Illustration | Minneapolis College of Art and Design

Illustration

Images with
Storytelling Power

MCAD’s Illustration majors express ideas through powerful, innovative images that entertain, inform, and evoke emotion. Traditional media, digital knowledge, and conceptual thinking are the building blocks of the illustration experience at MCAD. Just like you, these students are makers, thinkers, designers, collaborators, and artists eager to use their work to draw in and engage others–in a way that only they can tell the story.

Person sketching

Hear about the student experience

As an Illustration major, you will:

  • Sharpen your technical and conceptual illustration skills.
  • Explore traditional and nontraditional forms of illustration.
  • Become fluent with the latest technology.
  • Develop concepts into patterns and surface design.
  • Learn to clearly communicate ideas and tell stories.
  • Prepare for a professional career in illustration.
Tell me more about Illustration at MCAD
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Class Highlights

This Bachelor of Fine Arts program emphasizes a collaborative process of working on teams with students from all MCAD majors. Required classes include:

  • Introduction to Illustration
  • Tools of the Trade
  • Digital Illustration
  • Professional Practice
  • Introduction to Art and Design History
Degree Information

After MCAD

There are many paths to explore with a degree in Illustration. Potential careers include:

  • Book Illustrator
  • Comic Illustrator
  • Fashion Illustrator
  • Concept Artist
  • Surface Designer
Additional Careers

See what students in the major are making

“Illustration was an easy choice when I realized how many things were under its umbrella: product design, children's books, editorial illustration, and so on. Being someone that's always had interest in different things, illustration was a perfect fit.”

Megan Leitschuh ’13, Product Designer at Animal Adventure
More Alumni

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2501 Stevens Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55404

Contact Us

612.874.3700
800.874.MCAD (6223)
Fax: 612.874.3701

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Land Acknowledgement

The Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) acknowledges it is located on traditional, ancestral, and contemporary lands of Indigenous people. This is the ancestral homeland of the Dakota and Ojibwe people, who were forcibly exiled from the land because of aggressive and persistent settler colonialism. We recognize that this place has a complex and layered history. As a community dedicated to creativity, MCAD is committed to ongoing efforts to support and advocate for American Indian Nations and peoples.


Nondiscrimination Policy

MCAD admits students of any race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, or marital status to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, or marital status in the administration of its educational policies, scholarship and loan programs, and other school-administered programs.