, but most illustrators in the field don't have a medical background. "Many of them take the specimens for references and make modifications on their own. So the pictures can look very different from the real tissues and organs clinically," Zhou explained. 

作为一种应用美术，医学插画最重要的是科学性。虽然国内外一直存在医学插画，但大部分从业者并没有医学背景。“他们很多是通过标本绘制的，还有一些是自己改良的模式图。所以这些图和临床上真实的组织和器官，区别还是挺大的。”周舒扬说。

For instance, for his first operation as a medical student, he couldn't identify the organs in the book. "As a clinical doctor, I can see, touch and feel the real organs every day. I'm capable of showing their features as real as possible to those medical students and young doctors."

他学生时代初次上手术台的时候，就完全找不到解剖图对应的器官。“我自己作为一线的临床医生，每天能够看到、摸到和感受到真实的脏器，所以我想把它们相对真实地还原给医学生和年轻的医生。”

The continuous research and practice make Zhou's artworks not only realistic, but also beautiful and lifelike, as he adds his own aesthetic flourishes. The pork belly he drew was so real that it confused his three cats.

经过不断地摸索和练习，周舒扬画的人体器官不仅写实，还强调它们漂亮水灵的质感。这是他自己在其中投入的审美需求。他画的五花肉也让人垂涎三尺，甚至能骗过他家里的三只猫。

That being said, do we really need realistic illustrations, when we already have such advanced photographic technologies? "Realistic as they are, the illustrations are used to explain things, so we usually clear out the unnecessary elements, such as blood and connective tissues," explained Zhou. "Moreover, your vision during an operation is very limited. The pictures could only show parts of the organ, while the illustrations must reveal the whole thing. Sometimes, you have to draw the inner structures."

不过，许多人觉得，现在照相技术这么发达，写实插画的存在又有什么意义？“因为插画主要是为了说明问题，所以哪怕是超写实的东西，我们也会将一些不需要的元素净化掉，比如说血迹，结缔组织等等。”周舒扬解释说，“而且手术视野十分有限，照片能拍到的器官只是一个局部。插画必须要把一个局部的视野转化成全局的视野，有的时候为了说明问题还要把内部结构也画出来。”

Zhou hopes that his illustrations can help medical students as well as help popularize science, so that more people can learn medical knowledge in a visual and vivid way. "The medical illustration is more like a responsibility to me," he said. Perhaps, his artworks can truly help improve the communication between doctors and patients.

周舒扬希望，自己的插画不仅能服务于医学生，还能服务于科普，让更多普通人能够生动形象地了解医学知识。“现在，医学插画对我来说更多的是一种责任。”他说。也许，他的插画，今后能在实际临床工作中，帮助医生和患者更好地沟通。

Director: Liu Yangyang

Editor: Ma Mingyuan, Gao Xingzi

Filmed by: Zhang Hao

Designer: Qu Bo

Article Written by: Zhu Siqi

Copy Editor: Nadim Diab (video)

Producer：Wen Yaru

Chief Editor: Wang Dongmei (video)

Supervisor：Pang Xinhua

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