One commonality amongst all illustrators is the ability to draw. This course builds on principles of traditional drawing, color theory, composition, and with a focus on observational drawing using digital tablet devices. Students will expand on techniques learned at the introductory level to broaden their use of digital mark making tools. Weekly classroom exercise in the first two-thirds of the semester range from careful studies of objects and figures in space, to capturing landscape settings; with the last third engaged in exploring painting from imagination. More involved homework assignments will challenge students to adapt previously acquired drawing skills translated into the digital medium. The main computer application to be used in the course is Photoshop, with an introduction to Painter toward the end of the semester. The goal of the class is to give students a strong foundation in digital painting that can be adapted to their future professional Illustration practice.

This course fulfills the Computer Literacy requirement for Illustration Students.

Elective

This course is designed to allow students to develop high-concept, semester long projects with a focus on digital media. Group or individual projects can be based on, but not limited to, narratives, production art, interactive media, installation, concept design, or work in series. The course will be structured with a professional schedule in mind including three important critique milestones to ensure a substantial end product is delivered at the end of the semester. Special emphasis will be placed on presentation, originality, and clarity of ideas as pivotal to overall quality of this culminating project. The course is very demanding, and research intensive; special consideration with regards to time commitment should be taken before signing up.

This course fulfills the Computer Literacy requirement for Illustration Students.

Elective

This course offers an introduction to the many artistic and technical aspects of designing and producing characters, environments and props for 3D games. Among the topics we will explore are the design of effective low-polygon characters and scenes, texturing and UV mapping, simple character rigging and effective collaborative design and execution. Software used: Photoshop and Maya (PLE). Knowledge of Photoshop, basic computer skills. Some familiarity with 3D computer modeling is helpful, but not essential.

This course fulfills the Computer Literacy requirement for Illustration Students.

Elective

This course explores the impact of artificial intelligence on illustration through a blend of theoretical interrogations and practical workshops. Students will examine how AI disrupts traditional workflows and challenges established artistic practices. Key topics include: AI tools and techniques for artistic production, the displacement of artists, the environmental impact of computational processes, the role of language in illustration, and philosophical debates surrounding art and design. 

Grounded in hands-on learning, participants will engage with current AI tools and techniques ranging from AI embedded in existing software, Large Language Models, text-to-image models, and Generative Adversarial Networks. The course emphasizes developing a critical formal language to assess and promote artistic practices that exceed machine-generated outputs. By the end, students will be equipped to navigate and shape the evolving landscape of AI in illustration with informed, innovative perspectives. Students will need a laptop computer; no programming experience is required.

Elective

This course will approach visual problems within the context of creating goods for sale. Some of the projects we will work on include coming up with a brand identity, producing limited edition risograph zines, prints, and other handmade tangible goods. A guest artist will be invited to present case studies will provide real world insights into starting a small business. The work produced in the class will be sold at the ISB Spring Art Sale (happening in late April/early May) and all students in the class will participate in order to gain a hands-on understanding of the business side of illustration, including pricing, promotion, and market research. Class time will be divided between group critique and exercises introducing new techniques and design principles. The assignments will provide opportunities to apply these principles in real world scenarios.

This course fulfills the Illustration Concepts Elective requirement for Illustration Students.

Elective

This typography course is specifically designed for Illustration majors. We will study the fundamentals of typography including its history, theory and contemporary practical application. Lectures and exercises will build in complexity from the study of letter forms and the effective use of typography in single page design. A significant part of the course will be dedicated to understanding page dynamics including proportion, grid systems and color. The final project will be a poster design for a local non- profit organization. Students will use Adobe Illustrator and InDesign throughout this course; so some basic computer experience will be helpful but not absolutely necessary.

This course fulfills the Computer Literacy requirement for Illustration majors.

Elective

Design For Good sits at the intersection of illustration, graphic design, and brand identity, with a focus on non-profits and social issues. Working across print and digital media, this course will challenge students to create innovative visual communication that motivates people around a social cause. Students will learn what makes a compelling visual identity, as well as a compelling story. Throughout the course of the semester, students will create brand identities based in illustration, along with visual and typographic guidelines, and apply it to creative campaigns, packaging design, and social media platforms. Through a series of weekly & bi-weekly assignments, students will build a portfolio of pieces that tie together as a unified, illustrated brand identity. Students are encouraged to conduct their own research & interviews with non-profit organizations as part of this course. Group work in class, research, individual presentations & group critiques are an essential part of this course.

Elective

Illustrated typography and hand lettering are enjoying a wonderfully prominent place in the visual landscape of design, publishing and illustration, and have become an increasingly vital part of many illustrator's professional portfolios. What can illustrated type and it's particular characteristics provide as an alternative to established typefaces? How does an illustrator find the right balance between form and function, expression and readability? This course will provide the opportunity to employ drawing, painting, collage, printmaking, photography, digital tools and other media in the creation of unique letterforms. Students will be encouraged to experiment with non-traditional materials -including three-dimensional ones. Beginning with an introduction to basic typographic elements, terminology, and font families, students will move into creating their own unique lettering for projects including posters, book covers, and packaging. Typography will be the central focus, but students will have leeway as to the degree with which it is integrated with other illustrative imagery. Along with these projects students will create a complete unique typeface over the course of the semester. Relevant issues related to hand drawn text-type for comics, picture books, and graphic novels - including appropriateness, readability and voice, will also be covered.

Elective

The Changing Narrative will explore the challenges and possibilities of innovative storytelling structure: non-linear, interactive, multimedia. In this class, students will create inventive work at the intersection of physical and digital media, the old and the new. Students will be introduced to classic dramatic structures across cultures-Asian Kishotenketsu, Freytag's pyramid, Shakespearean tragedy-and learn fundamental digital skills via class demonstrations and exercises. Drawing from these patterns and tools, students will then seek to unveil new storytelling possibilities granted by modern technology (computer animation, touch screen interaction, hypermedia) to traditional artforms (illustration, comics, gaming). What happens when a comic's panel starts to move? Where does a story go if the reader is allowed to make decisions? Students will investigate these creative avenues and create playful, hybrid stories. Along the course of the semester, assignments will notably include short-form animated illustrations, experiments with gamebooks and cartoon strips, culminating in a final, long-form narrative project.

This course fulfills either the Illustration Concepts elective requirement OR the Computer Literacy requirement (not both) for Illustration Students.

Elective

Children have an underestimated capacity to process complex stories, and are often misunderstood as an audience. Their hungry minds depend on imagery to make sense of life and to navigate through their evolving worlds. In this course, students will explore a variety of art forms destined to educate, stimulate and delight children-books, displays, characters, games. Assignments will include works for a variety of industries including publishing, advertising, gift/novelty, and focus on a range of age groups: toddlers to teens. Students will be challenged to create opportunities for discovery that are worthy of this curious and gracious audience.

Elective

In their brevity and concentrated potency, short stories are compelling material for illustration. This course invites students to illustrate short fiction authored by a variety of voices and in several genres, while allowing for formal and conceptual development and the cultivation of distinctive visual character (or style) along the way. Reading, analysis, ideation and execution are central to course content.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $10.00 - $50.00

Elective

An all encompassing visual autobiography won't happen in five weeks but Wintersession does give us the exceptional opportunity to embrace the spirit of memoir, here brought to life as illustrations. Your personal stories undoubtedly touch on universal themes : childhood, coming of age, cultural identity, navigating the unfamiliar, overcoming obstacles, among countless others. We'll use journals to recollect the past and examine the present as part of the creative process - transforming raw material into reworked sketches that ultimately become polished illustrations with you at their center.

Elective

This course is meant to give students an understanding of the process of serigraphy. Using the basic T-shirt as the format, emphasis will be on creating and developing a concept: learning and implementing the techniques of silk-screen in order to produce wearable illustration. The course will also include historical and contemporary issues on the phenomenon of the printed shirt, including uses ranging from social protest to advertising and the use of the body as a substrate for images. A variety of techniques will explore everything from simple handmade stencils to the use of photo/computer technology to create individual designs. Assignments will be given through the developmental phase, and in-class critiques will play an important role in determining the final product. By the end of the semester, students will also investigate the business/commercial side of silk-screening, including at-home studio setup, recordkeeping and selling the product.

Elective

For half a millennium, posters (or broadsides as they were called) have attracted the attention and sparked the imagination of viewers through much of the world. The best posters are both visually striking and communicative. Designs usually incorporate image and text; but are often effective with either text or image alone. In this class we will learn the essentials of silkscreen printing in the context of studying a bit of the history of serigraph poster design: from historic fine artists such as Toulouse-Lautrec and Alphonse Mucha, to more contemporary illustrators like Seymour Chwast and Shephard Fairey. Students will be designing and printing several editions, experimenting with hand- drawn and digitally produced art and typography. The nature of the silk-screened image allows for investigation of various color palettes or structures for a single image. No printmaking or digital experience required.

Elective

This course is intended to help students design with color through the use of acrylics, watercolor, mixed media and a medium of their choice including digital. We will explore ways of creating harmony, contrast, hierarchy, focus, color as an element of expression, for composition and for developing an illusion of space in a work of art. By developing an understanding of opacity, transparency, temperature, value, complementary relationships, saturation and how all work differently depending on the medium, students will gain an understanding of how to create delicious color without fear. Students will be expected to experiment with various color grounds as well as a variety of limited palettes. Assignments will be working from models in costume, include color charts, color studies and culminate in a final series of the students choice.

Elective

This course is designed to teach the student about contemporary use of Illustration media and how to use and combine them creatively, safely and effectively. Students will acquire the skills and confidence to evaluate new mediums and techniques on an ongoing basis with minimal expense and difficulty through the use of limited palettes. Mediums covered will include: acrylics, gouache, casein, watercolor, markers, crayons (wax and water-soluble), colored pencil, scratchboard, ink, oil (for illustration), and associated tools, palettes, and surfaces.

Elective

With the wave of new technology, it's easy to forget what we can do with our hands, putting pencil to paper and utilizing traditional materials. There is no question that digital tools are integral to the illustrator, but in addition to mastering the technical functions of a program and using it directly to create images, they can open up new possibilities in what we already do with traditional materials. This course will create a dialogue between the handmade and the digital through in class exercises combining age old techniques, including linocut, collage, drawing/painting, with modern tools such as the risograph and photoshop. We will explore different ways digital methods can help with workflow and use the computer to facilitate the steps involved in creating an illustration. This course will challenge students to think beyond the realm of digital brushes and filters, with projects touching on the ways image making can be applied in the real world of design, advertising and publishing.

This course fulfills the Illustration Computer Literacy requirement for Illustration Students.

Elective

Imagine stepping into a world where every surface tells a story - whether it's the intricate patterns on vintage china, the bold prints on a modern fabric, or the soothing design on a child’s bedroom wall. Textiles, wallpaper, housewares, paper goods and apparel are a handful of the items we see on a daily basis that are adorned with surface design,  but how can illustrators use narrative to uniquely breathe life into everyday objects? This course covers the narrative, creative, and technical aspects of surface design as it relates to developing patterns and design collections for a wide range of products and markets. Traditional and contemporary print and pattern styles will be explored, and students will gain an understanding of the variety of techniques and applications for surface designers. Business concepts will be addressed, including licensing of designs and buyouts, building a surface design portfolio, creating colorways & collections, and designing a personal pitch book.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $50.00 - $200.00

Elective

Nothing creates light and translucency like the combination of watercolor and gouache. It's quickness of application and short drying time have made it a go to medium for most children book illustrators as well as editorial and spot illustration image makers. This course will provide the student with the opportunity to explore a variety of watercolor and gouache techniques while investigating how the medium can be used to successfully communicate ideas and evoke a range of feelings. The practice of making several preliminary compositional and value studies will be emphasized. By learning how to predict where the water and pigment will go in variety of circumstances, the students will learn how to apply the paint with confidence without fussing or losing the light that comes from the paper itself. The class assignments revolve around a wide range of subject matter to enable students to develop a personal visual vocabulary with the media. Later in the course students will create their own individual projects.

Elective

This course introduces students to a variety of pen and scratchboard styles through a series of assignments which include drawing from life and executing well-defined illustrative problems. A variety of pen tips and their effect on pen handling are explored. Other aspects of pen drawing to be considered: Intelligent design of page with subject, the compositional impact of the arrangement of tone, and the sensitive selection of appropriate pen and scratchboard styles for a given problem.

Elective