BFA in Illustration

As a student in the Illustration degree program, you’ll broadly explore the different ways in which visual information can be formulated, studying the traditions of illustration while branching out into a wide variety of media, techniques, and processes, both traditional and digital. From this firm foundation, you’ll also be immersed in the conceptual development of artwork, learning how to present a concept using different styles.

Your focused study of illustration will be complimented by courses in drawing, digital imagery, art history, and studio electives, helping you broaden both your perspective and your notions of creative possibility.

You’ll also round your education out with a wide range of general education and art history courses that will stimulate your curiosity, broaden your perspective, and inspire new creative expressions. KCAD’s flexible General Education Pathways model empowers you to direct your learning by exploring subjects you find most engaging and relevant.

While earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration, you’ll master multiple illustration techniques in both traditional and emerging media. You’ll become a visual thinker and communicator, equipped with a universal language that bridges cultural, social, and generational gaps. You’ll use the power of visual rhetoric to engage, enlighten, and stimulate critical thinking and visceral responses from an audience. Ultimately, you’ll emerge as an aesthetically grounded and professionally versatile illustrator, able to powerfully convey meaning and message.

The Illustration degree program has long been one of KCAD’s core strengths. Launched in the early 1960s, the program has a rich history of fostering professional readiness and a strong track record of alumni success. The program’s small class sizes enable our faculty to get to know you as an individual, while you’ll come to see them as not just instructors, but as mentors and professional role models as well.

There’s also the matter of place: located in Grand Rapids, a mid-sized city that values art and design, KCAD acts as an incubator for focused artistic growth and cultural engagement. Location also means you’ll enjoy mid-size city living while being only hours away from the cultural wealth of larger cities like Chicago and Detroit.

Professional versatility is a core strength of the Illustration program. While you’ll be encouraged to explore your own style, you’ll have the creative flexibility to adapt to a wide variety of styles, which opens up a world of professional opportunities.

You’ll be well positioned to succeed as a freelance illustrator serving a broad spectrum of clientele, but you’ll also be prepared to pursue a more specialized career as an editorial illustrator, art director, cartoonist, storyboard illustrator, mural designer, or fashion illustrator.