by Liz Daube
Staff Writer
Jason Rohack knows how to suffer for his art. During his medical illustration training, he didn’t just sketch the human form: He carved people up and took a look inside.
Dissecting cadavers is just one of the science and anatomy skills required in the five medical illustration programs in the United States. Rohack recently started putting those skills to use in his new position at Legal Art Works, Inc., a Jacksonville graphics company that creates visual exhibits for use in trials. The company also added John Le Baron, who does 3-D animation, to their staff.
Jeff Davis, president of Legal Art Works, said he plans to add a few more people to the staff in coming months. He said the company is receiving requests from around the country for its niche services. Legal Art Works does a variety of graphics for trial use, but they specialize in images that personal injury attorneys use to show how a medical problem affects a client.
“Lawyers are starting to realize their jurors have grown up watching this sort of thing. That’s what they relate to,” said Davis, explaining that the images Legal Art Works creates are often similar to the graphics used on “CSI” and other criminal investigation shows. “Eighteen hours of explaining might not have the same effect as 15 seconds of animation.”
Before the legal-medical graphics field developed, Davis said attorneys would have had to contact animators and illustrators at film studios like Pixar for help – and at a huge cost. Legal Art Works isn’t the first business of its kind, but it is the only legal-medical graphic business in Jacksonville. The local personal injury firms certainly help business, Davis said, but he wants to serve law firms around the country.
“With today’s technology, location is not as big a factor,” said Davis.
When interviewing people for positions, Davis said he received applications from people who had worked on high-profile projects like “The Chronicles of Narnia” film. Rohack said finding work in medical illustration can be tough because it’s such a small field.
Medical illustrators develop an oddly specific kind of knowledge, Davis said. They’ve studied anatomy inside and out and taken medical classes, yet they could never offer medical advice.
“I could read an MRI,” said Davis. “But if you have a fever, I’d tell you to go to Walgreens.”
Both Rohack and Le Baron said their interest in the legal-medical graphics field came from a love of art and creativity. Rohack got involved in medical illustration because he enjoyed drawing the human form, but he also wanted to be able to earn a living from his art.
“You make money sooner with this than in galleries,” said Rohack.
Le Baron has less medical knowledge than Davis and Rohack, but he’s had a variety of 3-D animation experience in advertising and computer programs. While Rohack came from New York state to work at Legal Art Works, Le Baron was living in Orlando and already familiar with the Jacksonville area, having grown up in Mandarin.
“I was happy to come home,” said Le Baron, who used to work in Costa Rica, where he did some hands-on animation work for a canned chicken product. He actually brought his own chicken in to be filmed and ultimately animated for a commercial.
The realistic clip of the 3-D animated chicken probably helped him land the Legal Art Works position, Le Baron said. Unfortunately, he parted ways with his feathered friend in Costa Rica. (The chicken caught a cold and passed away and it was not harmed in the making of the commercial, however).
The Legal Art Works team does just about everything on their computers, from drawing (with an electronic pen and pad) to coloring an X-ray. They have some props, though: skeletons and a boxed skull reside in the office to give the occasional physical perspective.
As the business grows, Davis said they’ll need to find a larger location than their Laura Street office can provide. He added that proof of their expanding demand doesn’t just lie in an increased number of projects, but in their online search engine status.
“We’re on the first page of Google when you type ‘legal exhibits,’ “ said Davis. “It almost brought a tear to my eye.”