The Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration program seeks to prepare students in the most current expressions of the illustrative arts. With a developed background in visual design and fine arts, illustrators may direct their pursuits and careers in various directions. Possible career paths include book and magazine publishing, advertising, company literature, packaging, television, commercial and feature film industries. The program seeks to provide students with critical thinking skills and strategies necessary to conceptualize and articulate ideas with appropriate media and to organize compositions to greater enhance communication. Studio and lecture courses expose students to the history and contemporary practice of illustration.

Students will be challenged to demonstrate a broad understanding of issues in relation to cognitive, social, cultural, technological, and economic contexts.

As a result of successfully completing program requirements, students should be able to:

• communicate an idea or a theory to an audience in a clear, dynamic manner based on informed decisions;
• apply materials, techniques, technology, and concepts to the vocabulary/terminology relative to digital and traditional illustration in a professional and advanced capacity;
• demonstrate an advanced proficiency in the creation and development of effective images;
• demonstrate skills and knowledge of digital/traditional techniques and vocabulary;
• demonstrate scholarship of illustration theories and practices from an historical perspective with a specialized knowledge of visual communications; and
• present a succinct, cohesive, critically edited and interpreted body of work.

A grade of C or better is required in all major coursework, and a GPA of 3.0 or higher is required in the major for BFA candidates.