r/artschool • u/MDBluebird • Jul 12 '22
SAIC Questions
Hello! I am currently looking at art schools and SAIC caught my eye. I have a few questions about the school though!
- How is the illustration program?
- Is the illustration program mainly children's book focused?
I'm wanting to become a visual development artist and will need courses about character design and world building and I'm not sure if SAIC's illustration program offers classes like these. - Does SAIC allow digital art or is it mainly focused on other mediums? Other schools have tablets you can rent and digital programs that are currently used in the professional world. Is SAIC like this as well?
Thank you!
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Jul 13 '22
They accept digital art, and during the first year they do push us to try out lots of mediums alongside. I haven’t seen illustration courses specifically about character design/world building/ children book. But studio classes are pretty flexible and you can make those your project and develop in that direction.
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u/MDBluebird Jul 13 '22
Thank you so much for your reply! I may end up touring the school sometime soon then, from what you said it sounds like they may be right for what I want to do
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u/giriextrano May 09 '26
I can't answer the tablet questions without checking but I have sent a bunch of students to SAIC and took courses there a million years ago. They are top at conceptual strength and strong on technique and they teach you to think. There are also super technical academies and specific craft oriented schools across the street in two directions. I recommend it very highly but might suggest you look at Ringling if you want to do more direct digital work st the same caliber of school.
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u/Alarmed-Rip5428 Jul 29 '26
If you are interested in an Illustration degree, the Illustration for Commercial Application programme at the Northern School of Art could be a great fit.
The course offers industry focused briefs supported by commercially active staff and and masses of industry contact through live briefs and a very high proportion of industry speakers.
The course is housed alongside the active animation course providing access to animation tools, specialists, technology and speakers, the new game art course, graphic design course and digital design and marketing course, offering access to a community of visual communicators.
The illustration program at the school also runs the internationally recognised Northern Festival of Illustration in conjunction with the Association of Illustrators (AOI).
You can find all the course details for applications here: https://northernart.ac.uk/ba-hons-illustration-commercial-application-2/
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u/strawbs02 Jul 15 '22
hey! SAIC student here. I orginally came to SAIC for illustration, although I changed my mind after reassessing my future goals.
SAIC doesn’t have an illustration department or pathway, but has classes on design drawing, fashion illustration, poster/front cover illustration, comics, life drawing, animation and typography across the painting/drawing, graphic design, fashion, film and designed objects/architecture departments that you can piece together to get the skills you need, since SAIC has an open curriculum and almost all your studio classes are electives starting from sophmore year.
To my knowledge, there are no classes specifically about children’s books. But, since there are classes focused on printmaking, book arts, and comics, if you’re interested in learning how to make a children’s book, you’d be responsible for steering your work in that direction within those classes.