Stipple Spot Illustration | Medical and Historical

This week, I went way back into the vaults to find a series of drawings I created for a pharmaceutical company’s newsletter as a stipple spot illustration series. I produced these back in the late ’80’s or early ’90’s, after quitting my day job at the Wall Street Journal.The topic of the series is Diabetes. The illustrations offer a historical timeline of the evolution of our understanding of the disease.I had to dream up a hieroglyphic interpretation to indicate an ancient Egyptian context.I liked this one — the word Diabetes is from the Greek. The word means “hollow tube”, or literally "a passer through; a siphon." with the intended meaning "excessive discharge of urine”.The sugar connection, apparently.Like the ship, I am in deep here. I guess we’re drawing conclusions from naval diets… is there a doctor in the house?More on diet…Seems to explain the source of the malady, complements of modern science.This rather chilling spot illustration indicates the prescription. I don’t think I would be as brave as the lad portrayed!Finally, we arrive at the bottom line; the lifeline for many sufferers.Here is a closeup of the Greek Illustration…In closing, I will say that, stylistically, I no longer use the horizontal-line backdrop texture, as it never translates well onto the screens we are accustomed to. That was then, and this is now!