Course General Description

A clever style was once thought to be the calling card for the professional illustrator. But in an age where images and artworks abound, visual artists must do more than deliver slick gimmicks—they must develop a real sensibility and create work that transcends trends. At SVA, we believe that an illustrator’s career can be as limitless as his or her imagination. We always encourage ambitious thinking—the innovator, not the imitator. We not only inspire and encourage a student’s imagination, but also teach the art of interpretation: the ability to carefully read and cross-reference texts, research visual styles, and conceptualize and produce significant bodies of work. With our junior thesis and senior portfolio curriculum, our students develop sophisticated and complete oeuvres, unlike the “patch-work portfolios” produced by many other art schools, which consist of students’ scattered responses to a variety of assignments, and don’t especially reveal their true personalities. Maybe it’s our commitment to unleashing those personalities that accounts for our student’s success in the illustration world—and why our students have landed, while they’ve been students, significant assignments for The New Yorker, The New York Press, Mad Magazine, and The Village Voice. Not a big surprise when you consider that our instructors tend to make their own waves. Whether it’s Stephen Savage, illustrator of The New York Times bestseller Polar Bear Night; or Jonathon Rosen, whose talents were evident to millions in Tim Burton’s and Johnny Depp’s blockbuster film Sleepy Hollow; whether it’s the faculty who’ve created award-winning magazines, book covers, posters, CD packages, opera sets, product designs, toys, US postage stamps, wallpaper for Prada décor, Van’s footwear, ad campaigns, book bags, lighters, compasses and t-shirts—we’re positioned to connect our students to the most lucrative illustration opportunities in the industry.

School General Description

Welcome to New York City, SVA’s hometown, and the leader of today’s creative economy, with more than 14,000 creative businesses and nonprofits. According to the EY Global Talent in Global Cities 2015 study, New York attracts more creative talent than any other city in the world because it “enjoys a unique cultural scene, embedded in a cosmopolitan and forward-thinking urban environment.” There is no better place to study, practice and work as a creative professional. Critique is a vital and challenging part of the educational experience in a college of art and design. Participating in this practice requires students to be open and vulnerable while they present their work for discussion and questioning, and to trust the transformative powers of the process in service of the work. Through the frequent repetition of this act of openness, students and faculty share and strengthen their humanity, empathy and kinship and their work evolves.