THE ART BEHIND THE SCIENCE
ARTIST AND ILLUSTRATOR BAY SONG LIN IS DRIVEN BY A PASSION TO GIVE LIFE TO THE DEAD.
Few people can claim to do what Song Lin does on a daily basis – and fewer still the people who have been at it for as long as she has done.
GIFTED FROM THE START
She is the long-time in-house illustrator at the Department of Anatomy, where she draws detailed pictures of human anatomical structures. A regular day for Song Lin is mostly spent on the computer, or at times, in the Anatomy Museum. Using Adobe Flash or Photoshop, she digitally creates, or enhances and adds effects to photographs of body parts. Some of these graphics illustrate the different layers of skin and blood vessels that lie beneath the flesh. Others are drag and drop slides that students use in interactive learning. These animations give life to the words in textbooks, and help illustrate the finer workings of the body and its systems, such as how arteries, veins and muscles are intertwined.
Work is labour intensive, like the animation of a foetus developing in the womb (one of many parallel projects) that took her 3 – 4 months to create – almost one-third the gestational duration of a baby. Creating muscles is also a tricky and arduous process. When specimens are not available, Song Lin has to create them from scratch digitally. That’s when Gray’s Anatomy comes in handy. “I probably pore over the pages in the textbook more times than medical students!” the mother of a 15-year-old boy chuckles.
The Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts alumna began doodling the moment she learnt to hold a pencil. She went on to pursue formal training in graphic design and worked in publications and website development before joining the Department of Anatomy in 2002.
Her maiden visit to the Kent Ridge campus included a visit to the then-Anatomy Hall where she was shown a cadaver on a trolley. Her prospective employers wanted to be sure she wasn’t uncomfortable working with human remains, she recollected. Far from it. Instead, she views the department’s Silent Mentors (as the donated bodies are referred to by staff and students) as key teachers who unselfishly help students to understand the masterpiece that is the human body.
A KEEN STUDENT
Through her work, Song Lin believes she’s helping students to learn better. “It’s not just about drawing; I get to learn also.” Her passion is tangible as she shares about visits to the Anatomy museum to
study specimens and hours poring over Atlases of Anatomy, simply because she would not know how to draw these body parts if she does not read up. She also works closely with the Department’s professors to ensure that the illustrations are done accurately.
A colour pencil drawing of the old Anatomy hall at Sepoy Lines
Song Lin at work
A portrait of Song Lin’s son, John, rendered via colour pencils
AN ARTIST AT HEART
In her spare time, Song Lin also enjoys drawing and spending time with her husband, an art teacher, and her son, John. She shows us a portrait of John done with colour pencils, and one of tree roots, one of her favourites to draw because of its resemblance to blood vessels (see Contents page). The avid artist is most comfortable with pencil and paper. Earlier this year, she did a drawing of the early medical school facility at Sepoy Lines. The work was presented to Health Minister Gan Kim Yong at the opening of the Human Anatomy Teaching Facility in April. The late Chua Ek Kay is her favourite Singaporean artist and his mural at the Clarke Quay MRT station is one of her favourites. “His style is natural and unrestrained, and his strokes are very confident. I admire those whose styles are ‘free’, like the Impressionist style,” she says. When it comes to style, Song Lin’s departmental colleagues and generations of students who have pored over her illustrations would agree that she’s in her own league.