Art/Illustration Courses

Fashion Sketching

Discover the art of fashion sketching in this dynamic course designed for future fashion professionals and creative majors in graphic design or illustration. You’ll sharpen your ability to draw the clothed figure while learning how to bring fabrics, textures, and patterns to life on the page. Explore a variety of media, including graphite, ink, markers, charcoal, colored pencils, photocopy techniques, and mixed media, as you experiment with different approaches to design. Along the way, you’ll be encouraged to develop your own unique sketching style, building a portfolio of expressive and original work. (Degree Credit) (CSU)

Fundamentals of Cartooning

Step into the world of cartooning with this lively introduction to the art of visual storytelling. Learn the essentials of sketching, inking, and character development while exploring a variety of projects—from gag cartoons and political satire to creating your own weekly comic strip. Alongside hands-on practice, you’ll dive into the humor and drama of cartoon art, studying iconic Sunday funnies, legendary comic book heroes, and the evolution of comic art from 1895 to today. By the end of the course, you’ll have the tools to bring your characters to life and the insight to see where your style fits into the rich tradition of cartooning. (Degree Credit) (CSU)

ART 156 F Animal Drawing

Bring animals to life on the page in this course devoted to the art of classical animal drawing. Through the study of comparative anatomy, form construction, gesture, and motion, you’ll learn to capture both the structure and spirit of a wide variety of creatures. From the elegance of a horse in motion to the subtle power of a big cat at rest, this class blends technical skill with artistic expression, giving you the tools to create drawings that feel dynamic, accurate, and alive. (Degree Credit) (CSU)

Sketching for Animators and Illustrators

Unlock the skills behind professional animation and illustration in this fast-paced, hands-on course. Designed for aspiring artists, the class focuses on quick sketch visualization, expressive anatomy, freehand perspective, and the foundations of character and storyboard development. Whether you dream of bringing characters to life on screen or crafting powerful illustrations, you’ll sharpen your ability to draw with clarity, energy, and purpose, building the visual storytelling skills essential for success in the commercial art world. (Degree Credit) (CSU)

Children's Book Illustration

Step into the imaginative world of children’s picture books in this course devoted to visual storytelling, page by page. You’ll explore the history, methods, and markets of children’s publishing while studying the essential components of illustrated stories for young readers. Through research, creative exercises, and immersion in classic and contemporary works, you’ll learn how to shape mood, theme, and style into a cohesive visual narrative. Emphasis is placed on developing a clear, efficient creative process, from early sketches and page layouts to polished illustrations, that brings stories to life in children’s terms. (Degree Credit) (CSU)

Illustration

Take your ideas from thumbnail sketches to polished, professional illustrations in this comprehensive course. Through lectures and projects, you’ll explore the challenges of creating finished artwork for a wide range of fields, from books, newspapers, and magazines to conceptual design for products, electronic entertainment, theme parks, and motion pictures. With a strong emphasis on industry standards, the course guides you through the creative and technical skills needed to succeed as a professional illustrator. Projects are tailored to help you build a compelling, industry-ready portfolio that showcases your versatility and artistic voice. (Degree Credit) (CSU)

Advanced Illustration

Take your illustration skills to the next level in this advanced course, designed to challenge and accelerate your creative problem-solving from thumbnail sketches to polished final art. You’ll focus on professional illustration for printed media—including books, newspapers, and magazines—as well as for electronic entertainment, theme parks, and the motion picture industry. Projects are crafted to refine your technical abilities, expand your artistic vision, and help you build a versatile, industry-ready portfolio that demonstrates both skill and creativity. (Degree Credit) (CSU)

Sketching For Animators and Illustrators: Traditional Media

Dive into the professional world of entertainment art in this hands-on course, where traditional media techniques are used to bring ideas to life. You’ll learn to take concepts from rapid sketches to finished artwork using watercolor, markers, pen and ink, and colored pencils. Emphasis is placed on developing practical skills for creating compelling visuals in the entertainment industry, combining speed, precision, and artistic expression. (Degree Credit) (CSU)

Independent Study: Illustration

This independent study offers students the opportunity to deepen their understanding of illustration through focused exploration of creative design, technical skills, and mastery of craft. Guided by an instructor, you’ll have the flexibility to pursue personalized projects that challenge and expand your artistic abilities. Instructor approval is required. (Degree Credit) (CSU) (UC review required)

Introduction to Digital Arts

Explore the exciting world of digital media in this hands-on course designed to teach you how to create, manipulate, and output a wide range of images. You’ll develop foundational skills using a variety of visual arts software while gaining a clear understanding of the principles behind digital graphics and computer technology. Through extensive hands-on projects, you’ll build a portfolio, gain practical experience with hardware and software, and prepare yourself to advance confidently in the dynamic field of digital media. (CSU) (Degree Credit)

Photoshop for Digital Arts

Dive into the world of digital image creation with this hands-on course in Adobe Photoshop. You’ll learn to input, create, manipulate, and output a wide variety of images while building essential design skills. Along the way, you’ll gain a clear understanding of the principles behind digital graphics and image manipulation. Extensive practice with computers and hardware will help you develop a professional portfolio and the real-world experience needed to advance in the exciting field of digital media. (CSU) (Degree Credit)

Introduction to Web Graphics 

Step into the world of web design in this hands-on course, where you’ll explore page layout, navigation, graphics, animation, video, and sound for the Internet. Over the semester, you’ll create both an assigned website and a personal website, putting your skills into real-world practice. This course serves as a gateway to a web design certificate, giving you the foundation to pursue more advanced study in the areas that spark your greatest interest. (CSU) (Degree Credit)

Practical Color Techniques for Digital Media

Bring your digital artwork to life with color in this dynamic, hands-on course. Explore bold and subtle ways to apply, manipulate, and experiment with color to create striking visual effects and convey mood, emotion, and storytelling in digital media. Through immersive projects and creative exercises, you’ll push the boundaries of traditional color theory, develop a unique visual voice, and build a portfolio that truly pops. (CSU) (Degree Credit)

Fundamentals of Digital Media Design

Jump into the world of digital design with this hands-on course, where you’ll learn the essential principles and techniques behind creating compelling digital media. Explore how to combine imagery, typography, color, and layout to communicate ideas effectively across a variety of platforms. Through guided projects and practical exercises, you’ll build a solid foundation in digital media design and begin developing a portfolio that showcases your creativity and technical skill. (CSU) (Degree Credit)

Digital Drawing 

This course covers the use of digital-based software applications  combined with digital drawing tablets and touch sensitive digital  monitors. This course also prepares the student to meet industry  standards and requirements for working digitally inside entertainment  art production companies. (CSU) (Degree Credit)  

Vector Graphics 

Discover the power of vector-based design in this hands-on introduction to digital tools for creating artwork ready for publication. You’ll learn how to craft crisp, scalable visuals, from illustrations and logos to layouts, while exploring the creative possibilities of digital media. Extensive computer-based projects will help you build a professional portfolio and gain the practical experience today’s employers and clients are looking for. (CSU) (Degree Credit)

Digital Drawing 

This course covers the use of digital-based software applications  combined with digital drawing tablets and touch sensitive digital  monitors. This course also prepares the student to meet industry  standards and requirements for working digitally inside entertainment  art production companies. (CSU) (Degree Credit)  

 Digital Drawing: Dynamic Sketching

Bring your ideas to life in this accelerated digital drawing course. Using SketchBook Pro and Photoshop, you’ll learn to turn scripts into dynamic sketches while building essential draftsmanship and problem-solving skills. Perfect for animators, illustrators, and game designers, this course takes you from concept to finished design with creativity and speed.(CSU) (Degree Credit)  

Introduction to Digital Painting

This course introduces students to Adobe Photoshop, the most widely used application for digital painting in the entertainment industry. The course focuses on digital painting techniques within Photoshop and how these techniques can be applied to creating digital artwork.  (CSU) (Digital Credit) 

Intermediate Digital Painting

Grow your skills in intermediate digital painting with Photoshop, focusing on intermediate design-thinking, treatments, techniques, and Storytelling. Through assignments modeled after real projects you’ll expand your creative toolkit and strengthen the techniques needed to thrive in entertainment design. (CSU) (Degree Credit)

Advanced Digital Painting

This course is based upon increasing mastery of digital painting technique  using adobe Photoshop to create vehicle design, character  creation, and environmental design. Class assignments are geared around  daily job requirements within the entertainment industry for gaming and  animation. (CSU) (Degree Credit)

3D Animation

Bring characters to life in this introductory course on rigging and animation using Autodesk Maya, the industry standard for 3D entertainment. You’ll learn how to build and apply rigs, then animate characters in 3D space by putting the 12 Principles of Animation into practice. Through hands-on projects, you’ll create expressive performances that capture movement, personality, and emotion. Final renders will combine animation with sound and other media, preparing you to design content for film, television, video games, and beyond. (CSU) (Degree Credit)

2D Computer Animation

Explore the art of 2D animation in this hands-on course using Toon Boom's Harmony, the industry standard for the animation industry. Students will learn the tools and techniques to bring drawings to life, creating moving objects and characters in 2D space. Final projects may integrate sound, text, graphics, and video, with applications ranging from cartoons and animated shorts to games, educational media, websites, and creative self-expression. By the end of the course, students will have a strong foundation in digital 2D animation and a portfolio of original work ready for multiple platforms. (CSU) (Degree Credit)

Motion Graphics and Special Effects

Dive into the world of motion graphics in this hands-on course, where students will use Adobe After Effects, digital compositions, alongside edelkrone sliders and cranes to create dynamic camera movements, and special effects. You’ll learn to integrate graphics, video, and audio to produce polished multimedia projects for video, installations, and mobile platforms. Through practical exercises and guided projects, students will develop a professional portfolio, gain industry-proven skills to bring visual ideas to life across multiple digital media formats. (CSU) (Degree Credit)

Introduction to Maya 3D

Step into the world of 3D design with this hands-on introduction to Autodesk Maya, focusing on polygonal modeling techniques. Students will combine technical skills with creative problem-solving, learning to design models for the entertainment industry. The course emphasizes design fundamentals, including thumbnail creation and silhouette sketching, to guide and strengthen your modeling solutions. By the end of the course, students will have a solid foundation in 3D modeling and a portfolio of original work ready for games, animation, and film. (CSU) (Degree Credit)

Intermediate Maya: Organic Modeling

Take your 3D skills to the next level in this intermediate Maya course, focusing on organic modeling, texturing, and lighting for the entertainment and game industries. Building on the fundamentals learned in DART 104 F, students will create more complex organic models of characters, while exploring natural, fluid forms in their designs. Assignments emphasize both technical mastery and creative problem-solving, helping students build a diverse portfolio of polished 3D work suitable for animation, games, and film. (CSU) (Degree Credit)

3D Modeling: Hard-Surface Modeling

Advance your 3D modeling skills in this intermediate course, with a strong focus on hard-surface modeling for vehicles, environments, and mechanical objects. Using Autodesk Maya, students will explore intermediate modeling techniques to create precise, detailed models. The emphasis is on mastering technical, industrial-style forms and complex surfaces. Projects are designed to build both creativity and technical expertise, helping students develop a professional portfolio suitable for games, animation, and film. (CSU) (Degree Credit)

Intro to 3D Texturing

This course is an introduction course to 3D texturing using Adobe Photoshop and Substance 3D Painter as the texturing software for 3D models created with Autodesk's Maya, Blender, etc.  Students will learn key terminology, conduct research, and digitally paint textures - color, displacement, specularity, etc, on 3D models used for animation. (CSU) (Degree Credit) 

3D Animation

Bring characters to life in this introductory course on rigging and animation using Autodesk Maya, the industry standard for 3D entertainment. You’ll learn how to build and apply rigs, then animate characters in 3D space by putting the 12 Principles of Animation into practice. Through hands-on projects, you’ll create expressive performances that capture movement, personality, and emotion. Final renders will combine animation with sound and other media, preparing you to design content for film, television, video games, and beyond. (CSU) (Degree Credit)

Intro to Character Animation & Rigging 

Bring 3D characters to life in this introductory course on rigging and animation using Autodesk Maya, the industry-standard software for film, games, and television. Students will learn to build and implement character rigs to create believable, expressive performances. Final projects integrate additional media such as sound, producing polished animations suitable for a wide range of visual media. By the end of the course, students will have a strong foundation in character animation and a portfolio of dynamic, professional-quality work. (CSU) (Degree Credit)

Intro to Digital Sculpting with ZBrush

Discover the art of digital sculpting in this introductory course using Maxon's ZBrush. Students will learn to create high-resolution 3D models that mimic the tactile experience of traditional clay sculpting, exploring tools and techniques for shaping, detailing, and refining digital forms. Projects focus on developing sculpted characters, creatures, and objects for use in film, games, and animation, allowing students to build a professional portfolio while mastering a key industry-standard tool. (CSU) (Degree Credit)

Introduction to 3D Printing & Fabrication

Dive into the world of 3D printing in this hands-on course, exploring additive manufacturing from digital concept to finished physical model. Students will manipulate 3D files using Autodesk MeshMixer, prepare and slice files for printing, and refine their creations with traditional finishing techniques. Projects focus on producing polished pieces for a variety of industries, including entertainment, consumer products, medical/biotech, automotive, and manufacturing, giving students practical experience and a professional portfolio. (CSU) (Degree Credit)