Two-Dimensional Animation concentrates on traditional drawing skills to create perspective and character, with the computer taking a secondary production role. When you choose the 2D major, you'll develop your skills through life drawing, composition, and perspective courses. While these are the same practices an illustrator or painter would use, your classes will specifically focus on drawing for animation, stressing the importance of anatomy, character design, and line of action. Of course, you'll also learn how to make your drawings move. In addition to the technological skills of image capture and manipulation, matte generation & keying, and kierarchy & keyframe animation, you'll also study clean up, doping, modeling, sluggging, and storyboarding. Most importantly, in the 2D program, you'll gain a strong foundation in animation that will be fundamental to your career in the industry. Your classical skllls will be an asset in the booming worlds of both 2D and 3D animation.

With Three-Dimensional Animation, computers take center stage. While you'll still be drawing your characters and scene, your pen will actually be a stylus, mouse, and keyboard. You'll start with the essential skills of life drawing, composition, and character design, but you'll have much more emphasis on the 3D techniques of modeling, texturing, and lighting. You'll learn to mimic reality as closely as possible, down to the shadow on a lamppost or how a gentle breeze would affect the furry coat of a Labrador. We have the latest in computer hardware and software, so you'll learn on the best of the best. You'll study a variety of applications used in the industry, including Photoshop, Maya, Lightwave 3D, Solo, Combustion, AfterEffects and more. By the time you graduate, you'll be well prepared to enter this exciting and expanding field.

The Art Education - Illustration major combines the organizational and social skills of a teacher with the technical and conceptual skills of an illustrator. In addition to the classroom-centric classes all Art Education majors take, Illustration-track students focus on the art of visual storytelling. Above all, illustrators are communicators, and here you'll learn how to communicate with your art. You'll learn technique, visual perception, conceptual problem solving and how to use a variety of the tools of the trade: paint, charcoal, pen and ink, and the latest in computer software to name but a few. After establishing a strong foundation in your preliminary art and design classes, you'll get to dive into what illustration is all about with classes in human and animal anatomy, figure drawing, and ultimately developing and promoting your own portfolio. These skills, combined with your classroom experience, prepare you for a successful future split between two passions: teaching and art.

The Art Education - Painting major combines the organizational and social skills of a teacher with the technical and conceptual skills of a painter. In addition to the classroom-centric classes all Art Education majors take, these students focus on developing the critical thinking skills necessary to be a professional painter. Your painting courses will expose you to a broad range of studio and educational experiences. Your required classes will cover the fundamentals of painting and drawing: capturing the human figure and landscape, concept, color, composition, and the ever-expanding types of media that are used in today's art world. Your required classes are only one piece of the puzzle-you can also take a number of electives from every branch of the department: ceramics, photography, video, and more. These skills, combined with your classroom experience, prepare you for a successful future split between two passions: teaching and art.

The Art Education - Sculpture major combines the organizational and social skills of a teacher with the technical and conceptual skills of a sculptor. In addition to the classroom-centric classes all Art Education majors take, these students focus on exploring new media in the world of sculpture. Moving far beyond simple formed clay, our program reaches across disciplines and incorporates all sorts of materials including wood, fabrics, metals and ceramics. You'll also become well-versed in unconventional approaches to art: installation, interactivity, conceptual projects, and performance art. Your sculpture classes will cover explorations of the creative process, sharpening your visual thinking skills, understanding real-world exhibition concerns, and of course, creating art with a whole host of traditional and contemporary materials. These skills, combined with your classroom experience, prepare you for a successful future split between two passions: teaching and art.

Photography and video have been rapidly evolving in recent years. The way we teach about photography and video straddles the worlds of film and digital to help you discover all you really need to know-how to make an arresting image come to life. You'll begin by learning the basics: black and white photography. This will give you the foundation you need including camera operation, film processing, and printing in the school's darkrooms. From there you'll explore color photography and advanced printing techniques along with the zone system, toning, studio lighting, photography in the digital age, and the use of alternative cameras and papers. Video is used in a growing number of artistic ways: installation, performance, experimental narrative and documentary, single-channel video art works, and interdisciplinary projects. Our video courses will teach you basic production and editing skills while encouraging you to use electronic media as a creative tool for personal expression.

The field of children's books is a continually expanding market for illustrators. If you choose to specialize in this area, you'll find four track-specific classes that encourage the necessary scholarship, studio methods, and business practices to unlock creative artwork: Writing for Children's Books In this course you'll learn how to create stories that attract a child's natural interest in plot, character, and location. Children's Book Illustration 1 + 2 These two technical and conceptual courses will challenge you to turn your stories into lively images that follow the professional requirements for publication and, most importantly, are effective in capturing the attention of a young audience. Character Design The details of character development, movement and style are the general instruction in this fourth course in the specialization sequence. Assignments include two- and three-dimensional explorations meant to develop distinct personalities, appealing to a child's imagination.

While all of our Interior Design courses use green practices whenever possible, you can opt to take your environmental commitment further by choosing our Green Design Area of Specialization. This unique program gives you a professional leg up¬-since the demand for sustainable design is growing every day¬-and the reassurance that your designs won't harm people or the environment. The specific green courses you'll take will cover sustainable materials and methods for construction and interior applications. Through field trips, site visits, guest lecturers and in-class discussions, you'll learn about alternative energy sources, resource conservation, and how to build a truly "green" portfolio. As one of the few dedicated Green Interior Design programs in the country, RMCAD grads have a distinct advantage over their competitors when it comes to finding jobs in a culture that is increasingly dedicated to the practices of sustainability.

Our courses will challenge and extend your definition of sculpture. Moving far beyond simple formed clay, our program reaches across disciplines and incorporates all sorts of materials including wood, fabrics, metals and ceramics. In addition to pushing the envelope with materials, you'll become well-versed in unconventional approaches to art: installation, relational aesthetics, electronics, interactivity, conceptual projects, performance art, eco art, and trans-disciplinary actions. Your sculpture classes will cover explorations of the creative process, sharpening your visual thinking skills, understanding real-world exhibition concerns, and of course, creating art with a whole host of traditional and contemporary materials. Like other Fine Arts majors, our Sculpture students are encouraged to take classes from every arm of the department. By building your skills in printmaking, photography, or even jewelry making, you'll strengthen your future contribution as a professional artist.

When you choose painting as your focus area, you'll tackle a series of courses that help expand your definition of art and develop the critical thinking skills necessary to be a successful artist. These courses will expose you to a broad range of studio and educational experiences. Your required classes will cover the fundamentals of painting and drawing: capturing the human figure and landscape, concept, color, composition, format, theme, and the ever-expanding types of media that are used in today's art world. Your required classes are only one piece of the puzzle-you'll also take a number of electives from every branch of the department: ceramics, figure studies, experimental media, photography, two- and three-dimensional media and video. These electives will help you further explore other areas of Fine Arts and make you a more well-rounded artist.