Gather first-year graduate students together each week to discuss theoretical and historical readings on and related to illustration within social, political, technological and cultural contexts. Course requirements include but are not limited to research, analysis, and writing on critical, historic or theoretical issues, and seminar discussions. Occasional field trips are held.

Critical Seminar II is a continuation of Critical Seminar I that utilizes the same research, analysis and writing skills learned in Critical Seminar I to develop a semester long curated virtual exhibition of work on or related to illustration. Occasional field trips are held.

Students work on assigned and independent projects with program faculty and workshop leaders. In Studio I, students complete specific workshops and assigned projects as "reaction" pieces. The projects deal with material use and production as it relates to concepts and communication. Students will also engage with the marketplace in both semesters. These marketplace experience requires students to conceive, fabricate and sell unique artist products, learning about branding, writing creative briefs, and the reaction of the public to their original concepts and products. In Studio II, students will continue with workshops and conclude the semester with a one month long self-directed project to explore ideas leading toward their 2nd year thesis project. Guest critics provide feedback at the end of each semester. In MFA Studio I & II, students identify shared and individual vocabularies and interests.

Students will work on assigned and independent projects with Program faculty and workshop leaders. In Studio I, students complete specific workshops and assigned projects as "reaction" pieces. The projects deal with material use and production as it relates to concepts and communication. Students will also engage with the marketplace in both semesters. These marketplace experience requires students to conceive, fabricate and sell unique artist products, learning about branding, writing creative briefs, and the reaction of the public to their original concepts and products. In Studio II, students will continue with workshops and conclude the semester with a one month long self-directed project to explore ideas leading toward their 2nd year thesis project. Guest critics provide feedback at the end of each semester. In MFA Studio I & II, students will identify shared and individual vocabularies and interests.

How are good ideas made better? What processes are involved in making this happen? How do creative people transform their basic thoughts into fully realized plans? This course shows how to take ideas into the physical world, and investigates the idea-building skills and processes involved in making good ideas. This course explores how to give dimension to your ideas for print publication like posters, editorials, book covers as well as for products, window displays, exhibitions, and stage sets to name a few. The course meets in seminar format and by online visits to creators and fabricators. Class meetings, discussions, sketches and finals may develop as 1:1 critiques or as group online experiences.

Though hundreds of years old, the poster remains a potent and accessible method for artists to share their work with the public. This course explores the development of illustrating images and typography for various kinds of posters: advertising, cultural, educational and political. Students will be expected to develop concepts and an individual visual language appropriate for each assignment and intended audience. A variety of techniques for mass printing production will be explored as well as the techniques used by significant poster designers.

In recent years, the drawn image has been increasingly preferred over photography – or is used in combination with it – as a medium for documentation, reportage and journalism. Illustrators and artists have taken on the role of journalists by documenting events and experiences, offering both objective and subjective viewpoints on issues. This course is designed to teach students to position themselves as journalists, and guide them in building their drawing practice in combination with writing, as a way to develop non-fiction narratives rooted in reportage and opinion. Students will be introduced to examples from visual journalism in historical and contemporary journalistic practices, that are sequential (comics, graphic novels, animation, zines, booklets)and non-sequential (political cartoons, editorial illustrations), and will be encouraged to experiment with these formats. The course will also introduce students to basic layout design and a functional understanding of production formats in order to equip them with the skills required to compile their narratives for print or web.

Making things for children is equally rewarding and fraught with responsibility. Whether it is for purposes of learning, teaching, playing, imagining, tinkering, wearing, pondering, or observing, each image or object created needs to be understood for its place in a child's universe. In this course, students will make a 5 minute presentation of their project on the first day of classes. This project will be completed through self-directed research and fully prototyped by the end of the semester. Along with completion of the project will be a written paper demonstrating an understanding of the market place for this project and a needs assessment that shows awareness of existing makers of and markets for the project. Projects may include books, blogs, apparel, educational toys, games, decor or other child related project.

Grad Remix is a rotating set of material-based studio courses for graduate students. Topics may include Virtual Reality for Illustrators and Creating the GIF.

Engages students with being an entrepreneur and aspects of the marketplace. As illustrators in the 21st century, learning how to author one’s own work, and make decisions about manufacturing directions are important skills that enable students to be makers as well as understand the basics for running an independent creative studio. This marketplace experience requires students to conceive, fabricate and sell unique artist products appropriate to various markets such as Art Market and MoCCA, as well as basics of being an independent business owner. Students will learn about materials research, branding, writing creative briefs, licensing, wholesale vs retail choices, venues, and assessing the reaction of the public to their original concepts and products.

During the second year, the major focus of student work will be on the production of a Thesis Project. Students will have articulated the goals of their research at the close of the summer after their first year. Students will work independently, meeting with faculty and outside mentors at regular intervals, and participating in group and individual critiques with visiting artists. Their Thesis will be in the form of a body of work that, in MFA Thesis II, be formalized through a case study document that articulates their core thesis idea with words and images, and document their process. MFA Thesis students are expected to continue their engagement with marketplaces outside of class time utilizing skills and experiences learned in the Entrepreneurship course.

MFA Thesis II is a continuation of MFA Thesis I including the entrepreneurial aspects started in MFA Thesis I. Students continue developing and finalizing their Thesis Project in parallel with content in the Thesis Formats course to establish and develop the professional practices aspect of their work and create a capstone exhibition.

This course runs in parallel to MFA Thesis II and prepares students to produce the Grad Show exhibition installation, creation of the terminal degree Thesis Book, creating a website, promotional materials and contacts list appropriate to the student’s expressed interests as illustrators. Content produced in this course will directly be used as part of the final Thesis Presentation.