Art Degrees Online

Illustration is an art form. It’s a demanding medium of expression and communication. CVA illustration majors direct their creative intentions within a demanding curriculum that prepares them for professional practice and a lifetime of art making.

A sequence of six successive courses defines the illustration core curriculum. A three-semester immersion in digital, interactive and new media technology compliment these offerings and bring illustration majors up to speed with an ever-changing profession. Each illustration course builds on the skills and knowledge developed in its predecessor.

After completing their foundation year, illustration majors begin a specialized study of the basics. Emphasis is placed on improving drawing skills and exploring a variety of traditional and digital media. Process is stressed and students are challenged to find creative solutions to problems involving space, medium and content.

Advanced, digital and applied illustration courses encourage students to experiment in many disciplines and to become innovators with their own art making. They explore the connections between illustration and graphic design, typography and printmaking, painting and photography, and personal expression.

A studio practicum, internship opportunities, and a course in professional practice augment the curriculum. Combined with liberal arts coursework in illustration history, art history, aesthetics, math, humanities, and the natural and social sciences, these courses anticipate a final year capstone experience that includes a demanding studio and seminar thesis and professional portfolio development.

Students can customize advanced course content and the capstone experience to reflect their interest in a variety of creative mediums, among others, that include cartooning and character development, graphic novels, merchandising, animation, and editorial, publication, and book illustration.

Graphic design at CVA embraces traditional and new media practice, theory, and technology in the pursuit of crystal clear information management. Students express their conceptual talents within a rigorous curriculum that emphasizes typography, information architecture, and cutting edge interactivity.

Students begin by mastering the foundations that define all higher education and professional graphic design. These classes prepare students for a unique three-course immersion in the fine art and craft of typography and three courses in applied graphic design practice. Computer hardware and software proficiency training wraps around these classes and progresses through a separate five-course sequence of study and practice in new and emerging digital mediums including interactive usability.

A studio practicum, internship opportunities, and a course in professional practice augment the curriculum. Combined with liberal arts coursework in graphic design history, art history, aesthetics, math, humanities, and the natural and social sciences, these courses anticipate a final year capstone experience that includes a demanding studio and seminar thesis and professional portfolio development.

All graphic design course content is cumulative and successive. Each class builds on the strengths and skills developed in its predecessor. Early sequential courses are structured to stress advanced craft, theory, process, and technical skills designed to ensure refined success in a student’s advanced application-based project work. Advanced courses and the capstone experience may be customized to reflect individual interests, among others, in package design, publication design, advertising, signage and exhibition design, new media, web and interactivity, motion graphics, and corporate branding identity.