Master of Fine Arts in Fine Art

at Academy of Art University USA

The MA program provides students an opportunity to work in 2D Animation & Stop Motion, 3D Animation, 3D Modeling, or Visual Effects, while focusing on storytelling with an emphasis on exhibiting technical skills and eliciting emotional responses.

Academy of Art University’s BFA Acting program is a comprehensive and diverse curriculum that provides a strong foundation in performance fundamentals, including acting technique, acting for camera, improvisation, singing, and speech. Courses in audition technique, stage production, musical theatre, and stage combat help prepare our graduating students to enter the professional world.

The Visual Development MA program provides professional development with advanced coursework in still life painting, figure drawing, character design, concept painting, layout design for animation, and other core skills of professional visual developers.

The Bachelors of Fine Art in Fashion Merchandising provides a foundation in fashion merchandising and fashion management. It includes major functions necessary to run a successful operation that plans, manages, and sells fashion products. Through hands-on Fashion Merchandising classes in buying, planning, product management, and retail management, students will develop the skills and knowledge required for a successful career in today’s global retail operations.

The School of Animation & Visual Effects BFA program provides students with the skills necessary to master today’s digital technology.

2D animation and Stop Motion
The 2D animation and Stop Motion emphasis BFA is designed for students interested in acquiring basic to advanced skills in either hand-drawn or stop motion animation. 2D animation focuses on digitally hand drawn and computer generated movement. Stop motion animation involves both digitally captured and generated work as well as a significant amount of hand crafted art.

The School of Visual Development's BFA program provides a dynamic education in the art of scene setting. Core curriculum emphasizes photography, figure modeling, form analysis, figure drawing, narrative principles, visual development for animation, character design, concept paintings, advanced exploration of perspective for video game design, and various other critical design disciplines.

With its focused thesis development process, the School of Graphic Design’s MFA program emphasizes advanced study of the field and encourages students to extend their design skills into content creation, authorship, entrepreneurialism, and social innovation.

The School of Industrial Design's BFA program gives students the freedom to pursue their personal design visions within a structured and supportive academic environment. Led by a faculty of industry veterans, students are taught to approach their work with equal regard for aesthetic, business, and societal considerations.

Transportation Design
The School of Industrial Design's BFA program gives students the freedom to pursue their personal design visions within a structured and supportive academic environment. Led by a faculty of industry veterans, students are taught to approach their work with equal regard for aesthetic, business, and societal considerations. Students with a career interest in Transportation Design will study the history of automotive styling trends and their evolution, design philosophy, and influence. they will develop sketch and rendering skills to emphasize accurate proportion, based on the seating of occupants and packaging of components.

The BFA program teaches students the creative and technical skills needed to thrive as career artists. Advanced instruction is offered in non-figurative and figurative fine art, including painting, sculpting, and printmaking. Our Sculpture department has one of the largest and most advanced facilities of its kind in North America, and our state-of-the-art printmaking facilities merge traditional tools with cutting edge technology.

The Landscape Architecture MFA program provides advanced study for students pursuing a career in Landscape Architecture. Coursework emphasizes theories of open urban spaces, collaborative and interdisciplinary methods of design and implementation, sustainability, and advanced digital rendering techniques.