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Visual Communications: Illustration /Animation concentration
Bachelor of Fine Arts
The Visual Communications: Illustration/Animation concentration prepares students to
create applied imagery; art that visually communicates a message or a story to an
audience. Students in this concentration will draw and paint using traditional as well as
digital media to create literal or conceptual visuals for documentation, reference or
instruction; commentary; storytelling; persuasion; and identity. Students will also learn
how to create sequential imagery for moving images, animation, TV motion graphics,
comic books, graphic novels, narrative fiction and non-fiction for young audiences, as
well as still images for advertising, packaging, magazines and any print and digital media.
Instruction is geared toward preparing students to enter a growing and varied job
market as a freelance cartoon or commercial illustrator, cartoonist, film animator, staff
commercial illustrator, or video game designer.
Goals:
• Teach students to solve communication problems visually, to partake in conceptual
message development, and to achieve personal creative excellence;
• Help students understand and respond to the cultural influences that shape various
audiences, messages, client needs, and design decisions;
• Develop proficiency in classic media as well as fluency in new technologies; and
• Ensure understanding of basic business practices as designers, including production,
project organization, and working in a team environment.
Special Features:
• Students are required to take two career electives that offer a broad experience within
the Visual Communications degree to maximize their professional experience in the
field.
• In their final year, Visual Communications students complete a comprehensive senior
project in their area of concentration and in collaboration with a professional contact
within the field. These projects and their portfolios are showcased in the College Art
Gallery in April. The exhibition is curated by the students, and offers the opportunity
for friends, family, and industry professionals to view their creative efforts on a large
scale.
• Students and graduates of the Visual Communications program routinely win regional
and national awards for their real-world design work.
• The VC Club takes annual trips to NYC during which students have the opportunity
to tour advertising and design related businesses and visit with authorities in the field.
• Internships are an integral part of the program because they provide students with
valuable professional experience as well as all-important opportunities for networking.
Internship students are placed nationally in corporate or educational art departments,
advertising agencies, design and animation studios, and publishing houses.
• Students spend their entire senior year building print and online portfolios while
conducting successful job searches with mentors in the field. These portfolios are
widely acknowledged by local industry professionals as the best in the region, making
graduates competitive on the job market regionally as well as nationally.
• Classes are small and taught in seminar/discussion/studio format by well-qualified,
full-time faculty members in Reisman Hall, with state-of-the art dual boot computer
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