Illustration Courses
ILLUS 501G-01
GRADUATE ILLUSTRATION STUDIO I: PERCEPTION AND THE ART OF COMMUNICATION
SECTION DESCRIPTION
The first core studio in the program is centered on an investigation of the mechanics of articulating meaning in an image. Through a variety of projects, students will investigate the efficacy of various strategies in traditional and new media, and engage in perceptual experiments in order to study the intersection of art and visual psychology.
Estimated Cost of Materials: $25.00 - $150.00
Major Requirement | MFA Illustration
ILLUS 502G-01
SEMINAR: ISMS AND ILLUSTRATION: CRITICAL THEORY AND ILLUSTRATION HISTORY
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This seminar addresses key critical theory and socio-political aspects of illustration practices from a historical perspective. Reading, discussion, and meaningful integration of ideas into studio writing and activity are goals of the course. Class will meet two times per week including supported research times in various special collections and the library. Faculty determine the content of the seminar each term, balancing attention to issues defined by the expertise and interests of the graduate cohort and subjects of relevance to the field and professional practice. Theorists of special concern to contemporary illustration practice will be highlighted; statistics and technical information about communication media will illuminate how art objects have circulated in their own eras. Critical reading, writing, and presentation will be assessed.
Estimated Cost of Materials: $50.00 - $75.00
Major Requirement | MFA Illustration
ILLUS 503G-01
SPECIAL TOPICS: INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIO
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This studio elective - open to all RISD graduate students regardless of departmental affiliation-will address rotating topics and modes of making, thinking and discourse every semester. The structure and content of this course is designed to shift, enabling different topical investigations and a variety of expert faculty teaching special content in fall and spring of each year. This enables the flexibility for studio consideration of an ever-changing range of both topics and studio engagement. This course may be repeated for elective credit with permission of a student's graduate program director (GPD).
Estimated Cost of Materials: $0.00 - $150.00
Elective
ILLUS 601G-01
GRADUATE ILLUSTRATION STUDIO III: SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT AND AGENCY
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This course is predicated on deep student focus on social engagement and the societal benefits attached to their studio work. Students will investigate and critique methodologies of contemporary, socially engaged artists to develop their own progressive work in order to question and shift traditionally narrow and restrictive paradigms in Illustration that preference and reward the hegemonic at the expense of the progressive, dissident, and critical work needed to advocate for the historically underrepresented. Collaborative projects with local artists, individuals and community organizations will be encouraged and supported to directly connect students with local communities. Students will be required to present self-driven work periodically in response to selected topics, readings, and community discussion.
Estimated Cost of Materials: $0.00 - $150.00
Major Requirement | MFA Illustration
ILLUS 602G-01
GRADUATE THESIS PREPARATORY SEMINAR
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This course emphasizes the mining and contextualization of one's own work as a nexus for growth through the active, ongoing and evolving consideration of your own studio practice as a topic of study in itself. This work will spring from and shed light on your creative intuition, processes and outcomes in a way that will helps you to communicate your work to others through language. In turn, it is hoped this voicing of essential components of your work will help streamline your practice and expedite your artistic production.
Estimated Cost of Materials: $0.00 - $25.00
Major Requirement | MFA Illustration
LAEL 1030-01
HISTORY OF ILLUSTRATION
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This course surveys the history of illustration from prehistory 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 its sister arts. The required class includes lectures, critical writing and discussions, weekly readings, a research project involving museum or special collections objects, quizzes and a final exam. Textbook required. Textbooks will be on reserve at the RISD Library and available for purchase at a student discount. Study images are made available on Canvas.
Open to Sophomore Illustration Students.
Major Requirement | BFA Illustration
LAEL 1030-02
HISTORY OF ILLUSTRATION
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This course surveys the history of illustration from prehistory 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 its sister arts. The required class includes lectures, critical writing and discussions, weekly readings, a research project involving museum or special collections objects, quizzes and a final exam. Textbook required. Textbooks will be on reserve at the RISD Library and available for purchase at a student discount. Study images are made available on Canvas.
Open to Sophomore Illustration Students.
Major Requirement | BFA Illustration