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 39XX (3)
    • CAPSTONE 49XX (3)
    • Studio Electives (48)

     

    Art History

    15

    • ARTHI 1001 World Cultures/Civilizations: Pre-History—19th Century Art and Architecture (3)
    • Additional Art History Course at 1000-level (e.g., ARTHI 1002) (3)
    • Art History Electives at 2000-, 3000-, or 4000-level (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)
      • Any of the above Liberal Arts or certain AAP or EIS

     

    General Electives

    6

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

     

    Total Credit Hours

    120

    * BFA students must complete at least two classes designated as "off campus study." These classes 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 in Studio with Thesis Option (Liberal Arts or Visual Critical Studies): Students interested in pursuing the BFA in Studio with the Thesis Option (Liberal Arts or Visual Critical Studies) should contact their academic advisor for details about eligibility, program requirements, and the application process.

    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

Painting Practice is an introductory painting course offering. The curriculum addresses basic skills as related to a painting studio practice. Topics and curricular goals include material, facility and technique, space and color, as well as concept. This course is a prerequisite for all Multi-level Painting, Figure Painting and Advanced Painting Studio classes.

Class Number

1635

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Location

280 Building Rm 323

Description

Painting Practice is an introductory painting course offering. The curriculum addresses basic skills as related to a painting studio practice. Topics and curricular goals include material, facility and technique, space and color, as well as concept. This course is a prerequisite for all Multi-level Painting, Figure Painting and Advanced Painting Studio classes.

Class Number

1636

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Location

280 Building Rm 325

Description

Painting Practice is an introductory painting course offering. The curriculum addresses basic skills as related to a painting studio practice. Topics and curricular goals include material, facility and technique, space and color, as well as concept. This course is a prerequisite for all Multi-level Painting, Figure Painting and Advanced Painting Studio classes.

Class Number

1637

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Location

280 Building Rm 323

Description

Painting Practice is an introductory painting course offering. The curriculum addresses basic skills as related to a painting studio practice. Topics and curricular goals include material, facility and technique, space and color, as well as concept. This course is a prerequisite for all Multi-level Painting, Figure Painting and Advanced Painting Studio classes.

Class Number

1638

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Location

280 Building Rm 325

Description

Painting Practice is an introductory painting course offering. The curriculum addresses basic skills as related to a painting studio practice. Topics and curricular goals include material, facility and technique, space and color, as well as concept. This course is a prerequisite for all Multi-level Painting, Figure Painting and Advanced Painting Studio classes.

Class Number

1639

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Location

280 Building Rm 323

Description

Painting Practice is an introductory painting course offering. The curriculum addresses basic skills as related to a painting studio practice. Topics and curricular goals include material, facility and technique, space and color, as well as concept. This course is a prerequisite for all Multi-level Painting, Figure Painting and Advanced Painting Studio classes.

Class Number

1640

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Location

280 Building Rm 325

Description

Painting Practice is an introductory painting course offering. The curriculum addresses basic skills as related to a painting studio practice. Topics and curricular goals include material, facility and technique, space and color, as well as concept. This course is a prerequisite for all Multi-level Painting, Figure Painting and Advanced Painting Studio classes.

Class Number

1641

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Location

280 Building Rm 323

Description

Painting Practice is an introductory painting course offering. The curriculum addresses basic skills as related to a painting studio practice. Topics and curricular goals include material, facility and technique, space and color, as well as concept. This course is a prerequisite for all Multi-level Painting, Figure Painting and Advanced Painting Studio classes.

Class Number

1642

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Location

280 Building Rm 323

Description

Painting Practice is an introductory painting course offering. The curriculum addresses basic skills as related to a painting studio practice. Topics and curricular goals include material, facility and technique, space and color, as well as concept. This course is a prerequisite for all Multi-level Painting, Figure Painting and Advanced Painting Studio classes.

Class Number

1661

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Location

280 Building Rm 323

Description

Painting Practice is an introductory painting course offering. The curriculum addresses basic skills as related to a painting studio practice. Topics and curricular goals include material, facility and technique, space and color, as well as concept. This course is a prerequisite for all Multi-level Painting, Figure Painting and Advanced Painting Studio classes.

Class Number

1662

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Location

280 Building Rm 323

Description

Painting Practice is an introductory painting course offering. The curriculum addresses basic skills as related to a painting studio practice. Topics and curricular goals include material, facility and technique, space and color, as well as concept. This course is a prerequisite for all Multi-level Painting, Figure Painting and Advanced Painting Studio classes.

Class Number

1672

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Location

280 Building Rm 325

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

1646

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels, Books and Publishing

Location

280 Building Rm 308

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

1647

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels, Books and Publishing

Location

280 Building Rm 306

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

1648

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels, Books and Publishing

Location

280 Building Rm 308

Description

It can be easy for students to become so focused on the final product of art making that they lose sight of the importance of process. To that end, this studio class aims to encourage students to play and experiment within the medium of comics, creating projects with methods they wouldn?t normally use, and avoiding the urge to fall back on their usual or expected ways of working. Students will not need to worry about making a great piece of art, and instead can learn more about their own art practice and what does or doesn?t work for them.

This class will look at a variety of artists, genres, and forms in the comics medium. The types of comics investigated may include everything from traditional superhero genre comics, to handmade art comics, graphic novels, abstract comics, newspaper gag comics, and even content that may or may not be considered comics, depending on how one defines ?comics.? Students will also be encouraged to share their favorite comics or whatever they?re currently reading, and to look into books and comics they aren?t familiar with.

After casual critiquing of the previous week?s work, each class begins a new project or exercise that starts with a prompt or general parameters, which students use as starting points to follow in whatever direction interests them.

Class Number

1649

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels, Books and Publishing

Location

280 Building Rm 306

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

1650

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels, Books and Publishing

Location

280 Building Rm 306

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

1651

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels, Books and Publishing

Location

280 Building Rm 308

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

1652

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels, Books and Publishing

Location

Online

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

1656

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels, Books and Publishing

Location

280 Building Rm 306

Description

This course explores comics as a space for play, exploration, and critical inquiry. Students will engage with drawing and writing as intertwined practices, using comics to examine memory, thought, and storytelling. Through a mix of diary comics, experimental exercises, and structured assignments, students will challenge their own ideas of what makes a comic a comic and develop a personal approach to the medium. In addition to making work, students will read and discuss texts by artists and thinkers. Selected readings include works by Lynda Barry, Cintra Wilson, Julia Kristeva, Jean Little, Lela Lee, J. Jefferson Farjeon, Allie Brosh, and others. These texts will serve as a foundation for discussions on creativity, nonlinear storytelling, and the relationship between image and text. The class will also consider how comics operate as both personal expression and cultural commentary, thinking critically about the ethics of storytelling, subjectivity, and artistic voice. Students will produce a body of work over the course of the semester, including weekly exercises, process-based experiments, and a final project that explores comics as a mode of thinking. Regular critiques will focus on development rather than refinement, reinforcing the idea that comics are a process rather than a product. No prior drawing experience is required¿only a willingness to engage in playful, iterative, and messy creation.

Class Number

1663

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels, Books and Publishing

Location

280 Building Rm 308

Description

Good stories can come from anywhere, and any story can be interesting no matter the subject matter. This class will focus on the best way to create concepts for stories and how to properly execute them, with a strong emphasis on writing, revision, using the proper tools, artistic process and drawing technique. Students will complete short, one to two page stories each week, while also working toward three six to eight page stories that will be compiled into their own printed comic at the end of the semester. Various comic samples will be provided from a range of diverse sources. Short story assignments will be assigned in the beginning of the semester that will focus on specific aspects of making comics (i.e. perspective, using reference, creating mood, etc). Students will also be making three longer stories that will be compiled into one comic at the end of the semester.

Class Number

1666

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels, Books and Publishing

Location

280 Building Rm 308

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

1668

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels, Books and Publishing

Location

280 Building Rm 306

Description

This studio course will provide a hands-on introduction to the fundamental understanding and use of color. Students will gain practical experience working with material color in order to improve their understanding of how color works. Assignments will be introduced in class to help students develop a working knowledge of the basic concepts of hue, value, and chroma, and the relationship between these concepts and those of color harmony and organization. By working with color in context students will gain a practical understanding of color interaction and develop strategies for approaching color with greater sophistication and specificity in their own practice.

In addition to our investigations with color in the classroom, this course will examine the ways in which artists and scholars have worked with color art historically as a medium of expression, and thought about color scientifically as an index of an underlying natural order, as well as culturally as a system of signs reflecting our biases back to us to be interpreted. Reliable perceptual phenomena like simultaneous contrast and afterimages will be considered alongside more unstable notions like synesthesia and color music, as well as the complicated history of thinking about color as evidence of that which is ?other.?

Course work will include exercises to help students develop their approach to color, and a final project in which they put their understanding to work.

Class Number

1653

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Graphic Design, Illustration

Location

280 Building Rm 308

Description

This studio course will provide a hands-on introduction to the fundamental understanding and use of color. Students will gain practical experience working with material color in order to improve their understanding of how color works. Assignments will be introduced in class to help students develop a working knowledge of the basic concepts of hue, value, and chroma, and the relationship between these concepts and those of color harmony and organization. By working with color in context students will gain a practical understanding of color interaction and develop strategies for approaching color with greater sophistication and specificity in their own practice.

In addition to our investigations with color in the classroom, this course will examine the ways in which artists and scholars have worked with color art historically as a medium of expression, and thought about color scientifically as an index of an underlying natural order, as well as culturally as a system of signs reflecting our biases back to us to be interpreted. Reliable perceptual phenomena like simultaneous contrast and afterimages will be considered alongside more unstable notions like synesthesia and color music, as well as the complicated history of thinking about color as evidence of that which is ?other.?

Course work will include exercises to help students develop their approach to color, and a final project in which they put their understanding to work.

Class Number

1654

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Graphic Design, Illustration

Location

280 Building Rm 308

Description

This course explores the materials and methods used in watercolor painting. Included are dry and wet paper techniques, resist processes, and experimental techniques.

Class Number

1595

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Location

280 Building Rm 308

Description

Students draw from the model as a means of understanding form, shape, and line using a variety of media. The course emphasizes shorter poses as training in immediate response to gesture and form. This course serves as a requirement and preparation for topic-based Figure Drawing B classes.

Class Number

1596

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels

Location

280 Building Rm 124

Description

Students draw from the model as a means of understanding form, shape, and line using a variety of media. The course emphasizes shorter poses as training in immediate response to gesture and form. This course serves as a requirement and preparation for topic-based Figure Drawing B classes.

Class Number

1597

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels

Location

280 Building Rm 315

Description

Students draw from the model as a means of understanding form, shape, and line using a variety of media. The course emphasizes shorter poses as training in immediate response to gesture and form. This course serves as a requirement and preparation for topic-based Figure Drawing B classes.

Class Number

1598

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels

Location

280 Building Rm 320

Description

Students draw from the model as a means of understanding form, shape, and line using a variety of media. The course emphasizes shorter poses as training in immediate response to gesture and form. This course serves as a requirement and preparation for topic-based Figure Drawing B classes.

Class Number

1599

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels

Location

280 Building Rm 124

Description

Students draw from the model as a means of understanding form, shape, and line using a variety of media. The course emphasizes shorter poses as training in immediate response to gesture and form. This course serves as a requirement and preparation for topic-based Figure Drawing B classes.

Class Number

1600

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels

Location

280 Building Rm 315

Description

Students draw from the model as a means of understanding form, shape, and line using a variety of media. The course emphasizes shorter poses as training in immediate response to gesture and form. This course serves as a requirement and preparation for topic-based Figure Drawing B classes.

Class Number

1601

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels

Location

280 Building Rm 124

Description

Students draw from the model as a means of understanding form, shape, and line using a variety of media. The course emphasizes shorter poses as training in immediate response to gesture and form. This course serves as a requirement and preparation for topic-based Figure Drawing B classes.

Class Number

1602

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels

Location

280 Building Rm 320

Description

Students draw from the model as a means of understanding form, shape, and line using a variety of media. The course emphasizes shorter poses as training in immediate response to gesture and form. This course serves as a requirement and preparation for topic-based Figure Drawing B classes.

Class Number

1603

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels

Location

280 Building Rm 124

Description

Students draw from the model as a means of understanding form, shape, and line using a variety of media. The course emphasizes shorter poses as training in immediate response to gesture and form. This course serves as a requirement and preparation for topic-based Figure Drawing B classes.

Class Number

1604

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels

Location

280 Building Rm 315

Description

Students draw from the model as a means of understanding form, shape, and line using a variety of media. The course emphasizes shorter poses as training in immediate response to gesture and form. This course serves as a requirement and preparation for topic-based Figure Drawing B classes.

Class Number

1605

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels

Location

280 Building Rm 124

Description

Are you curious about creating figure drawings life size or larger?

This multi-level studio will introduce you to the exciting challenge of drawing the human form from observation on large supports while learning about drawing techniques spanning the pre-modern era into the present day. Students working with figurative subjects will be able to experiment with scale changes on 3? x 6? paper. Students who want to work even larger are encouraged. Formal points of departure are presented clearly through daily morning lectures and demonstrations, using a full array of examples from art history, contemporary art as well as frequent museum visits.

The class exercises begin with quick monochromatic sketches and progress to full color extended studies. There is one final project assignment. The majority of the required work is completed during class time. The large format allows students of all abilities to make significant improvements quickly.

Class Number

1669

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels

Location

280 Building Rm 315

Description

Ecorche (ay-kor-shay) is a French word meanining 'flayed' or 'skinned', but to figurative artists it also refers to any representation of the figure that describes what lies under the skin. In this course, we will be exploring anatomy through the production of a three-dimensional ecorche - where students will use additive and subtractive sculptural practices to create a 1/3 life-sized sculpture representing half skeletal structure and half musculature form. Lectures and materials will focus on specific areas of the body.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: PTDW 2030.

Class Number

1643

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Location

280 Building Rm 124

Description

We speak through our bodies, and learn to read other's even before we use words. The figure runs through every culture's art. Even when we work purely abstractly, the figure lurks at the edges and dictates nearly every reference point. This studio aims to teach students how the body communicates, and facilitate its effective use in their work.

Primarily a studio course, we will use images from art history, contemporary art, graphic novels, films and photography, as well as written material, as jumping-off points for long drawings in a variety of media. We will also go on a series of field trips to discuss how to read body language, and discuss its evolution through animal communication to the nuances of human interchange.

This is an advanced studio.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: PTDW 2030.

Class Number

1644

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Location

280 Building Rm 124

Description

Studio Drawing: Fail Better is an exploration of time-based and ephemeral strategies as they relate to elements of drawing. Much like Baldessari's disowning of his early work, students will be encouraged to let go of practiced methods, using destruction as a form of creation. Doubt will be embraced, experimentation encouraged, and risk considered a viable game-plan. Employing strategies such as collage, archives, and documentation, we will explore how to rebuild your portfolio after you?ve let it go. Rebuilding strategies will range from accumulative, time-based methods such as the work of William Kentridge to the chaotic secretions of Dieter Roth. There will be studio problems and exercises, sketchbook assignments, and slide presentations with a focus on individual projects.

Class Number

1606

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Illustration

Location

280 Building Rm 125

Description

This drawing studio serves as a broad introduction to historical and contemporary drawing practices. This course presents drawing as an organizer of thought, experience, and image.

Students will investigate a full range of drawing materials and supports. Lectures and exercises introduce various concepts of drawing, possibly including illusionistic form and space, gesture and expressive mark-making, or collage and found imagery, depending on the instructor?s emphasis.

Designed to accommodate many skill levels, students can explore various creative strategies through technical drawing exercises, material explorations, and individual projects. Structured classroom critiques will bring drawing concepts into personal student work.

Class Number

1607

Credits

3

Department

Painting and Drawing

Area of Study

Illustration

Location

280 Building Rm 125

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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