Master’s Program

The two-year Illustration MFA program looks to the future of the field by focusing on critical perspectives, artistic voice and visual literacy in the public realm. Aimed toward visual communicators with significant experience, the curriculum emphasizes reflection on the illustrator’s role as an influential social actor, both within the profession and in the world.

Curriculum

Illustration MFA students move through the two-year curriculum by taking on increasingly complex projects oriented around critical issues in illustration theory and practice. Through required seminars and studios, as well as additional studies in art and design and elective courses across the college, you will discover several opportunities for focused, personally meaningful study.

Throughout the program, you learn how to turn illustration practice to the good of society and the transformation of the field. The experience culminates in a final thesis project that builds on preceding studio and seminar work encompassing ideas, methods and modes of expression that suit personal goals as a socially engaged artist and communicator.

View the curriculum

Learning outcomes

Graduates are prepared to:

  • envision, initiate and bring to completion artistic projects that communicate socially relevant ideas in appropriately provocative or nuanced ways.
  • confidently experiment with materials, media, complex information and modes of making in order to enhance one’s work as a visual communicator.
  • become a competent and sensitive collaborator who seeks out experts, other artists and designers or community contributors to advance ideas and to complete art and design projects.
  • develop skills in focused research and strengthen the ability to engage deeply with text.
  • assume active leadership roles in artistic practice and/or higher education, continuing the department’s commitment to art as a powerful instrument of civic engagement.

Graduate student work

a painting of people and humanoid animals in an outdoor setting of wheat and purple flowers
Student work by Illustration graduate alum Jenine Bressner of a person with purple hair and blue tights reading by a tree in a landscape with red flowers.
Student work by Illustration graduate student Maren Curtis of a large group of people mingling with each other in black and white.
a textile made from several patches that include messages lettered in many colors
Student work by Illustration graduate alum Simone Nemes of a yellow creature with a pink bow wearing a blue wrap with a pink frill on top of a pedestal.
Student work by Illustration graduate alum Ji Zou of a blue scene with a person draped in something wet and red.
a vibrant blue-and-white orb glows against a black backdrop
a white fabric embroidery featuring the outline of a nude woman eating a heart
an illustration featuring a black-and-white rendering of storefronts below a green subway overpass
Student work by Illustration graduate student Yuanhui Li of an abstract scene with green items producing steam that forms jumbled characters in pink tones..

Illustration MFA values

Informed by RISD’s overall mission and values, the Illustration MFA is founded on a set of core beliefs about illustration practice and advanced study in the field. Program faculty proactively promote the following values through teaching, mentorship and practice, within studio and classroom spaces that are safe, inclusive and positive for all students.

We believe that:

  • the development of personal vision and approaches to practice empower illustrators to engage with critical social issues and contribute to the greater good.
  • embracing experimental and culturally diverse methods equips illustrators to push the field in positive new directions.
  • focused scholarship and the artist’s ability to brave uncertainty are key to true experimentation and the production of new knowledge.
  • meaningful engagement with modes of publication and emerging and evolving technologies demands reflection on the interests they serve and their impact across diverse populations.
  • studio practice should advance principles of social equity and inclusion, environmental justice, and equal access to resources and opportunities.

Inspiring community

As an Illustration MFA candidate, you are joined by fellow students who hold a BFA or BA in illustration or a related studio discipline, or a BA/BS in a humanities or social science field supported by a strong visual portfolio. Degree candidates are strong writers and critical thinkers, and typically have at least two years of active practice in visual communication, with demonstrable professional and/or practical experience beyond the undergraduate degree.

Students in the program are creatively curious, eager to experiment and interested in research-based practices. They share in common a passion for social justice and/or environmental sustainability and a desire to pursue related goals through creative practice, public partnerships and professional engagement.

Learning environment

Illustration majors work in studios with a mix of communal areas and individual workstations, and enjoy access to an array of digital illustration tools on campus, including drawing tablets, scanners and computers well equipped with software for visual artists. Additionally, the department holds a variety of traditional printmaking equipment that allows majors to explore Risograph, screen printing, woodcut, linocut, monotype and other ways of reproducing work by hand.

The center of activity for graduate students and faculty in Illustration is the Weybosset Street Studio. The Illustration Studies Building (ISB)—the department’s primary home—boasts a well-equipped wood shop open to all majors, as well as the ISB Gallery, a campus exhibition space for celebrating figurative art and illustration.

As a RISD graduate student, you also enjoy the benefits of several interdisciplinary labs and maker spaces, the RISD Museum and a robust calendar of exhibitions and events, among other resources.

Thesis project

As a culmination of the Illustration MFA program, the thesis project challenges you to design and craft a significant, topically focused body of work. You may choose creative formats and media according to your own interests, but you must present work you produce for your thesis project for final critique by a thesis committee of your own choosing. You may publish via digital platforms (e.g. podcasts, websites, installations etc.) when appropriate to the project.

In addition to producing your thesis, you and your peers in the program take part in a seminar focused on critical reflection and documentation. The seminar supports the creation of a written thesis that accompanies your final body of work.

Finally, all students who complete the MFA thesis participate in RISD’s annual graduate thesis exhibition of work by students graduating from the college’s advanced degree programs.

Want a closer look? Discover our graduate admissions events.

Hosted each fall by the Admissions team, our in-person and online events give you an excellent intro to RISD graduate programs, life in Providence, how to apply and more.

See the full event schedule

Application requirements

learn more about applying