While most illustrations are flat, working in three dimensions allows for the engagement of a whole new range of material and conceptual possibilities. Whether using traditional materials or digital technologies, sculpture is enormously nuanced in what it can suggest. In this class we will examine how objects and various sculptural strategies can be used to convey complex concepts and ideas. A survey of contemporary sculpture and 3D illustration will provide plenty of conceptual, process and material exploration. The class is offered in conjunction with RISD CoWorks to promote experimentation, interdisciplinarity, and access to advanced technologies. Projects are structured to introduce you to a variety of materials and methods of working, including paper manipulation, box making, character design, model-making, 3D printing, and lazer-cutting.

Additionally students will learn how to light and photograph three-dimensional work for reproduction or portfolio. The class promotes development of personal expression, strong conceptual solutions, excellent craftsmanship and good design.

Estimated Materials Cost: $100.00

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

How does one artfully navigate a creative landscape in CG character and environment design where there is a deluge of derivative art and industry homogeneity? This class challenges students to swim against the current, to create a character and setting design that is unique and amazing. Sessions will be a balance of critical thinking, through ZBrush instruction, studio work and class critique. Critiques will focus on the inventiveness of the character and environment, the credibility of essential form, legibility of the designs and their suitability to the narrative outline.

Estimated Materials Cost: $25.00

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

This course fulfills the Computer Literacy requirement for Illustration majors.

This course will build on the skills established in Sophomore Painting, while broadening the students' understanding of options available to the painter. The primary work of the semester will be on individually directed projects, worked on both in and out of class. Overall, a goal of establishing a personal visual vocabulary of facture and image will be emphasized. Students will be encouraged to particularize their use of the painting medium and their approach to subject and statement through color, painterly touch, format, use of materials, drawing and compositional decisions, stylistic reference and implied narrative. The core medium of the class will be oil paint, but this may be augmented or extended by other media. The course will include group exercises designed to solidify a basic understanding of drawing, the use of the medium and the principles of color. Periodic outside assignments will extend this practice while emphasizing personal choice and expressive adjustment based on individual priorities. A flexible format for in-class work on personal projects will allow group interaction to coexist with individually directed work. The semester's goal for each student will be to define a direction for future work in painting.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

Animals have enjoyed a prominent place in art for as long as humans have been creating it, beginning with the caves in Lascaux. Along the way they have figured prominently in myths fables and allegories, fulfilling symbolic roles in a wealth of picture books, and appeared as frequent players in visual metaphors employed by editorial illustrators. This course will provide opportunities for students to work within a variety of illustration genres, finding their own approach to working with representations of animal life. There will be in-depth exploration of creature anthropomorphism and its uses- from social and political satire to its capabilities in a wide range of storytelling methods. From JJ Granville to Spiegelman's Maus, to children's book greats like Richard Scarry and Arthur Geisert, the human-animal/animal-human is an enduring motif that will continue to be reinvented and expanded upon. Students will have the ability to channel projects and assignments towards formats of their choosing - including painting and other gallery-based practices, children's publishing, artist books, comics and zines.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor. This course fulfills the Illustration Concepts Elective requirement for Illustration majors.

This 3-credit course is half of a 6-credit co-requisite course. Students self-register for ILLUS-3912 or IDISC-3912: Art of Communicating Science via web registration.

Registration for the co-requisite course, SCI-W912: Art of Communicating Science is processed by Registrar's Office. Course not available via web registration.

This 6-credit course invites undergraduate and graduate students to improve their skills in communicating and illustrating science. They also discover that science communication is about more than delivering just the facts. It can be entertaining, surprising, and controversial. The general topic is changing biodiversity: how humans impact plants, animals, and their environment. Examples will be presented from around the world. Through a series of exercises students will practice analyzing and interpreting scientific information in order to both understand and present it visually. The science content will be delivered through lectures, readings, videos, and a visit to a nearby nature sanctuary. The course is designed to introduce students to relevant scientific concepts and challenge them to use their art to make these ideas more concrete, meaningful, visible, and accessible. In some cases, the goal may be to educate; in others, it may be to raise awareness, stimulate debate, or entertain. Students will explore the use of different media, including 2-D, 3-D, animated, and interactive modes. They will also target different audiences and venues, including general interest or editorial publications, art for public spaces such as galleries, educational and peer-to-peer science materials. Class work includes weekly reading and response questions, in-studio exercises, weekly assignments, three completed artworks, and a comprehensive final project, which includes a written paper and a public engagement piece.

The Departments of Illustration and History, Philosophy, and Social Sciences will teach the course collaboratively.

This course fulfills Illustration Concepts for Illustration majors.

Students in this course will investigate the specific physical structure of the human body, with the aim of producing drawings of greater structural and visual integrity and more fluid descriptions of movement and weight in the figure. We will proceed through the skeletal and muscular systems at a brisk but reasonable pace, learning names, points of articulation and the dynamic functions of each component of the body. Each weekly assignment will consist of a careful, descriptive drawing of an element of the skeletal or muscular system, and a 'dynamic' drawing in which that same element is shown in action in the living figure. We will also review the work of artists, both contemporary and historical, who have made vital artistic use of the elements of anatomical study. The course includes an optional field trip to the Brown University Evolutionary Biology Lab to draw from cadavers. There will be at least one written test on anatomical facts and terminology. The course culminates in a final project on the theme of 'A Human Ideal', exploring past concepts of idealized form in the figure in relation to anatomical reality and contemporary cultural perspectives.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

This course will examine various storytelling techniques used in cinema that are essential in guiding the look and feel of a film. These will include storyboarding, color key creation, and production illustrations. Our goal is to build the essential skills needed to participate in the narrative process of filmmaking. You will work both individually and in groups on a series of assignments to create finished works that build your individual skills, and demonstrate your abilities to work on a story team in a cinematic production. We will examine camera placement and frame-to-frame clarity by creating storyboards for different scenarios. In addition, to explore the emotional beats of a narrative, you will create lighting and color keys. In the final weeks, we will create a finished production illustration for a narrative that will be either supplied or created by the student.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

A Collaborative Study Project (CSP) allows two students to work collaboratively to complete a faculty supervised project of independent study.

Usually, a CSP is supervised by two faculty members, but with approval it may be supervised by one faculty member. Its purpose is to meet individual student needs by providing an alternative to regularly offered courses, though it is not a substitute for a course if that course is regularly offered.

Register by completing the Collaborative Study Application available on the Registrar's website.

This class is designed to train students in the art of creature creation/design. Students will study animal anatomy and physiology with a focus on adaptions to meet specific environments. Following a structured process to design beasts for a variety of genres, the class will explore the genres of fantasy, science fiction and horror. Also featured will be class discussion regarding the psychological implications of different aesthetic choices using existing creatures from film and literature as case studies.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

This course serves as an introduction to the ways 3D imagery can be used by illustrators, both directly and indirectly. Using the software Blender (open source) and Zbrush, we will examine the ways to create and use forms and textures both realistic and imaginary to produce images and solve problems common to many forms of illustration, both digital and traditional. Animation will be covered, but only in the most limited sense: such as for looping animated GIFs and for the creation of simulated physical effects.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; second preference given to FAV majors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

This course fulfills the Computer Literacy requirement for Illustration majors.

The convincing depiction of form in three-dimensional space is one of the great conceptual and philosophic breakthroughs of Western art. In this class, the first half of the sophomore drawing sequence, our main focus will be the study of form in a spatial context. We will use observational and projected systems of perspective in construction of our images. Emphasis will be placed on exploration of conceptual and physical viewpoint, effective composition and convincing light and shadow to shape expression, engage the viewer and create a unified pictorial image. The class will promote acute observation of existing spatial situations, the invention of convincing imagery from imagination, and the successful integration of the two. Exposure to traditional and contemporary drawing masters and practices will provide inspiration for experimentation, personal expression and artistic growth.

A series of perspectival studies will build into longer projects integrating observation and invention and concerns for figure and ground. Students will come to grasp the elegance and power of perspective as an approach to drawing, tempered with an awareness of its limitation and alternatives.

Several black and white media in addition to charcoal (mixed media, collage, monoprint, caran d"ache, pastel, etc) and various ways of working (line weight, cross-hatching, additive, subtractive) may be explored.

Major requirement; restricted to sophomore Illustration majors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor. Registration by Illustration Department, course not available via web registration.

In this intensive independent studio students continue and complete the work began in "EHP Studio Elective", culminating in the final exhibition and review. It corresponds to the remaining four weeks of the program, after students have finished with their Art History and Italian classes.

Note: EHP credits replace the on-campus major requirements for the term students attend. Distribution to non-major requirements occurs when major credits are not needed.

Independent studio is at the core of the EHP experience. Upon arrival, students are assigned studio space at the Palazzetto Cenci, home of RISD's program in Rome. With guidance from the chief critic, each student develops a personal body of work sparked by his/her interactions with places, people and circumstances in Rome and other locations that are part of the EHP tours (such as the Northern, Southern or Eastern tours, as well as other shorter trips.) The work takes as a point of departure knowledge and techniques specific to individual home departments, but allows, and even encourages, explorations beyond disciplinary boundaries, including collaborations and cross-fertilization within a group of students from different departments working together.

Beyond consistent and thorough engagement with studio work, requirements include participation in open studios and exhibitions, presentations in reviews, and attendance to all group activities and events, such as lectures at the Cenci and other institutions. From time to time, the chief critic may issue short assignments to introduce or focus on a particular subject. As part of the studio elective, students may be encouraged to keep sketchbooks and/or diaries, participate in optional activities--such as figure drawing sessions--and search for brief internships, apprenticeships, or other forms of interactions with local artists, designers, curators and critics.

EHP Studio Elective corresponds to the first twelve weeks of the program, while students are also taking Art History and Italian classes. This course establishes the direction for the work in the "Studio Concentration" course that follows.

Note: EHP credits replace the on-campus major requirements for the term students attend. Distribution to non-major requirements occurs when major credits are not needed.

Magazines, newspapers and other publications rely heavily on pictures to illuminate messages initiated by writers, and unlike any other genre of illustration, the editorial field gives voice to the artist. In this alternately reactive and expressive line of work, the illustrator engages in a powerful partnership with the written word, effectively becoming an author of opinions and ideas. This class will approach several editorial assignments, all of which involve an illustrated response to written text.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor. This course fulfills the Illustration Concepts Elective requirement for Illustration majors.

From the disturbingly exotic pictures of the Underworld by Hieronymus Bosch and the twisted visual puzzles of M.C. Escher, to the mid-20th Century comic characters of Stan Lee and classic 1950's science fiction films, fantasy images provide a rich source of inspiration for the contemporary artist/illustrator. In this course, we will study the art of Surrealist artists such as Magritte and Max Ernst, the unique fruit and vegetable portraits of Archimboldo, investigate the abstract dream imagery of Hilma Af Klint and Carl Jung, and the seminal graphic novels of Sue Coe (Porkopolis) and Art Spiegelman (Maus). We will interpret text and film as we create our own fantasy paintings working with appropriated imagery, collage, and painting mediums such as oil, acrylic, gouache and watercolor.

Major elective; open to non-majors junior and above as a non-major elective.

Done well, respectful, original, and inventive adaptations can deliver fresh interpretations of original sources that are themselves new works of art that stand on their own merits. In this course, students will adapt written works from a variety of source materials into multi-page comics stories - demonstrating how form, narrative arc, cultural context, character, and emotion can be translated faithfully and artfully from one medium to another. In the process of doing the work, students will master the language of comics, a medium with its own vernacular, using unique combinations of words and pictures to form meaning - and will gain insights into shared principles of story-telling that apply both to prose and to visual narrative. After deep reading of the texts, to understand structure, story, and meaning, students will interpret and visually amplify the adapted texts, taking the new work from thumbnail, to full sketch, to final art, to self-published mini-comics.

Estimated Materials Cost: $50.00

Major elective; Restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

This course surveys the history of western illustration from illuminated manuscripts through approximately 2000 AD. The work shown is culled from a vast cache of artistic production for its power to convey ideas and ideals, report and editorialize events or serve as an enhancement to literature. We consider how evolving technologies in printing and communication have influenced artistic processes, shaped aesthetics and facilitated the distribution of illustration. Emphasis is placed on Illustration's role in reflecting and influencing culture, and its variable relationship to fine art. Each session includes a lecture to which students respond with show critical writing or discussions. Additionally there are weekly readings, a research project, quizzes and a final exam. Textbook required. Books will be on reserve at the RISD Library and available for purchase at a student discount. Study images are made available on RISD Digication.

Major requirement; restricted to sophomore Illustration majors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor. Registration by Illustration Department, course not available via web registration.

The Independent Study Project (ISP) allows students to supplement the established curriculum by completing a faculty-supervised project for credit in a specific area of interest. Its purpose is to meet individual student needs by providing an alternative to regularly offered courses.

Permission of Instructor and GPA of 3.00 or higher is required.

Register by completing the Independent Study Application available on the Registrar's website; the course is not available via web registration

This course registers an outgoing exchange student into a pre-approved ILLUS studio course which is taken at the exchange school. Successful completion of the course will result in a "T" grade once receipt of the official transcript from the partner school has arrived at Registrar's Office.

This course seeks to apply a design sensibility to the creation of illustrations. The formal characteristics include flatness, strong graphic quality, awareness of figure/ground, scale, color, placement-these all take precedence over naturalistic concerns, rendering and perspective. This is a stylistic approach that lends itself to clear, conceptual communication. The goal of communication is always primary; and assignments will require problem-solving as well as development of clear and refined graphic approach.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

This course fulfills the Illustration Concepts Elective requirement for Illustration majors.

One commonality amongst all illustrators is the ability to draw. This course builds on principles of traditional drawing, color theory, composition, and with a focus on observational drawing using digital tablet devices. Students will expand on techniques learned at the introductory level to broaden their use of digital mark making tools. Weekly classroom exercise in the first two-thirds of the semester range from careful studies of objects and figures in space, to capturing landscape settings; with the last third engaged in exploring painting from imagination. More involved homework assignments will challenge students to adapt previously acquired drawing skills translated into the digital medium. The main computer application to be used in the course is Photoshop, with an introduction to Painter toward the end of the semester. The goal of the class is to give students a strong foundation in digital painting that can be adapted to their future professional Illustration practice.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

This course fulfills the Computer Literacy requirement for Illustration majors.

This course is designed to explore different animation techniques and materials, including working directly on film, drawing on paper, painting under the camera, object animation, cut-outs, and pixilation. It also teaches the fundamentals of animated movement and timing. Students in this course each make six short animations, with separate, synchronized sound tracks. At the end of the course, students create a DVD compilation of all their projects. A wide range of independent animated films are screened to demonstrate different techniques and approaches to animation.

Major elective

Permission of Instructor required. Course not available via web registration.

Restricted to Illustration and FAV majors; contact FAV Department Coordinator to register.

This course introduces digital media for Illustrators using three types of computer applications: image drawing, painting and editing in Photoshop, and vector graphics using Illustrator. While orienting students to the technical aspects of digital media, the class also provides an essential link to the Illustration Department's drawing, painting and conceptual curriculum.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor in Fall and Spring; open to all during Wintersession.

This course fulfills the Computer Literacy requirement for Illustration majors.

In this course, students take on the role of the reportage illustrator and visual essayist by developing a series of images in a sketchbook journal, on site, with emphasis on observation, documentation and investigation of non-fiction subject matter. Finished art will be created for a number of the investigative assignments as well as a completed stand-alone visual essay of a self-generated topic. The long tradition of illustrative reporting will be examined and discussed, as will the contemporary manifestations of journalistic art in print and in digital formats. Emphasis is placed on authorship, concept, and drawing skill development afforded by working on site are also a focus.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

Throughout history, the natural environment has been a subject of charm and awe for the artist, from the delicately painted frescoes in ancient Roman homes to the 16th century, when the landscape transcended the role of 'background', and gained momentum as a sublime subject in its own right. This is a course on the history of techniques, concepts, possibilities, and purposes in landscape painting. The class will encourage exploration of landscape as sublime subject, as metaphor for human experience or as the battleground for politically charged debate of environmental issues, among other possible approaches. Students will work on location and in studio, learning approaches to plein air painting as well as incorporation of references in the construction of natural environments.

Major elective; open to non-majors junior and above as a non-major elective.

The ability to play is a complex activity that is at the core of human learning. From Monopoly to poker, Doom to the baseball diamond, games allow us to explore social interactions, take risks, set goals, develop skills and expand our imaginations while entertaining us without serious consequences. What makes a game fun? Or memorable? In this class, we will explore the intersections of learning, experimentation, and play. In our constructed projects, we will search for innovative ways to expand or reinvent game traditions. Through individual and collaborative projects, we will examine how game mechanics (rules/systems) thoughtfully combined with game aesthetics (visuals/story) can be used to craft engaging, memorable and informative user/player experiences. Our goal is to develop primarily non-digital games that are conceptually innovative responses to various questions you pose related to play. Quality assurance and usability concerns will be explored through focus group play tests.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor. This course fulfills the Illustration Concepts Elective requirement for Illustration majors.

This course focuses on the exploration of combining a variety of media with the expectation of discovering a new, personal approach to creating images. Students are initially taught the specific properties and use of watercolor, gouache and acrylic and then invited to explore combinations of these media adding pastel, colored pencil, inks, collage material, charcoal, or found objects. There will be discussion on and experimentation with various techniques and finishes possible through these materials. Students will work in class from set ups, photo references and the model, and will develop images using the techniques and media combinations explored in class in weekly homework assignments.

Major elective; open to non-majors, sophomore and above as a non-major elective.

Students will gain an understanding of basic color characteristics and relationships through observational painting and color mixing exercises. Perceptual phenomena of space and light are directly connected with principles of color organization on the palette, color mixing procedures and adjustment of color interaction in compositions according to properties of hue, value and chromatic intensity. The associative properties of color rooted both in the natural world and in cultural precedent are explored in relation to expressive priorities. Students learn the use of the physical properties of the medium, gaining sensitivity to qualities of volume and depth, the textural character of the artwork and the sense of artistic facture. Painterly precedent from the history of art and contemporary practice will be studied for inspiration and technical insight.

The primary medium for the course is oil paint, and students will be introduced to the complex layering and manipulations the medium makes possible. Water-based media such as casein or gouache will play a supporting role as vehicles for color studies and exercises in abstract color theory.

The semester ends with an extended project allowing the combination of observed and invented elements and emphasizing compositional color adjustment in connection with the artist's expressive priorities.

Major requirement; restricted to sophomore Illustration majors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor. Registration by Illustration Department, course not available via web registration.

This course introduces students to a variety of pen and scratchboard styles through a series of assignments which include drawing from life and executing well-defined illustrative problems. A variety of pen tips and their effect on pen handling are explored. Other aspects of pen drawing to be considered: Intelligent design of page with subject, the compositional impact of the arrangement of tone, and the sensitive selection of appropriate pen and scratchboard styles for a given problem.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

This is an introductory course in digital photography. It covers all the basic techniques of digital workflow: capture, photo editing, and inkjet printing. You will learn how your camera works and how to control it to get the results you want. You will also learn how to download and manage your image files, edit them for best results, backup them religiously, and make excellent inkjet (digital) prints. Beyond technique, there will be at least one visiting artist, regular lectures covering the history of photography, an optional weekend field trip to Boston, and regular group and individual crits geared toward developing your style, focusing your ideas, and making better pictures. Most students use a DSLR (digital single-lens-reflex) camera, which you must provide, but other types are also OK, such as a good point-and-shoot or an ILC (interchangeable lens compact) model. We will discuss cell and tablet phones, but a dedicated camera such as one of the above models, will give you better results and more control. While this course is an introduction to photography, and assumes no prior knowledge, students with some photography background or those with analog-only experience may also benefit.

Estimated Materials Cost: $100.00 - $150.00

Major elective; open to non-majors sophomore and above as a non-major elective.

In this class, we will explore the children's picture book as a medium of artistic expression. During the first half of the semester, we will experiment with a number of storytelling techniques and principles while also focusing on different approaches to the format, illustration, and design of picture books. The second half of the semester will be dedicated to the creation of the final project: each student will complete a book dummy for an original children's picture book accompanied by several finished Illustrations.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

Students must plan and register for both LAS-E416 and ILLUS-3612 and will receive 3 studio credits and 3 liberal arts credits.

Illustration, along with painting, printmaking and many other visual art practices, is continually intertwined with music. From illustrators collaborating on videos, packaging and promotion, to creating graphic novel and picture biographies of musicians and musical movements, the tradition of connecting the visual to the acoustic has a rich history.

Music will always need to be celebrated larger and in a more tactile way than on a screen-we are seeing the enduring inventiveness of the gig poster, and even the 12" LP cover is still alive as a canvas. Projects in this class will explore promotional, interpretive, and investigative approaches as they relate to musicians, lyrics and titles, as well as parallels between music and visual art. Students will have the chance to interpret musical works in a number of ways, including through narrative approaches, using sculpture, animation and GIFs, and other less conventional means.

There will be exploration of analogous aspects of music and visual art-sound and color, time based works, performative aspects and related ideas (e.g.: the movements of the hand while drawing/painting as analogous to playing an instrument). There will be some focus too, on genres and movements where music and art have close relationships, ie: psychedelia, pop and op art, comics and set design. Lectures and discussion will also be devoted to learning about artists who create both visual and musical work.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor. This course fulfills the Illustration Concepts Elective requirement for Illustration majors.

This course surveys a wide range of effects possible through versatile printmaking methods including monotype, relief printing and drypoint.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

The professional Internship provides valuable exposure to a professional setting, enabling students to better establish a career path and define practical aspirations. Internship proposals are carefully vetted to determine legitimacy and must meet the contact hour requirements listed in the RISD Course Announcement.

The student's project, designed in consultation with the faculty will be evaluated by the faculty and visting critics and the end of the semester. The levels of concepts, skills and commitment constitute a mjor part of the criteria in the evaluation fo the work.

Permission of instructor required

Senior Illustration majors only

"Sequential art" is an evolving and global art form whose recent history is grounded in three distinct forms: Comics, Manga, and Bande dessine. This course offers an intensive introduction to the storytelling possibilities that they present, and teaches storytelling and technical approaches that will enhance an artist's ability to thrive in both 'sequential art' and other narrative driven fields. This course is also designed to resolve any lingering deficiencies in composition, value, color, perspective, and drawing fluency, all of which are essential.

In addition to short assignments and in-class exercises, the course will include the showing of exceptional examples of comics, manga, and bandes dessines work by artists including: Winsor McCay, Osamu Tezuka, Herg, Hayao Miyazaki, Moebius, and R. Crumb. Students are encouraged to bring in their favorite examples of 'sequential art' to share with and inform the class, as well.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

Illustration is an art of visual communication. Style is simply the illustrator's vocabulary. Substance is what the illustrator has chosen to express. The success of an illustration depends on the seamless connection of these two entities. In this course students encounter a wide variety of subject matter drawn from a variety of fields. They are asked to create illustrations with a particular emphasis on the development of a personal vision as well as the successful communication of wisely chosen ideas. Style, its strengths and limitations, is examined in the light of its importance in the marketplace.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor. This course fulfills the Illustration Concepts Elective requirement for Illustration majors.

At their very core, all books convey a sequence of ideas, but the execution varies widely from one volume to another. In this course, juniors and seniors strive to extend this concept outside of traditional book parameters to achieve their own creative interpretation. Working from their own themes, students mold an innovative presentation of images and concepts in two dimensions or three, using concrete depictions or abstract forms in the construction of their own unique artist's book. Assignments include the study of different folds, narrative problems, poetic counting, lost and found, and a free project of the student's choice. Students are encouraged to continue their own media that might include painting, construction, printmaking, etc.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

This course combines the business of art and design, transforming the creative impulse to a marketable deliverable. Students are encouraged to think beyond the confines of traditional markets, working collaboratively toward the goal of employing inventive thinking in the workplace with the goal of an independently owned and operated enterprise.

A fundamental objective of this class is for students to understand a basic business vocabulary, to explore how design-driven business and creative studio thinking overlap, and to understand how creative skills can be used to identify and execute business opportunities.

Students will be introduced to business concepts through lectures, case studies, assignments and class discussion. Assignments will work off the classroom pedagogy and topics covered will be business models, marketing, finance, and strategy as they relate to studio activity.

Major elective; open to non-majors, junior and above as a non-major elective.

A society's history is written in its stones. From the dystopias of Gotham City or Grand Theft Auto, the hive mind of the Borg and the ecstatic asceticism of the Shakers, to the suburban conformity of Levittown and the Sphinx half buried in sand, every city, every society, is an embodiment of ideas, history, geography, and beliefs. Each built environment has its own logic, both architectural and cultural. With some provocative writings about the phenomenon of the city as inspiration, you will be asked to conceptualize a place and bring it to life visually. The essence of a city - its buildings, pathways, public and private spaces - depends on how you define the character of its people, its government, its history, its geographic siting and even its language.

After defining a back-story in broad strokes, you will begin researching the implications of those choices visually. Working from thumbnails and sketches to finished conceptualization, you will explore compelling physical and conceptual viewpoints, with a variety of possibilities in the use of media and technique. Rather than limiting ourselves to purely pragmatic architecture, the class will be searching for imaginative visualizations, where form becomes poetic metaphor suggestive of narrative.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

This course fulfills the Illustration Concepts Elective requirement for Illustration majors.

Illustration is visual communication: meaning made visible. Visual thinking, the creative process by which all successful illustration is developed, constitutes the development of an articulate images through thorough, iterative exploration of ideas. This class emphasizes process over finish, idea over application and significance over style-exploring both ways of seeing and ways of showing. Coursework will encourage conceptual invention and application fundamental to an understanding of what the practice of illustration is and can be. The object of the course is to strengthen the students' inventive talents and interpretive skills - and thereby to augment their ability to articulate complex ideas with clarity, eloquence and power.

Major requirement; restricted to sophomore Illustration majors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor. Registration by Illustration Department, course not available via web registration.

This course will present the transparent watercolor medium to students in a manner both logical and painless. Students will explore the broad uses for watercolor through still life, figure painting, and outdoor landscape painting. Guest critics and demonstrations may augment class discussions.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

When we choose a story to read, retell, or illustrate, that choice reveals something about ourselves. What motivates an artist to explore one particular theme over another, whether it is a political issue, personal obsession, or a "purely aesthetic" interest? This course will require students to mine personal meaning in the narrative sources they choose for class projects, ultimately using these analytical conclusions to shape each project's character. Assignments will include the creation of the following: a storyboard; an historical narrative image, a series for a book, a comic and a game or toy. Discussions will include: formatting a single narrative image or a series of images; telling text-free stories; illustrating stories for adults and for children, analyzing plot, character, pacing, and style and communicating the essential meaning of a story to an audience.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor. This course fulfills the Illustration Concepts Elective requirement for Illustration majors.

A one month basic introduction to Maya for 3D image-making. The class will introduce polygonal modeling, UV-mapping and normal-map generation, texturing, lighting, and advanced shader options, the Mental Ray renderer, and some particle, fluid and atmospheric simulators. Animation will not be taught beyond basics required for particle and other effects.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration during initial registration; open to Graphic Design and Industrial Design majors following initial registration period; open to other non-majors pending seat availability and permission of department.

Students must register for workshops during the registration period and add/drop regardless of start date of class.

This one-month workshop will explore the creative potential of ZBrush, the 3-D sculpting application from Pixologic. With so many uses, it's difficult to cover ZBrush completely, but by the end of the class you will have a solid understanding of the program, all its component tools and how to customize them and use them in your workflow, whether it's sculpting for game detail, animation, visualization, or rapid-prototyping. This workshop is a one-credit course that emphasizes skills and techniques. This class is part of a group of offerings by the departments of Illustration, Industrial Design and Graphic Design that are offered on Friday afternoons and are open to all students to facilitate cross-departmental enrollment.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration majors during initial registration; open to Graphic Design and Industrial Design majors following initial registration period; open to other non-majors pending seat availability and permission of department.

Students must register for workshops during the registration period and add/drop regardless of start date of class.

In this course, students conceptualize, edit, design and produce either a book or the first issue of an original publication. Possibilities include: artist's book, magazine, comic book, zine, e-zine on the web, etc. Emphasis is on concept and design. We discuss editorial ideas and look at existing artists' books and publications, especially alternative forms. Using computers, we work on typography, layout and design. Collaborations both within and outside of the class are encouraged. To take this course, you must have some rudimentary knowledge of the computer and some ideas for content. Students will be instructed in RISO Graph printing methods.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

This course fulfills EITHER the Illustration Concepts Elective OR the Computer Literacy requirement, not both, for Illustration majors.

This is a survey course designed to enable students to develop a wide body of work in three-dimensional moving art pieces. Students are exposed to a large range of types of movement and the challenges inherent in getting those movements to operate smoothly. The pieces are made from a wide range of materials, including but not limited to wood, cardboard, wire, metal, plastic, Sculpey, and paint.

There are three elements in each project: the idea, mechanism and surface treatment. Assignments will be given based on the mechanism. Students bring the subject and story to the piece. The mechanisms covered include: action/ reaction, balance/ counter balance, whirlygig, cams and cranks, motion-triggered lights and sound. Molds will be incorporated into the assignments. All projects are painted.

This course requires students to develop a working knowledge of a range of tools, from simple hand tools to more complex tools available in our wood shop. Exercises and focused workshops on tool usage will be a fundamental part of the class. Prior experience with tools is helpful but not necessary.

The class culminates with a "Come Play With Us" show of students' completed projects. Elementary school children and the RISD Community are invited to play with the pieces, with an emphasis on fun. The projects have to work; they need to be built to withstand all types of child's play.

Major elective; open to non-majors junior and above as a non-major elective.

Weekly assignments combine illustration objectives with a playful spirit of exploring materials for its own sake. Simple ingredients include plain paper & junk mail: cut, crimped, ripped, twisted, poked, prodded & glued. Layered cutouts extracted from old publications will be added & subtracted. Quick experiments will be the basis for compositions that will animate shadow boxes and tell stories.

Techniques with paper pulp, polymer & air-dry clays will be demonstrated (as low-relief and over armatures). Scavenged objects and supplies to be disassembled & reconstructed in fresh configurations are another way to create images. Whatever the initial steps, pieces will be finished with mixed media, collage and other treatments that unify the whole. Idea and technique come together so these illustrations will be anything but shallow.

A Collaborative Study Project (CSP) allows two students to work collaboratively to complete a faculty supervised project of independent study.

Usually, a CSP is supervised by two faculty members, but with approval it may be supervised by one faculty member. Its purpose is to meet individual student needs by providing an alternative to regularly offered courses, though it is not a substitute for a course if that course is regularly offered.

Students will investigate the mechanics of comics storytelling through a series of exercises designed to deconstruct the comics language. Clarity is key to engaging the reader, and this course emphasizes communication regardless of style. Discussion will include a concise history of the medium and the rise of manga and the graphic novel. This course is structured around a series of cumulative exercises introducing a new element of the comics language each week, designed to equip the student for further work in this important art form.

Design For Good sits at the intersection of illustration, graphic design, and brand identity, with a focus on non-profits and social issues. Working across print, digital, mobile and social media platforms, this course will challenge students to create innovative visual communication that motivates people around a social cause. Students will learn what makes a compelling brand, as well as a compelling story. Throughout the course of the semester, students will create logos, typographic systems, and brand identities based in illustration. The brand identity will be applied to products & packaging, web sites, social media, infographics, and printed materials.

Through a series of weekly & bi-weekly assignments, students will build a portfolio of pieces that tie together as a unified, illustrated brand identity. Students are encouraged to conduct their own research & interviews with local non-profit organizations as part of this course. Group work in class, research, individual presentations & group critiques are an essential part of this course.

In this course, students will draw and sculpt using direct Virtual Reality creation tools, making a world that can be viewed in the headset and outside of it. Our goal is to use VR as process, rather than end product. After a brief primer in the tools available, students will work individually and in teams to create the fully immersive, walkable spaces and cohesive aesthetics that will serve as source material for their narratives.

Major Elective, open to all majors; five seats held for Illustration majors.

This course fulfills the Computer Literacy requirement for Illustration majors.

The Independent Study Project (ISP) allows students to supplement the established curriculum by completing a faculty-supervised project for credit in a specific area of interest. Its purpose is to meet individual student needs by providing an alternative to regularly offered courses.

Permission of Instructor and GPA of 3.00 or higher is required.

Register by completing the Independent Study Application available on the Registrar's website; the course is not available via web registration

The Independent Study Project (ISP) allows students to supplement the established curriculum by completing a faculty supervised project for credit in a specific area of interest. Its purpose is to meet individual student needs by providing an alternative to regularly offered courses.

Permission of Instructor and GPA of 3.0 or higher is required.

Register by completing the Independent Study Application available on the Registrar's website; the course is not available via web registration.

This course introduces digital media for Illustrators using three types of computer applications: image drawing, painting and editing in Photoshop, and vector graphics using Illustrator. While orienting students to the technical aspects of digital media, the class also provides an essential link to the Illustration Department's drawing, painting and conceptual curriculum.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor in Fall and Spring; open to all during Wintersession.

This course fulfills the Computer Literacy requirement for Illustration majors.

This course will be a survey regarding the concepts, techniques and methodology of illustration specifically designed for Freshman students who are considering illustration as a major. Students will examine illustration genres, including book, editorial and corporate illustration, while working with a variety of methods and materials.

Oil painting is one of the richest, most powerfully expressive mediums that exist. It offers a vast diversity of approaches and provides the most flexibility of all the painting materials. To take advantage of that variety, certain technical knowledge is essential. This class is geared as a thorough introduction to the newer oil painter. Our early class focus will be on understanding materials through a variety of life study exercises. Focus on color and composition will promote effectively orchestrated images. Our ultimate goal will be to make powerful images that marry appropriate approaches to oil painting with personal vision. The class emphasis will balance the technical mastery of materials with the clarity of effective visual communication.

Basic to all visual expression is the ability to articulate what one sees. Skill and sensitivity in drawing are the essence of such articulation. The object of this course will be to develop the student's skill as a draughtsman, to make the hand a more gifted servant of the eye. High competence is not a prerequisite for this course; commitment is.

The ability to merge imagery from various sources is an essential skill for illustrators and fine artists alike. In a series of projects, students will gather sketches, drawings and photographs, and combine them to exist solidly and convincingly together in space. We will discuss the importance of lighting, color, and value in creating a believable scene, and explore the methods and techniques used by illustrators and painters past and present. Class time will be divided between the computer lab (where students will manipulate their images using Photoshop and other tools) and the studio, where illustrations and paintings will be completed using a variety of media, including pen and ink, watercolor, and acrylic paint.

This course fulfills the Computer Literacy requirement for Illustration majors.

A basic black-and-white course in photographic technique and visualization. Students learn to use the camera, process film, and make prints, as well as to apply creative aspects of the medium. No prior experience in photography is required, but students must have their own 35mm camera with manual aperture and shutter-speed controls.

Estimated Materials Cost: $150.00 Deposit: $100

Refundable deposit for any equipment that is borrowed and returned in excellent condition.

Illustrators invent all the time: a "concept" is nothing more than invention. This course aims to expand the illustrator's definition of and capacity for invention, both on the page and beyond. The object of invention herein is delight. Students in this course will conceive and develop three distinct projects - the for children, the second for adults, the third at the student's discretion. Each project in development will test its premise: it will expose inspiration to proof. The ultimate criterion for success, whatever form the project has taken, will be, "Is it delightful?". If an invention is both original and delightful it may well have commercial potential; while this is not the object of the course, commercial potential will of course be considered. Classes will ideally be of seminar size. They will consist of speculation, discussion, suggestion and critique: skull sessions. Such dialogue is essential to the generation and development of both premise and project; it will comprise the majority of class time.

This course fulfills the Illustration Concepts Elective requirement for Illustration majors.

The professional Internship provides valuable exposure to a professional setting, enabling students to better establish a career path and define practical aspirations. Internship proposals are carefully vetted to determine legitimacy and must meet the contact hour requirements listed in the RISD Course Announcement.

This course will be a short introduction to Science Fiction and Fantasy illustration in the form they are most frequently seen--book covers. Subjects will include (besides the usual aliens, futuristic looking machinery, and dragons) materials and techniques, reference gathering, working with a manuscript, working with the paperback format, etc . . . The goal of the course is to familiarize the interested student with the means and methods of producing a realistic illustration of an unreal scene.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

The student's project, designed in consultation with the faculty will be evaluated by the faculty and visting critics and the end of the semester. The levels of concepts, skills and commitment constitute a mjor part of the criteria in the evaluation fo the work.

Permission of instructor required

Senior Illustration majors only

This course will focus on the creation of expressive imagery through the combination of collage and mixed media. Students will work with a wide range of materials and collage elements, including their own drawings and paintings, photographic images and found objects. Techniques used for developing layers of both texture and meaning will be explored and later applied to specific illustration problems.

In this course we will explore the fundamentals of typography and image combined with motion graphics. The students will work on several assignments utilizing InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, and/or other programs. The projects will cover a wide range of topics, from traditional design to motion graphic and interactive applications, with the goal of learning how to combine these tools to realize successful visual communication.

This course fulfills the Computer Literacy requirement for Illustration majors.

In this course, we examine gender -- not your biologically assigned equipment, but those social constructs that shape and define what is male, what is female and what is that less absolute space between and beyond. Weekly assignments often begin by reviewing the traditional role of women and men in American culture but through a contemporary lens, examining the astoundingly colorful range of gender and sex identities that cannot be limited to simply pink and blue. We'll turn stereotypes inside out, flip popular icons upside down, and rework familiar images from hallowed museums. We'll search for fresh depictions of abstract concepts like conception, contraception, relationships, power, etc. This course offers equal opportunity for XX's, XY's and those outside the binary..

This course fulfills the Illustration Concepts Elective requirement for Illustration majors.

Digital illustration has rapidly become commonplace or even standard in many art-related fields. As illustrators have moved into the digital realm, we find ourselves exploring traditional concepts of picturemaking with ever more complex software. Some software packages strive to mimic paint, ink and graphite, but these programs also give us the freedom to explore mark making in entirely different ways unavailable in traditional media, identifying digital programs as tools to reinforce traditional techniques of illustration.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

This course fulfills the Computer Literacy requirement for Illustration majors.

Children have an underestimated capacity to process complex stories, and are often misunderstood as an audience. Their hungry minds depend on imagery to make sense of life and to navigate through their evolving worlds. In this course, students will explore a variety of art forms destined to educate, stimulate and delight children-books, displays, characters, games. Assignments will include works for a variety of industries including publishing, advertising, gift/novelty, and focus on a range of age groups: toddlers to teens. Students will be challenged to create opportunities for discovery that are worthy of this curious and gracious audience. Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

Students in this course will investigate the specific physical structure of the human body, with the aim of producing drawings of greater structural and visual integrity and more fluid descriptions of movement and weight in the figure. We will proceed through the skeletal and muscular systems at a brisk but reasonable pace, learning names, points of articulation and the dynamic functions of each component of the body. Each weekly assignment will consist of a careful, descriptive drawing of an element of the skeletal or muscular system, and a 'dynamic' drawing in which that same element is shown in action in the living figure. We will also review the work of artists, both contemporary and historical, who have made vital artistic use of the elements of anatomical study. The course includes an optional field trip to the Brown University Evolutionary Biology Lab to draw from cadavers. There will be at least one written test on anatomical facts and terminology. The course culminates in a final project on the theme of 'A Human Ideal', exploring past concepts of idealized form in the figure in relation to anatomical reality and contemporary cultural perspectives.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

In this course we will explore the process of designing characters as well as the objects they possess and the environments they inhabit. Through a series of projects that emphasize conceptual thinking and functional design, students will learn the problem solving skills used in design as a means of supporting a narrative. Full color works in variety of media will be critiqued on their clarity of vision and strength of presentation. This course is a continuation of the ideas presented in Character Design, and will serve both students who have taken that class and students new to this subject matter.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

This course offers an introduction to the many artistic and technical aspects of designing and producing characters, environments and props for 3D games. Among the topics we will explore are the design of effective low-polygon characters and scenes, texturing and UV mapping, simple character rigging and effective collaborative design and execution. Software used: Photoshop and Maya (PLE).

Knowledge of Photoshop, basic computer skills. Some familiarity with 3D computer modeling is helpful, but not essential.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

This course fulfills the Computer Literacy requirement for Illustration majors.

This course will examine various storytelling techniques used in cinema that are essential in guiding the look and feel of a film. These will include storyboarding, color key creation, and production illustrations. Our goal is to build the essential skills needed to participate in the narrative process of filmmaking. You will work both individually and in groups on a series of assignments to create finished works that build your individual skills, and demonstrate your abilities to work on a story team in a cinematic production. We will examine camera placement and frame-to-frame clarity by creating storyboards for different scenarios. In addition, to explore the emotional beats of a narrative, you will create lighting and color keys. In the final weeks, we will create a finished production illustration for a narrative that will be either supplied or created by the student.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

A Collaborative Study Project (CSP) allows two students to work collaboratively to complete a faculty supervised project of independent study.

Usually, a CSP is supervised by two faculty members, but with approval it may be supervised by one faculty member. Its purpose is to meet individual student needs by providing an alternative to regularly offered courses, though it is not a substitute for a course if that course is regularly offered.

Register by completing the Collaborative Study Application available on the Registrar's website.

A course intended to help students design with color through the use of acrylics, watercolor and a medium of their choice. We will explore ways of creating harmony, contrast, focus and space in a work of art by developing an understanding of opacity, transparency, temperature, value and intensity of color. Students will be expected to experiment with various color grounds as well as a variety of limited palettes. Assignments will include color charts, figure work, still lives and will focus on a final series.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

Not illustration. Not creative writing. Comics has its own language resulting from images and words working together. As students demonstrate mastery they will move from highly structured lessons and exercises to more personal and experimental long forms. Students will devote the last third of the course to creating and self-publishing a 24-page mini-comic of their own. Be prepared to write and draw a lot of pages.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

What is it like to make a living creating imagery for the numerous printed outlets of American culture in contemporary times? This course will emphasize problem-solving in a commercial situation while steadfastly holding on to your personal integrity. In addition to responding to editorial-based assignments, the student will be exposed, through slide lectures to the work of artists and illustrators who are burning a path right through the past and into the future of illustration.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor. This course fulfills the Illustration Concepts Elective requirement for Illustration majors.

This course begins with the investigation of Dragons, compelling monstrous and mythological creatures found throughout the history of art in various cultures. Students will research historic forms and consider the purposes dragons and other monsters serve in various contexts, in preparation for designing and building their own "dragon". Multiple theories of aesthetics relating to sculpture will be presented keeping in mind that three-dimensional objects are among the oldest and most expressive forms of representation and can be considered both the most traditional and the most innovative of artistic endeavors. Key artists such as Donatello, Rodin, and Henry Moore will be studied. A premise of the class is that in breaking the constraints of the 2 dimensional canvas, sculpture has mass and volume, and occupies space in a way impossible to achieve in painting or drawing. Consequently, working in three dimensions provides previously unimagined challenges and opportunities, and creates new pathways for learning; Students in this class will therefore be encouraged to take an experimental approach to creating form. The knowledge and experience gained here should help students become better artists in general and in future artistic endeavors not directly related to the specific material presented in the course.

Major elective; open to non-majors junior and above as a non-major elective.

The ability to articulate ideas visually is the most important skill an illustrator has. Building on knowledge of observed and invented form in space gained in fall semester, this class will explore the human figure as physical form and as a vector for narrative and expression. Anatomical study, volumetric form, foreshortening, gesture, as well as balance and counterbalance will help ground and energize the figures physically. Narrative content and sequential reading will be explored in reference to the interaction of figures in a spatial context, and in relation to an imagined viewer.

Additionally the student will be asked to consider complex integration of observed, researched and imagined imagery in the creation of more advanced independent personal work. Drawing will be approached as an investigative tool, one that supports all aspects of studio practice, from more, developed works to quick research studies for paintings or other media. Narrative, expressive and conceptual issues will become increasingly consequential as students become more versed in defining , building and shaping their imagery.

Various media and methods of working, including a role for limited color, will be introduced.

Major requirement; restricted to sophomore Illustration majors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor. Registration by Illustration Department, course not available via web registration.

In this intensive independent studio students continue and complete the work began in "EHP Studio Elective", culminating in the final exhibition and review. It corresponds to the remaining eight weeks of the program, after students have finished with their Art History and Italian classes.

Note: EHP credits replace the on-campus major requirements for the term students attend. Distribution to non-major requirements occurs when major credits are not needed.

Independent studio is at the core of the EHP experience. Upon arrival, students are assigned studio space at the Palazzetto Cenci, home of RISD's program in Rome. With guidance from the chief critic, each student develops a personal body of work sparked by his/her interactions with places, people and circumstances in Rome and other locations that are part of the EHP tours (such as the Northern, Southern or Eastern tours, as well as other shorter trips.) The work takes as a point of departure knowledge and techniques specific to individual home departments, but allows, and even encourages, explorations beyond disciplinary boundaries, including collaborations and cross-fertilization within a group of students from different departments working together.

Beyond consistent and thorough engagement with studio work, requirements include participation in open studios and exhibitions, presentations in reviews, and attendance to all group activities and events, such as lectures at the Cenci and other institutions. From time to time, the chief critic may issue short assignments to introduce or focus on a particular subject. As part of the studio elective, students may be encouraged to keep sketchbooks and/or diaries, participate in optional activities--such as figure drawing sessions--and search for brief internships, apprenticeships, or other forms of interactions with local artists, designers, curators and critics.

EHP Studio Elective corresponds to the first twelve weeks of the program, while students are also taking Art History and Italian classes. This course establishes the direction for the work in the "Studio Concentration" course that follows.

Note: EHP credits replace the on-campus major requirements for the term students attend. Distribution to non-major requirements occurs when major credits are not needed.

This course surveys the history of western illustration from illuminated manuscripts through approximately 2000 AD. The work shown is culled from a vast cache of artistic production for its power to convey ideas and ideals, report and editorialize events or serve as an enhancement to literature. We consider how evolving technologies in printing and communication have influenced artistic processes, shaped aesthetics and facilitated the distribution of illustration. Emphasis is placed on Illustration's role in reflecting and influencing culture, and its variable relationship to fine art. Each session includes a lecture to which students respond with show critical writing or discussions. Additionally there are weekly readings, a research project, quizzes and a final exam. Textbook required. Books will be on reserve at the RISD Library and available for purchase at a student discount. Study images are made available on RISD Digication.

Major requirement; restricted to sophomore Illustration majors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor. Registration by Illustration Department, course not available via web registration.

The Independent Study Project (ISP) allows students to supplement the established curriculum by completing a faculty-supervised project for credit in a specific area of interest. Its purpose is to meet individual student needs by providing an alternative to regularly offered courses.

Permission of Instructor and GPA of 3.00 or higher is required.

Register by completing the Independent Study Application available on the Registrar's website; the course is not available via web registration

The Independent Study Project (ISP) allows students to supplement the established curriculum by completing a faculty supervised project for credit in a specific area of interest. Its purpose is to meet individual student needs by providing an alternative to regularly offered courses.

Permission of Instructor and GPA of 3.0 or higher is required.

Register by completing the Independent Study Application available on the Registrar's website; the course is not available via web registration.

This course registers an outgoing exchange student into a pre-approved ILLUS studio course which is taken at the exchange school. Successful completion of the course will result in a "T" grade once receipt of the official transcript from the partner school has arrived at Registrar's Office.

Illustrated typography and hand lettering are enjoying a wonderfully prominent place in the visual landscape of design, publishing and illustration, and have become an increasingly vital part of many illustrator's professional portfolios. What can illustrated type and it's particular characteristics provide as an alternative to established typefaces? How does an illustrator find the right balance between form and function, expression and readability? This course will provide the opportunity to employ drawing, painting, collage, printmaking, photography, digital tools and other media in the creation of unique letterforms. Students will be encouraged to experiment with non-traditional materials -including three-dimensional ones. Beginning with an introduction to basic typographic elements, terminology, and font families, students will move into creating their own unique lettering for projects including posters, book covers, and packaging. Typography will be the central focus, but students will have leeway as to the degree with which it is integrated with other illustrative imagery. Along with these projects students will create a complete unique typeface over the course of the semester. Relevant issues related to hand drawn text-type for comics, picture books, and graphic novels - including appropriateness, readability and voice, will also be covered.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

This course explores the role of illustrator as graphic designer, with a focus on the fundamentals of designing with imagery, the relationship between verbal and visual communication, and the complementary partnership between graphic design and illustration. Students are encouraged to have some fundamental experience with computers before enrolling in this course.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

This course fulfills the Computer Literacy requirement for Illustration majors.

One commonality amongst all illustrators is the ability to draw. This course builds on principles of traditional drawing, color theory, composition, and with a focus on observational drawing using digital tablet devices. Students will expand on techniques learned at the introductory level to broaden their use of digital mark making tools. Weekly classroom exercise in the first two-thirds of the semester range from careful studies of objects and figures in space, to capturing landscape settings; with the last third engaged in exploring painting from imagination. More involved homework assignments will challenge students to adapt previously acquired drawing skills translated into the digital medium. The main computer application to be used in the course is Photoshop, with an introduction to Painter toward the end of the semester. The goal of the class is to give students a strong foundation in digital painting that can be adapted to their future professional Illustration practice.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

This course fulfills the Computer Literacy requirement for Illustration majors.

This course is designed to explore different animation techniques and materials, including working directly on film, drawing on paper, painting under the camera, object animation, cut-outs, and pixilation. It also teaches the fundamentals of animated movement and timing. Students in this course each make six short animations, with separate, synchronized sound tracks. At the end of the course, students create a DVD compilation of all their projects. A wide range of independent animated films are screened to demonstrate different techniques and approaches to animation.

Major elective

Permission of Instructor required. Course not available via web registration.

Restricted to Illustration and FAV majors; contact FAV Department Coordinator to register.

This course introduces digital media for Illustrators using three types of computer applications: image drawing, painting and editing in Photoshop, and vector graphics using Illustrator. While orienting students to the technical aspects of digital media, the class also provides an essential link to the Illustration Department's drawing, painting and conceptual curriculum.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor in Fall and Spring; open to all during Wintersession.

This course fulfills the Computer Literacy requirement for Illustration majors.

The New Yorker is one of the most respected periodicals in America, if not the English-speaking world. Its commentary, analysis and interpretation of the broadest spectrum of cultural concern are almost always articulate and influential. More importantly, it invariably has an illustrated cover. Students in this course develop a portfolio of cover solutions to different requirements defined by world events, the passing seasons and areas of cultural interest. A light touch, a strong grasp and cultural reach are helpful.

Major elective; open to non-majors junior and above as a non-major elective.

This course fulfills the Illustration Concepts Elective requirement for Illustration majors.

This course will continue the study of color organization and use of the oil medium begun in the fall semester, with increased emphasis on compositional structure and adjustment. Assignments will feature imaginative or hybrid compositions, combining observed and invented components. Using principles of color, directional light and spatial structure to solidify atmospheric unity, we will explore the implication and construction of narrative. Work in class will solidify the student's ability to evoke volume, space and light. We will examine the breadth of creative choice in representational color use to illuminate the expressive qualities of various options.

Students will study the role for color in directing the viewer's navigation of a composite subject, or imbuing a simple image with depth and complexity. Color design is introduced as an abstract structure that underlies figurative imagery, providing an important expressive subtext. Quick compositional studies in casein or gouache of a work in progress will be used to focus atmospheric and spatial effect. The historical development of color use in painting and cultural associations of style will be explored in slide lectures and experimentation.

A capstone assignment will tie the principles of color and composition to a large narrative painting combining diverse imagery from reference and imagination, and emphasizing clarity and subtlety of structure in service of personally determined content.

Major requirement; restricted to sophomore Illustration majors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor. Registration by Illustration Department, course not available via web registration.

The professional Internship provides valuable exposure to a professional setting, enabling students to better establish a career path and define practical aspirations. Internship proposals are carefully vetted to determine legitimacy and must meet the contact hour requirements listed in the RISD Course Announcement.

From Leonardo's rich notebook studies to Audubon's great horned owl, to NASA's Mars Rover simulations, scientific illustration derives from rich traditions stressing scientific investigation, good design, close observation and technical mastery. We will begin with a study of the structuring strategies nature uses to create its enormous diversity of forms. Scientific drawing conventions, interesting drawing techniques and tools will be presented. Students will produce a variety of black and white, color and digital solutions exploring aspects of this broad field. The class will culminate with a final project allowing each student to explore a scientific area of interest.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

The student's project, designed in consultation with the faculty will be evaluated by the faculty and visting critics and the end of the semester. The levels of concepts, skills and commitment constitute a mjor part of the criteria in the evaluation fo the work.

Permission of instructor required

Senior Illustration majors only

This course is designed to help students find their way to the professional marketplace utilizing the best tool available - the portfolio. Be it the freelance advertising, editorial or children's book markets, an animation or gaming studio, a publishing house, gallery or other venue, this course will introduce the components of the portfolio necessary for success. It includes development of both a traditional and on-line presence, discussions on specific industries, copyright issues, client contracts and pricing guidelines. Each student will create new work to augment their existing portfolio, as well as business cards, a resume, a contact list, invoice and letterhead. The course will also include visiting guest lecturers from a variety of industries. The focus will be to complete a portfolio that serves as a professional tool most suited to each individual's talent and aspirations.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration seniors only.

The visual journal is an invaluable tool in a young artist's development. Based on memory, dreams, fantasy, travel, and intuitive stirrings, each student's own journal will be the source of a group of paintings executed in a variety of mediums such as oil, acrylic and watercolor. In addition to their own journals, students may create images/paintings based on pertinent film, memoirs, essays, or other reflective texts by well-known and lesser-known authors. (Suggested references may include: Christopher Isherwood's I Am A Camera; Arthur Koestler, Darkness At Noon; Allen Ginsberg, Howl; Kerouac, On The Road; Elie Weisel, Night; Vladimir Nabokov, Speak Memory; Francis Ford Coppola, Apocalypse Now; Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar; William Styron, Darkness, Visible: A Memoir of Madness; Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly; Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels; Frank Baum, The Wizard of Oz.)

Major elective; open to non-majors junior and above as a non-major elective.

The Changing Narrative will explore the challenges and possibilities of innovative storytelling structure: non-linear, interactive, multimedia. In this class, students will create inventive work at the intersection of physical and digital media, the old and the new. Students will be introduced to classic dramatic structures across cultures-Asian Kishotenketsu, Freytag's pyramid, Shakespearean tragedy-and learn fundamental digital skills via class demonstrations and exercises. Drawing from these patterns and tools, students will then seek to unveil new storytelling possibilities granted by modern technology (computer animation, touch screen interaction, hypermedia) to traditional artforms (illustration, comics, gaming). What happens when a comic's panel starts to move? Where does a story go if the reader is allowed to make decisions? Students will investigate these creative avenues and create playful, hybrid stories.

Along the course of the semester, assignments will notably include short-form animated illustrations, experiments with gamebooks and cartoon strips, culminating in a final, long-form narrative project.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

This course fulfills EITHER the Illustration Concepts Elective requirement OR the Computer Literacy requirement, not both, for Illustration majors.

In this course students will learn to depict the human figure more effectively within a spatial and compositional context. The classical principles of pictorial design emphasized in the course will enable students to create compelling and visually dynamic work. These principles strengthen visual unity by strategically repeating various formal elements within an image while contrasting those elements in order to provide a sense of balance. Master works by Diebenkorn, Cassatt, Sorolla, Hopper, Degas, and Vermeer, among others, will be analyzed in order to gain insight from their compositions and use of color. Students will execute several small-- scale master studies to assimilate those lessons more deeply. Students will also explore the narrative potential of the human figure in context as they develop personal imagery. Sources for such imagery will be chosen by each student and may include observation, imagination, memory, photo reference or any combination thereof. Students may work in any color or monochromatic 2-D medium - drawing, painting, collage, mixed media, or digital - based on individual preference and expressive need. During each class, students will have the option to work from direct observation of human figures placed in environments. The models will be set in long poses to allow time for compositional and narrative ideas to develop. Students may also use class time to develop their own imagery from non-observational sources.

Major elective.

Open to all students; sophomore and above.

As the world's first print technique, woodcut had a profound affect on the development of all printing -especially the Japanese woodblock process which has influenced so many artists. It uses minimal technology, requiring only a sturdy table, a few simple cutting and inking tools, and a wooden spoon to print the block. Despite the simplicity of the medium, resulting prints are as individual as the artist who makes them. An artist is able to make many identical prints of their image, which makes woodcut a great tool for experimenting with your ideas. Whether you enjoy work with a bold graphic quality or a delicate organic line, woodcut is an ideal medium for those that enjoy the physicality of materials. The class will cover the basics of woodcut prints to gain an understanding of the three components of this process: color separation, carving, and printing. Participants will learn about the required materials and tools, how to safely and effectively cut an image into the woodblock, and how to print it. The class will focus on how to organize and print large scale, complex, nuanced multicolored woodcuts. Reduction and multi-block techniques will be shown as a means of developing personal imagery. This one-of-a- kind course gives students a traditional printmaking skill that is environmentally friendly, can be done at home, on any scale.

Major elective; open to non-majors junior and above as a non-major elective.

This course celebrates books of all kinds, for readers of all ages. We start by studying picture books for children and make our way through graphic novels (comics), the young adult novel, poetry, fiction for adults, etc. The last part of the semester is spent creating a book of your own choosing from one of these genres.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

Since before the time of Shakespeare, posters (or "broadsides" as they were called) have attracted the attention and sparked the imagination of viewers throughout the western world. The best posters are both visually striking and communicative. Designs usually incorporate image and text; but are often effective with either text or image alone.

In this class we will learn the essentials of silkscreen printing in the context of studying a bit of the history of poster design: from historic fine artists such as Toulouse-Lautrec and Alphonse Mucha, to more contemporary illustrators like Seymour Chwast and Shephard Fairey.

Students will be designing and printing several editions, experimenting with hand-drawn and digitally produced art and typography. The nature of the silkscreened image allows for investigation of various color palettes or structures for a single image. No printmaking or digital experience required.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

In this course, students will create a comprehensive visual essay on a topic that they propose. Participants will engage in extensive investigation and create a series of images that explore, reveal, and/or explain a particular subject or concept. Emphasis will be placed on the development of content through research, and the organization of consistent refined works through presentations that synthesize ideas as pictorial or graphic imagery that may include or refer to textual information. Final presentations may be printed, digital, exhibited as originals or include cross-platform or time-based imagery. A wide range of commercial applications and opportunities will be explored. The semester will begin with short projects that introduce useful skills and approaches. The remainder of the term will focus on a single conceptual endeavor. Contemporary and historic examples of visual essay will be examined and discussed. Student research may lead beyond campus.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

This course fulfills the Illustration Concepts Elective requirement for Illustration majors.

Throughout time, man has punctuated his existence with ritualized celebrations in honor, life, death, time, nature, love, God and country. Students will strive to invent imagery and objects inspired by those traditions but informed by a contemporary sensibility. The goal is to make art that piques the curiosity and engages the imagination through symbolism, structure, anticipation + revelation, humor and a surprise.

Major elective; Illustration majors Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor. This course fulfills the Illustration Concepts Requirement for Illustration majors.

This typography course is specifically designed for Illustration majors. We will study the fundamentals of typography including its history, theory and contemporary practical application. Lectures and exercises will build in complexity from the study of letter forms and the classification of typefaces, with an overview if their derivation, to the effective use of typography in single page design. A significant part of the course will be dedicated to understanding page dynamics including proportion, grid systems and color. The final project will be a poster design for a local non-profit organization.

Students will use Adobe Illustrator and InDesign throughout this course; so some basic computer experience will be helpful but not absolutely necessary. Students unfamiliar with InDesign are encouraged to take a tutorial on lynda.com before the class begins.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

Statement of Intent required; Permission of instructor required.

This course fulfills the Computer Literacy requirement for Illustration majors.

Virtual Reality Design for Palliative Care is a pilot course designed to allow students to experiment purposefully in the creation of virtual reality environments. We will measure the success of our work against a goal of providing comforting and liberating experiences for hospital patients with limited mobility, psychological or pain-management problems. The course proceeds from the assumption that the life experiences of the students, reinforced or modified by directed readings, can provide empathetic insight into visual, spatial and narrative elements that will prove positively reinforcing, uplifting and exciting to others, including those who might be facing significant medical challenges. Through learning about the medium of immersive virtual reality (3D computer graphics viewed through a head mounted display) the course will address the limitations of this medium as well as its exciting possibilities. We will seek to understand the nature of virtual space, points of similarity and difference with everyday experience. Various themes and templates will be the basis of our projects, exploring design metaphors and seeking insight and connection with the imagined experience of our prospective users.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration to juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.

Statement of Intent required; Permission of instructor required.

This course fulfills the Computer Literacy requirement for Illustration majors.

Building on the skills and sensibilities developed in ILLUS 2000: Visual Thinking, this course will address a range of strategic considerations important for the articulation of ideas. While emphasis will remain on methods for encouraging conceptual aptitude and innovation, there will be greater focus on specific forms of communication. Practical issues such as the nature of audience and the context for interpretation will be matters of concern, as will vehicles for communication and the handling of media. The basic aim of this course is to enable the student to discover a creative identity and develop an itinerary for upperclass study; its larger goal is to wed communicative purpose to artistic voice.

Major requirement; restricted to sophomore Illustration majors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor. Registration by Illustration Department, course not available via web registration.

This one-month workshop will be a practical exploration of perspective, both rules-based and optically determined, with an emphasis on its practical application in illustration, narrative, and concept art. The human figure both alone and in groups will be studied, as well as vehicles, architecture and landscapes. This course is emphatically not a diagrammatic treatment of perspective for architectural rendering, but rather a guide for getting it "right enough" and solving real-world representational challenges.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration during initial registration; open to Graphic Design and Industrial Design majors following initial registration period; open to other non-majors pending seat availability and permission of department.

Students must register for workshops during the registration period and add/drop regardless of start date of class.

This one-month workshop will explore the creation of integral line-and-wash analog paintings. Beginning with a history of line-and-wash painting and its significance in the progress of printing and illustration, the course will explore all the minutiae of combining ink line with watercolor wash, including brands of ink, relative waterfastness, and the effects of different nibs on the laying down of the line. A comparison of different papers and substrates for ink and wash, as well as the effect of texture on linework and wash application. Wet into wet techniques for both watercolor and ink application and the proper application of washes and buildup of color. Analysis of watercolor pigments and their application, with distinction made between transparent and semi-transparent pigments. Effects of black vs. colored linework.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration during initial registration; open to Graphic Design and Industrial Design majors following initial registration period; open to other non-majors pending seat availability and permission of department.

Students must register for workshops during the registration period and add/drop regardless of start date of class.

This is a four-week workshop intended as an introduction to pigments and fast-drying, water-based painting media for illustration. It will begin with an overview of pigments, their history, designation, properties, and differences. Students will be introduced to pigment suspensions as a convenient way to work with various water media, and to acrylic emulsions as an easy introduction to emulsion media. Subsequent weeks will discuss supports and tools as well as several other emulsion media such as casein, gouache, and egg tempera.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration during initial registration; open to Graphic Design and Industrial Design majors following initial registration period; open to other non-majors pending seat availability and permission of department.

Students must register for workshops during the registration period and add/drop regardless of start date of class.

As visual artists, we all have a story to tell.

One of the keys to creating a convincing narrative is persuading your viewers of the believability of the world into which you invite them. The creation of graphic novels, games, animations, movies and theater sets often start with a world guide - a document that fully describes the setting. Sometimes these are simply textual or visual references and sometimes they are books in their own right; but regardless of form, their purpose is to make sure that all the creative people working on a project will build a consistent "reality".

This course is intended to familiarize students with the process of generating and illustrating the visual parameters of an invented environment in which a story happens - defining first the umbrella under which the story unfolds, then establishing a more particular space/time/habitat that includes anything relevant to the story: environment, history, culture, clothing styles, architecture, animals, etc.

Beyond the invention of a setting for a visual narrative, in this course students will also learn how to design a style guide for intellectual property worlds (IP). Each will create a visual "bible" for envisioning their IP world-a document that clearly defines and describes the world within which the narrative unfolds.

Major elective; restricted to Illustration juniors and seniors; open to non-majors pending seat availability and permission of instructor.