3D Medical Illustrations: Cancer, Bacteria, & Blood Cells

A couple of months ago we were doing medical illustrations at work. I always see cool 3d illustrations of cells, viruses, diseases etc. while browsing sites like Web MD or health magazines and I thought I would give it a try. I am very happy with the results. Below are three 3d illustrations. The first one is a mix of cancer and bacteria cells, the second is an illustration of what red blood cells look like floating/ flying through veins, and the third is bacteria on its own. The last image is a collage of some of the assets I created to make the compositions. I always thought that these kind of illustrations would be very hard to create but with a little bit of thought and planning it actually was not too difficult. I created the assets individually in 3ds Max then composited and added some blur and filter passes to give them a realistic feel in Photoshop. My tip for anyone thinking of attempting illustrations like this, or for any other subject matter, is to never be intimidated by the complexity of the idea. If you plan carefully and be thoughtful in the development process then you can make the hardest projects look effortless.