Foundation Studies (FOUN)

Whether natural born creators or just beginning to explore their creative side, this course challenges students to think differently, dream bigger, and bring their unique vision to life. Students develop creative thinking skills through organizational methods and iterative stages of design. Elements of design and principles of organization are integrated into iterative design processes, with a focus on creative thinking, ideation, and problem-solving. This course launches the development of the first-year portfolio which documents their journey toward becoming a creative professional.

From quick sketches to detailed drawings, students build the essential skills that creative professionals use daily. In this course, students develop perceptual drawing skills from direct observation, emphasizing techniques for accurately sighting, measuring, and applying theories of perspective. Through hands-on exercises, students learn to capture proportions and spatial relationships, building the foundation to quickly sketch and visually communicate ideas with clarity and confidence. Students showcase their expertise through professional-level critiques, presentations, and their expanding first-year portfolio.

Students experiment with color as a powerful design element, from how it shapes what people see and feel, to its influence on emotion and decision making. Through hands-on exercises, research, and creative exploration, students move from traditional color theory to digital applications, learning to leverage color for impactful design solutions. Research and analysis deepen students' understanding of color phenomena across diverse fields, enhancing their ability to use color purposefully and expressively. This color-driven work becomes the next essential component in the first-year portfolio.

Students harness collective creativity and diverse perspectives to achieve innovative solutions for real-world design challenges. Research informs students’ work as they investigate diverse case studies, evaluate client needs, and engage in collaborative problem-solving. Creative solutions for specific design problems move between mediums and modalities to maximize the creative potential. At the culmination of this course, students refine and finalize their first-year portfolio in alignment with professional expectations.

In this course, students learn advanced drawing strategies to create the illusion of light, form, and space. Students further develop the ability to draw from direct observation, strengthening their perceptual, ideation, and sketching skills. Students refine their use of black-and-white media and apply color with intentionality to create compelling compositions.

From rapid sketch to detailed drawing, the sketchbook provides insight into the skills and critical processes of artists and designers. In this course, students enhance their sketching skills, as well as capture research, ideation, and conceptualization processes through the cultivation of professional sketchbook practices.

This course focuses on the understanding and depiction of the human figure through drawing. Students build skills in gesture drawing to portray action, movement, and range of motion. Studies of live draped and undraped models, anatomical resources, and gestural modeling of the figure in motion reveal how underlying skeletal and muscular structures affect the surface of the figure. Foundational drawing skills are refined using a variety of drawing media and compositional techniques.

This course investigates a fundamental understanding of 3D form and space through material exploration, design, and fabrication. Creative problem-solving strategies, including research, idea generation, drawings, and models, are used to develop three-dimensional forms. Students create and place three-dimensional forms in context to their surroundings, understanding the relationship to its environment. Students explore a variety of analog and digital techniques throughout the creative process that encourage innovative design solutions.

Building on observational drawing skills, students learn to depict forms and environments using linear perspective techniques and paraline drawing systems, including axonometric and oblique projections. Working from both observation and design-driven invention, students manipulate basic geometric forms into believable objects and environments. Research, experimentation, and application of various analog drawing techniques result in considered compositions that communicate thoughtful concepts and content, integrating hand lettering according to professional standards.

Students learn the fundamentals of the storyboarding process, from mark-ups to presentation boards. In this story-first approach, students use drawing and sketching to design sequences through the use of blocking and staging, framing heights, camera angles, and diagrammatic movement. Students work independently and collaboratively to develop and present work aligned with industry practices. Effective communication is enhanced through analysis, application, critiques, and discussions.

This course is an introduction to the fundamental elements and principles of time-based design, exploring sequential structures, storytelling, and composition in time, across all creative fields. Students will conceptualize and design cohesive approaches for narrative and non-narrative forms that unfold over time, including live and recorded performances, interactive and experiential media, video, sound, and branded content. Students develop their work from previsualization through production and postproduction to engage in the creative process.

Students explore the dynamic world of environment design with this comprehensive course to create their immersive narrative environments. This course equips students with the physical and digital techniques to create immersive and cohesive environments for both real and imagined spaces. Through a blend of theoretical research and practical application, students explore landscapes, cultures, and historical perspectives to inspire their designs.

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Exciting content coming soon!

This course builds on working from direct observation to study the complexities and dynamics inherent in the human form. The conceptual and expressive potential of the figure is explored through research to enhance an understanding of structure, anatomy, and form, both in static and active poses. Both traditional and nontraditional materials, methods and surfaces are used to effectively convey visual ideas.

In this course, students learn to draw the human head and discover the art of portraiture. Through direct observation and hands-on exercises, students learn to capture proportions, spatial relationships, and a likeness to the model. Students further develop anatomical knowledge understanding the bony landmarks and muscles of the head building the foundation to sketch, draw, and translate ideas with clarity and confidence. Students showcase their expertise through professional-level critiques, presentations, and portfolios.

Students develop a language to explore the expressive and conceptual skills of drawing landscapes and built environments. In this course, students enhance their freehand drawing abilities by employing a variety of media to process, record, and interpret urban and natural landscapes and built environments. From direct observation and imagination students learn to capture proportions and spatial relationships, building the foundation to quickly sketch and visually communicate ideas using landscape as the vehicle.

Artists and designers capture experiences through collections of sketches, photos, materials, and writings. This course inspires students to use their locations as a lab to explore, observe, innovate, document, and experiment with their creative ideas. Students develop a personal workflow and design process to create a portfolio that serves as an ongoing source of inspiration, beyond their immediate travel experiences.

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Students refine their perceptual drawing skills from direct observation, emphasizing techniques for accurately sighting, measuring, and applying theories of perspective. Creating strong visual statements while maintaining a timely and efficient manner of production will be a focus of the drawing process. Through rigorous hands-on exercises and rapid visualization, students capture proportions and spatial relationships with precision, showcasing their expertise through professional-level critiques, presentations, and portfolio.

Exciting content coming soon!

Exciting content coming soon!