Painting & Drawing Undergraduate Overview

With up to 80 courses offered in the Department of Painting and Drawing, it’s clear why the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is one of the leading schools for painting and drawing in the country. Students pursuing a bachelor’s degree in fine arts have the choice, freedom, and openness to design a painting and drawing curriculum tailored to their creative needs. Through rigorous course studies, students develop the skills and conceptual foundations necessary for a sustainable art practice.

One of the Best Painting Schools in the US

The department’s unique and experimental approach to learning challenges students to explore a wide variety of courses designed to help them grow as artists. 

Courses include:

1. Painting Practice Classes: This is an introductory prerequisite course for all other painting classes. It is taught by a variety of faculty, each with their own unique teaching style. Students learn the fundamentals of painting with a strong emphasis on developing proficiency with fundamental formal and material processes. Students also become familiar with various forms of visual and critical engagement in order to catalyze their conceptual development.

2. ​Painting Studio: Multi-Level Classes: These classes offer a fertile environment for the development of individual practice while advancing technical skill. General sections are open to students who have completed Painting Practice. Advanced, topic-based sections are also available. Topics include, but are not limited to:

  • The Abstract Image
  • Cheap TV
  • Conceptual Approach
  • The Dream
  • Exploding Paint
  • Expressionism
  • Funny Painting
  • Painting after Painting

3. Studio Drawing: Multi-Level Classes: Taught by a diverse group of faculty who approach drawing with critical rigor, students learn and develop drawing fundamentals. They also explore experimental, narrative, and conceptual approaches with different media. General sections, as well as specialized, topic-based sections are available without prerequisite course requirements. Topics include, but are not limited to: 

  • Wild Combination
  • Mixed Media
  • Abstraction/Representation
  • Ink Painting: the Brush of Zen
  • Large Format Painting
  • Collage: Concepts and Techniques
  • Landscape Narratives​

In addition to fundamental skill-building courses, undergraduate students are encouraged to explore drawing and painting courses in areas that drive their practice forward. These include figure drawing and painting, materials and techniques, comics, and more.

Figure Drawing and Painting Classes

Dedicated to the study of the body, these classes prioritize various approaches to the line, shape, volume, and anatomy of the human form. Approaches range from perceptually traditional to radically conceptual. Topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Anatomy
  • Figures in Space
  • Large Format
  • The Portrait
  • Advanced: Inside and Out
  • Advanced: Narrative Figuration
  • Advanced: Photo to Memory

Materials and Techniques Classes

These courses in painting, offered in our new state-of-the-art StudioLab, focus on the production, preparation, and application of various traditional and contemporary paint systems. Students have the opportunity to make their own paints and drawing materials, such as:

  • Egg tempera
  • Gesso
  • Casein
  • Encaustic
  • Oil paint
  • Advanced acrylic processes
  • Silverpoint
  • Conte-crayon
  • Walnut ink 

Students are also encouraged to develop their own material processes and recipes.

Comics Classes

These courses are taught in classrooms dedicated to the specific needs of comic production. They cover aspects of narrative development, cell layout, illustration, zine creation, and a variety of other approaches. Topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Autobiography
  • Advanced Comics
  • Capstone: Publish or Perish
  • Cartooning the Figure
  • Drawing Outside the Boxes
  • Independent Comics

Sophomore Seminars, Professional Practices, and Senior Capstone Classes

The Academic Spine is a required three-course sequence for all undergraduate degrees. The three courses provide a structure of peer support and intensive faculty mentoring as students navigate SAIC’s open curriculum. Learn more about the Academic Spine

Advanced Painting Studio: Each semester, advanced students can apply to one of two sections of Advanced Painting Studio. Students share dedicated, private studio spaces from one to three consecutive semesters, working with faculty members three days per week. In many ways, this highly competitive course begins to approach the intensity of a graduate program, requiring dedicated independent studio practice and rigorous conceptual development.

Summer Institute: Painting Residency/Drawing Residency: These three-week summer intensives are taught in the Advanced Painting studios. Offering a residency experience, students are provided with an individual studio space and instruction from two faculty members. While studio practice is primary, topical lectures and periodic visits to the Art Institute of Chicago are a consistent attribute of the course.

Work by Painting & Drawing Students

Students have a variety of opportunities to exhibit their work, including in the fall and spring undergraduate and graduate exhibitions celebrating the culminating work of graduating students. 

  • Image
    A large abstract painting with bright oranges, pinks, yellows, and blues.

    Jayden Vie, Spring Undergraduate Exhibition 2025

    Jayden Vie, Spring Undergraduate Exhibition, 2025
    Image
    An artwork in the foreground depicting a red house and watermelons, and an artwork in the background depicting a star.

    Spring Undergraduate Exhibition 2025

    Spring Undergraduate Exhibition, 2025
    Image
    A painting of a woman by a river on one gallery wall, two smaller paintings on the opposite wall.

    Spring Undergraduate Exhibition 2025

    Spring Undergraduate Exhibition, 2025
    Image
    Four vertical paintings hanging next to each other featuring women in different poses.

    Spring Undergraduate Exhibition 2025

    Spring Undergraduate Exhibition, 2025
    Image
    Two square paintings, one of a person's mouth, and one of a walrus, hang in a gallery.

    Spring Undergraduate Exhibition 2025

    Spring Undergraduate Exhibition, 2025

Admissions Requirements & Curriculum Overview

  • To apply to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), you will need to fill out an application and submit your transcripts, artist's statement, and letters of recommendation. And most importantly, we require a portfolio of your best and most recent work. The portfolio will give us a sense of you, your interests, and your willingness to explore, experiment, and think beyond technical art, design, and writing skills.

    In order to apply, please submit the following items:  


    Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Portfolio
    Submit 10-15 pieces of your best and most recent work. We will review your portfolio and application materials for merit scholarship once you have been admitted to SAIC.

    When compiling a portfolio, you may concentrate your work in a single discipline or show work in a breadth of media. The portfolio may include: 

    • Drawings
    • Prints
    • Photographs
    • Paintings
    • Film
    • Video
    • Audio recordings
    • Sculpture
    • Ceramics
    • Fashion designs
    • Graphic design
    • Furniture
    • Objects
    • Architectural designs
    • Websites
    • Video games
    • Sketchbooks
    • Scripts
    • Storyboards
    • Screenplays
    • Zines
    • Or any combination of the above.

  • Studio

    69

    • CP 1010 Core Studio Practice I (3)
    • CP 1011 Core Studio Practice II (3)
    • CP 1020 Research Studio I (3)
    • CP 1022 Research Studio II (3)
    • SOPHSEM 2900 (3)
    • PROFPRAC 3900 (3)
    • CAPSTONE 4900 (3)
    • Studio Electives (48)

     

    Art History

    15

    • ARTHI 1001 World Cultures/Civilizations: Pre-History—19th Century Art and Architecture (3)
    • Art History Elective at 1000 level (3)
    • Art History Electives (9)

     

    Liberal Arts

    30

    • ENGLISH 1001 First Year Seminar I (3)
    • ENGLISH 1005 First Year Seminar II (3)
    • Natural Science (6)
    • Social Science (6)
    • Humanities (6)
    • Liberal Arts Electives (6)

     

    General Electives

    6

    • Studio, Art History, Liberal Arts, AAP, or EIS

     

    Total Credit Hours

    120

    * BFA students must complete at least 6 credit hours in a class designated as "off campus study." These credits can also fulfill any of the requirements listed above and be from any of the divisions (Art History, Studio, Liberal Arts, or General Electives).

    BFA With Distinction—SAIC Scholars Program: The SAIC Scholars program is a learning community of BFA students pursuing rigorous study in both their academic coursework and their studio pathways. There are two opportunities for interested students to apply to the SAIC Scholars Program: at the time of admission to the school, and after they have completed 30 credits of study at SAIC. Students pursuing the latter option are required to formally submit an application to the Undergraduate Division. Once admitted to the SAIC Scholars Program, students are required to successfully complete a minimum of six designated scholars courses. Students who complete the program will graduate with distinction.

    BFA in Studio with Thesis Option (Liberal Arts or Visual Critical Studies)

    BFA students may complete a nine-credit, research-based academic thesis as part of their studies within the 126 credits for the BFA in Studio degree. BFA with Thesis course sequences are offered over 3 semesters through the departments of Liberal Arts or Visual and Critical Studies (VCS). Students who are interested in one of the thesis options should follow the steps outlined below in the beginning of the junior year.

    Requirements for the BFA: Studio Art with Liberal Arts Thesis

    Step One: Students are required to meet with the Chair of the Liberal Arts department in the beginning of their junior year. 

    Step Two: With the Department Chair's approval, the student enrolls in the following courses beginning in the spring term of their junior year:

    • SOCSCI or HUMANITY 3900 Academic Research and Writing (3 credits)
    • LIBARTS 4800 Undergraduate Thesis: Research/Writing I (3 credits)
    • CAPSTONE 4900 Liberal Arts Undergraduate Thesis: Research/Writing II (3 credits)

    Step Three: The completed thesis must be approved by both the Thesis II instructor and the Chair of Liberal Arts. Students must make a formal presentation and participate in the Undergraduate Thesis Symposium in their senior year. 

    Requirements for the BFA: Studio Art with Visual and Critical Studies (VCS) Thesis

    Step One: Students are required to meet with the Visual and Critical Studies Undergraduate Coordinator in or by the beginning of their junior year.

    Step Two: With the VCS Coordinator's approval, the student enrolls in the first of the three-course sequence beginning in the spring term of their junior year:

    • VCS 3010 Tutorial in Visual & Critical Studies (3 credits)
    • VCS 4800 Undergraduate Thesis Seminar: Research & Writing I (3 credits)
    • CAPSTONE 4900 VCS Undergraduate Thesis Seminar: Research & Writing II (3 credits)

    Step Three: Completion of thesis must be approved by both the Thesis II instructor and the VCS Undergraduate Coordinator. Students must make a formal presentation and participate in the Undergraduate VCS Thesis Symposium in the senior year.

    Total credits required for minimum residency

    66

    Minimum Studio credit

    42

    Learn more about applying to SAIC's Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio, or view our portfolio preparation guide for more information.

Course Listing

Title Catalog Instructor Schedule

Description

The Department of Painting and Drawing offers a wide variety of comics courses, ranging from traditional to experimental methods and techniques. Each course is designed to focus on a specific area of comics production. To learn more about the topic of a specific comics course in which you are interested, please review the course description for that particular class.

Class Number

1197

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels, Books and Publishing

Location

280 Building Rm 306

Description

This team-taught class is an intensive, three-week immersion in comics. The faculty consists of two SAIC faculty members and one visiting-artist-in-residence, working in a studio alongside students. Students work with faculty one-on-one, participate in group critiques, and attend lectures prepared by the faculty members.

Class Number

1199

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels, Books and Publishing

Location

MacLean Center 11th Floor

Description

This team-taught class is an intensive, three-week immersion in comics. The faculty consists of two SAIC faculty members and one visiting-artist-in-residence, working in a studio alongside students. Students work with faculty one-on-one, participate in group critiques, and attend lectures prepared by the faculty members.

Class Number

1199

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels, Books and Publishing

Location

MacLean Center 11th Floor

Description

This team-taught class is an intensive, three-week immersion in comics. The faculty consists of two SAIC faculty members and one visiting-artist-in-residence, working in a studio alongside students. Students work with faculty one-on-one, participate in group critiques, and attend lectures prepared by the faculty members.

Class Number

1199

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels, Books and Publishing

Location

MacLean Center 11th Floor

Description

This course explores the interpretation of the landscape using both drawing and painting mediums. The class works both inside and outside of the studio, taking advantage of the natural and architectural sites of Chicago adjacent to the School.

Class Number

1195

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Location

280 Building Rm 305

Description

This is a team-taught, three-week intensive Summer studio class for students who want to investigate painting issues and explore formal and conceptual interests in detail. The faculty meet with the students individually and conduct rigorous group critiques. Activities include: visiting artists' studios, galleries and museum collections. Individual studios are provided to each student enrolled this course.

Class Number

1198

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Location

MacLean Center 11th Floor

Description

This course investigates the properties and possibilities of traditional and modern media, grounds, supports, methods, adhesives, and pigments.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: PTDW 1101, 2001, 2004 or PTDW 3003

Class Number

1196

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Art and Science

Location

280 Building Rm 311

Description

This multi-level course will explore the intersection of art and nature while foraging local plant and earth matter to create pigments for inks and paints. We will delve into the diverse world of pigments, employing various binders to craft water-based mediums such as inks, watercolor, gouache, and acrylic. Students will be introduced to both traditional and experimental techniques and extend beyond the studio, incorporating outdoor, in situ sessions where we actively forage materials.
We will learn about contemporary artists like Ricky Lee Gordan, Sam Falls, Cathy Hsaio, Elisabeth Heying, and more, who source their own pigments, examining how these artists thoughtfully incorporate them into their work. Simultaneously, we will look at the historical roots of pigments, tracing their origins and uncovering their myriad applications across cultures and time periods.
By the end of the course, students will not only possess the skills to create work using self-sourced pigments but will also gain a nuanced understanding of the historical and contemporary significance of pigments in the broader artistic context. This course will provide a unique opportunity to bridge art and sustainability while making a deeper connection to the natural world.

Class Number

1200

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Community & Social Engagement, Public Space, Site, Landscape, Art and Science

Location

280 Building Rm 311

Take the Next Step

Visit the undergraduate admissions website or contact the undergraduate admissions office at 800.232.7242 or ugadmiss@saic.edu.

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