My rising senior has wanted to major in animation and illustration for years. However, after spending some time taking classes at a well-respected art institute, she thinks she’d like to have the full college experience. Can anyone suggest a decent liberal arts type college/university that also has a good illustration program? Bonus for a good Creative Writing program. She’s got good stats, ECs, sports, so we can cast a wide net. She’s prefer to stay about 1000 miles from Salem, Oregon, but not necessary. My brain hurts.
1 Like
Hmmm..the combo of LAC + Illustration Major + within 1,000 miles of you might be a tough one. Illustration as a major is usually found in either art schools or universities, not in LACs. LACs usually just offer a general Studio Art major, and may or may not have faculty who can teach animation or illustration.
You might get better direction from the Facebook group called “Parents of Arts and Design Students”
There’s Occidental in LA, which has an art major (not sure how much focus on animation/illustration) and a media major, as well as the ability to take courses at the Art Center college of Design (I think that’s the name), a more art-institute type school, in nearby Pasadena. Also, the Claremont Colleges (3 of them at least, Pomona, Scripps and Pitzer) have art majors, and Pomona has a beautiful newish art building. They’d have the benefit of cross-registering at all 5 colleges so liberal arts type classes but in with more variety. I don’t know much about Whitman’s art program, in Walla Walla, but its a nice liberal arts school that you may want to explore for art offerings. Many liberal arts colleges will have art majors, but the extent to which they will have specialized illustration or animation classes will be mixed. If you’re thinking more animation-based, Loyola Marymount in LA has an animation major in its media school, and would have more of a broad college feel than a strictly art institute.
2 Likes
Hmm… Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland is part of Willamette University, but I am not sure how connected they actually are. PNCA does offer both illustration and creative writing.
Edited to add: here’s the press release about the 2021 merger which has some vague statements about collaboration but I think you’d have to talk to them to find out more about how much integration there actually is. Willamette Completes the Merge with PNCA | Willamette News
2 Likes
Thank you all for your responses. Perhaps I’m using the wrong limiting phrase when I say Liberal Arts…I just think my daughter wants to have a good “typical” college experience rather than strictly art, if that makes sense.
1 Like
She’s been looking at California State University, Long Beach…but also seems to be intrigued by Southern Utah University which is smaller and more “college town-ish” and is still accredited by the NASAD for illustration.
1 Like
We welcome comments!!
I’d heard that CS Long Beach had an animation program. 2 others that have been ranked high (I think by a magazine called animation arts or something like that) in Socal are Chapman, in Orange County, and USC (in their film school, so probably really really hard to get admitted). They’d both be part of bigger universities with sports teams, etc. I think another Cal State - maybe Northridge? – has an animation program also. DePaul in Chicago has an animation program but is part of a bigger school with lots of majors. One that’s far from you, but has a dedicated illustration program but is part of a bigger college with a quad and sports teams and dorms, is Pratt, in Brooklyn. It would feel more like an art institute, but part of a bigger college (with engineering, creative writing, and other majors).
3 Likes
It might be too far, but RIT has an Illustration BFA. It looks like it’s geared more toward marrying traditional with “digital” illustration if that is of any interest to her.
3 Likes
Does your D care whether it’s a BA/BS or a BFA?
I used this source to see how many first and second majors there were in these majors in 2022, as the size of a major can sometimes be a quick proxy to gauge the strength of a department. The number in parentheses is the number of Bachelor’s degrees awarded in 2022, and the mileage is the distance from Salem, OR. Please note that some of these schools have religious affiliations/practices that have a larger influence on campus life than at many other colleges where the religious affiliation is not as much of a differentiator in comparison with other colleges.
For illustration (as listed in IPEDS, federal database), the options are very slim in the western U.S.
- Brigham Young (20), 853 miles
- George Fox (12), 30 miles
- California Baptist (5), 951 miles
- Seattle Pacific (3), 223 miles
For animation, there are more options.
- Arizona State (87), 1298 miles
- U. of Hawaii - Manoa (64)…but too far away
- New Mexico State (43), 1632 miles
- Brigham Young (32), 853 miles
- U. of Idaho (24), 403 miles
- Chapman (23), 949 miles
- Colorado Mesa (16), 1092 miles
- Loyola Marymount (14), 921 miles
- Azusa Pacific (14), 935 miles
But it’s also entirely possible that there are a number of colleges where there might be a concentration within an art major or a studio art major rather than a standalone major, in which case those cases might not be classified as animation or illustration in IPEDS.
Below are some of the schools with fine/studio arts majors (with their 2022 totals), but I excluded colleges that are classified as commuter campuses (like Cal States Fullerton & Long Beach, San Jose State, & Portland State) as well as UC campuses (which will be more than $75k/year…but there are some on the list like UC-Santa Barbara, Berkeley, and Davis).
Fine/Studio Arts
- Colorado State (87)
- U. of Arizona (78)
- U. of Northern Colorado (67)
- Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo (54)
- Loyola Marymount (37)
- Western Colorado (33)
- Brigham Young (25)
- Washington State (23)
- U. of Redlands (22)
- Cal State-Chico (20)
- Biola (20)
- Stanford (16)
- U. of Idaho (16)
- Fort Lewis (16)
- Pacific Lutheran (15)
- U. of Southern California (14)
- Pomona (12)
- Santa Clara (11)
- Lewis & Clark (11)
- Southern Utah (11)
- Whitman (10)
- U. of Oregon (10)
- Willamette (9)
- Sonoma State (9)
- George Fox (9)
- Central Washington (8)
- Pitzer (6)
- Westminster (6)
- Colorado College (6)
- U. of San Francisco (5)
- Seattle U. (5)
- Scripps (5)
- Montana State (4)
If you let us know more about what your D is interested in from her college experience (besides art & creative writing), that can help folks to provide more targeted suggestions (and or to eliminate or highlight colleges in this post).
1 Like
How amazing for you to do this research for us! I don’t think she has a preference on the TYPE of degree…should she?
I am humbled by the research and info you provided…thank you!
4 Likes
This is not my area of expertise, but I believe that the distinction between a BS/BA in Art and a BFA in Art is similar to the distinction between a BS/BA in Music in a BSM in Music. So the linked thread is about music, but I believe the same is true about art. I believe that a BS/BA would be where a student might take 1/4-1/3 of their classes in their major, whereas in the BFA, it might be more like 2/3-3/4 of their classes are in their major. Hopefully someone with more expertise will pipe in, though.
1 Like
I looked on the WUE list hoping to stay close - Animation is at Colorado Mesa U, U Idaho and Utah Tech - plus Hawaii which might be a faster commute.
Illustration- at two year schools.
Creative Writing - Cal State San Bernardino, Sf State, Colorado State, Boise State, Idaho, Montana, southern Oregon, Portland State, Utah Tech, W Washington.
So Idaho comes up twice as does Utah Tech.
But you can look at at art departments at others that have creative writing to see if the curriculum fits.
For example, WWU has an Illustration Certificate (not major) and a creative writing major.
Hope that helps.
.
1 Like
@AustenNut should get an award for their college research contributions on CC! They are the best!
12 Likes
So…not in your geographic area but I’ll mention a few we considered that are strong in both illustration and creative writing… Also not sure if by “typical college experience” you mean big football/greek etc. or just “not purely an art school”. Among the ones I mention only two meet the first criteria
Illustration BFA and strong creative writing
Syracuse
Brown/RISD dual degree (tiny program…super hard)
Tufts/SMFA dual degree
Belmont University
Virginia Commonwealth University
RIT
Multidisciplinary Art BFA and strong creative writing
Wash U
U Mich
Brown University (not BFA but strong art and creative writing and you can take illustration courses at RISD)
2 Likes
If looking at CSUs, consider SJSU as well. However, animation / illustration is one of the more selective majors. Last cycle, frosh applicants needed a 3.8 HS GPA (as recalculated for CSU) and pass a portfolio review for admission.
SJSU is about half commuter, while CSULB is more than two thirds commuter.
1 Like
Maybe take at look at University of New Mexico.
Its film and digital art major offers an animation concentration.
UNM also has a creative writing major within the English dept.
Albuquerque and New Mexico have many resident authors, many of whom are genre writers in science fiction; fantasy; westerns; mystery; romance.
There is very active writer’s organization, New Mexico Writers, in ABQ that offers support to novice authors. Also the Rio Grande Valley Writers.
UNM’s fine arts dept is very highly regarded and well ranked nationally.
Netflix has 300 acres production facility in ABQ.
2 Likes