As an Illustration student at Massart, you will learn how to create powerful images that effectively communicate clear ideas and unforgettable stories. Your power as an illustrator will come directly from your foundational ability to draw from observation – how to put on the page what you see in the world. As your drawing skills deepen, you’ll also learn how to produce images in a range of media, including digital tools.
But illustrators aren’t just visual artists – they are storytellers at heart, something we understand at MassArt. That’s why Illustration majors also focus on the building blocks of storytelling – character development, narrative techniques, and scene setting. They dig into research to develop original ideas that drive their projects forward.
MassArt Illustration faculty are an incredible resource for our Illustration students. All faculty either actively freelance as illustrators or run their own illustration firms. Deeply invested in their students’ success, Illustration faculty offer significant insight into the demands of the professional landscape for illustration.
Meet our FacultyStudent coursework culminates in a thesis project, consisting of a body of images that reflect the student’s emerging style and personal point of view. Students exhibit this work and present their portfolio to invited professionals from publishing, editorial, advertising, institutional, and corporate markets. When they graduate, Illustration students can confidently begin their professional lives with the skills and experiences needed to succeed.
Graduates of the Illustration BFA program have been hired by brands, studios, companies, and organizations such as the Discovery Channel, New Balance, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Time Inc., PUMA, Hasbro, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Boston Children’s Museum, Attleboro Art Museum, Sony Pictures Imageworks, and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.
Students who complete the Illustration BFA program are expected to be able to demonstrate the following learning outcomes.
Students learn the production skills needed to become a professional animator, which include technical proficiency, organizational structures, and ongoing development of self-education, or learning how to learn.
Students develop a creative process that involves risk-taking, intuition, collaboration, originality and the art of revision as it applies to animation.
Students engage in extensive critiques of various methods as an integral part of learning through engaged participation, reflection, and subsequent action.
Students situate their studio practice in the historical, social and cultural contexts within and surrounding animation.
Watercolor Illustration class with Irena Roman. Photo: Tony Luong.
