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Looking down at a watercolor painting on a table with people around the table.

Every illustrator is a storyteller at heart. That’s why the MassArt Illustration program emphasizes understanding character development and narrative techniques.

Through a multidisciplinary approach, the Illustration program teaches BFA students to master the art of visual storytelling. Guided by professionals from a range of fields, you will develop strong visual communication skills through drawing and painting, learning to translate ideas and narratives into images for reproduction across analogue, digital, time-based, and interactive media. By graduation, Illustration majors produce a body of work that expresses their personal voice and showcases their artistic and storytelling abilities, preparing them for success in the professional world of illustration art.

BFA
Research and develop ideas, characters, and settings to enrich your illustrations and tell impactful stories.
Faculty
As educators and working artists, MassArt Illustration faculty offer students insight into the demands of the profession.
Featured Work
Get inspired by the extraordinary design work being produced by our Illustration students, faculty, and alumni.
Senior Thesis & Portfolio Night
Explore MassArt’s Illustration events– Senior Thesis exhibitions, Portfolio Night, lectures, and opportunities for networking and career development.
Studios & Computer Labs
Illustration students have access to a design resource room, advanced computer classrooms, and majors studio spaces.
News & Features
Natalie Morris, a MassArt student, smiles in an art-filled workspace. With curly hair, hoop earrings, and tattoos of a spiderweb and skull with a bow, her student story shines. MassArt Giving Tuesday is in the corner.

Making Loving Art: MassArt Student Natalie Morris Shares Her Story

Natalie Morris BFA ‘26 Illustration
  • Giving
  • Student
  • Illustration
  • Institutional Advancement
A woman smiles beside a vibrant Kwanzaa 2024 Forever USA postage stamp designed by Ekua Holmes, featuring stylized figures dancing and playing drums. An American flag and Smithsonian signage appear in the background, celebrating the lasting impact of culture.

Be Ready for Your Miracle: The Lasting Impact of MassArt Alumna Ekua Holmes

Ekua Holmes CACP Associate Director & sparc! the ArtMobile Director, Center for Art and Community Partnerships
  • Alumni
  • Staff
  • Alumni Relations
  • Center for Art and Community Partnerships
  • Illustration
A young woman with long hair gazes thoughtfully to the side, holding her hands near her face. She has white nail polish, rings, and wears bows on her fingers—an evocative illustration lit with purple and blue hues.

Pushing Visual Boundaries as an Illustrator

Abby Ouellette BFA ’19
  • Alumni
  • Alumni Relations
  • Illustration
Natalie Morris, a MassArt student, smiles in an art-filled workspace. With curly hair, hoop earrings, and tattoos of a spiderweb and skull with a bow, her student story shines. MassArt Giving Tuesday is in the corner.
Natalie Morris BFA ‘26 Illustration
A woman smiles beside a vibrant Kwanzaa 2024 Forever USA postage stamp designed by Ekua Holmes, featuring stylized figures dancing and playing drums. An American flag and Smithsonian signage appear in the background, celebrating the lasting impact of culture.
Ekua Holmes CACP Associate Director & sparc! the ArtMobile Director, Center for Art and Community Partnerships
A young woman with long hair gazes thoughtfully to the side, holding her hands near her face. She has white nail polish, rings, and wears bows on her fingers—an evocative illustration lit with purple and blue hues.
Abby Ouellette BFA ’19

The Joy of Illustration featuring MassArt student Olivia Herlihy ’22.
Filmed by Piyu Somani ’23 MFA Film/Video.
Directed and edited by Daisy St. Sauveur ’19 BFA Printmaking.

Featured Faculty

Malgorzata (Margot) Zurakowska

Chair, Illustration

Scott Bakal

Professor, Illustration

Wesley Bedrosian

Professor, Illustration

Irena Roman

Professor, Illustration

Lisa Kennedy

Associate Professor, Illustration

Robert Maloney

Associate Professor, Illustration
View All Faculty
18 UNIQUE UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS. A WORLD OF OPPORTUNITY.
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