Art Degree (B.A.), Animation Concentration

Portfolio Review:

If you've requested admission to the Art Major on your application form, applicants must successfully pass a portfolio review by the Art Department’s faculty.

Overview

For Art majors interested in a career in animation or preparation for graduate study in animation, the Animation Concentration (18 additional credits) offers broad-based training in this field of art. 

The Animation Concentration exposes students to a wide range of contemporary and conventional techniques. 

Topics:

  • documentary animation
  • character animation
  • stop motion
  • digitally generated animation
  • and other emerging technologies

The concentration culminates in a project consisting of an animated film as well as a portfolio presenting the students’ professional and creative work in the field.

Requirements

Program Description

For Art majors interested in a career in animation or preparation for graduate study in animation, the Animation Concentration (18 additional credits) offers broad-based training in this field of art. The Animation Concentration exposes students to a wide range of contemporary and conventional techniques. These include documentary animation, character animation, stop motion, digitally generated animation, and other emerging technologies. The concentration culminates in a project consisting of an animated film as well as a portfolio presenting the students' professional and creative work in the field.

Requirements for Art Majors

One of the following:

Note:

** Students completing Art Teacher Licensure Programs must take ART 0108 Introduction to Computer Graphics as their art elective.

Art majors are required to take ART 0106 and ART 0107, to satisfy the Appreciation of the Arts requirement of the common core.

Art majors must complete a minimum of 27 credits of course work within the Art Department at Westfield State. Students are advised to consult their advisors for information on course sequencing and general core requirements.

Art majors intending to pursue graduate work beyond their major are advised to take additionally recommended studio courses of their choice. It is also advisable to include more than the minimum requirements in Art History.

Animation Concentration for Art majors
Additional Graduation Requirements

All students must meet the University Graduation Requirements and complete a general education or common core of studies, distributed among the different academic areas as detailed in General Education: WISE or Common Core.

Learning Outcomes

  • Developed capacity for critical, creative, investigative, and conceptual thinking.
  • Ability to identify and solve visual and conceptual problems.
  • Ability to present and communicate effectively, creatively, and critically across a range of form and media
  • Generate a personal focus and contribute an independent voice to the world
  • Be ready to work as professionals in art education; art history; design; fine arts; illustration and animation
  • Refer to the fullest range of historical and contemporary art and design sources from across cultures and time
  • Apply a wide range of research methods and technologies in gathering and analyzing information
  • Engage effectively in individual and/or collaborative approaches to work
Graphic Design professor George Ramirez in class in the Dower center