Illustration (Major)

Use visual storytelling to captivate audiences.

By taking immersive art courses that will grow your ability, you’ll discover how your distinct visual voice can be used in a variety of illustration markets. 

With the Illustration major, you’ll focus on developing your own personal visual voice through drawing and painting in both analog and digital media. You’ll study and practice how to tell stories visually, learn narrative and character development, and explore a wide variety of traditional media as well as applications such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Procreate, and Corel Painter. This studio-intensive degree is designed for students with a strong commitment to a professional future as illustrators, studio artists, and designers, or to further graduate studies. 

Through Taylor’s dedicated art faculty, you’ll be learning from artists who understand working in the art industry. Most importantly, from your first day of class as a freshman to your final senior show, you’ll see them model God’s heart for beauty and truth, integrating tenets of our faith in every class.

Illustration Curriculum Guides & Degree Options

BFA in Illustration

View Curriculum

Build Skills In:

Digital tools
Dimensional design
Visual communications
Photography
Drawing
Faith and the arts
Layout

Career Opportunities:

Picture book illustrator
Scenic artist
Book cover artist
Editorial illustrator
Graphic novelist
Storyboard illustrator
Character designer
Comic book illustrator
Graphic designer

View Art, Film & Media Department

View Faculty

Why Get an Illustration BFA?

A standard at art and design colleges, this degree focuses on professional portfolio development through practical studio courses, rather than lecture or discussion classes. With no language requirement (unlike a BA), you’ll take 14 additional hours of art classes instead.

Illustration Curriculum Guides & Degree Option

Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration

Students interested in course descriptions and academic policies can check out our Undergraduate Catalog.

A Taylor liberal arts education will prepare you to live and work in a fast-changing world. It also goes a step further: laying a strong spiritual foundation that cultivates wisdom. You’ll become a well-versed individual, equipped with critical thinking skills, a lifelong love of learning, and an appreciation for God’s creation.

View Foundational Core Curriculum.

Modelle Metcalf Visual Arts Center

Taylor’s Art Program is housed in the 38,000-square-foot Modelle Metcalf Visual Arts Center, with specialized classrooms and workspaces for drawing, painting, printmaking, graphic design, photography, sculpture, ceramics, and jewelry making.

It also contains a state-of-the-art Mac lab and audio-visual classrooms, two gallery spaces for both professional and student art shows, a photography studio, a lecture hall, and ample space for critiquing works displayed in the hallways. Naturally lit classrooms have storage spaces for student artwork with the option of directed spot lighting.
Practicums, Internships, and Residencies

Taylor’s Design degree program will prepare you for a successful, fulfilling career, but practical work experience shouldn’t wait until after graduation. Here’s a partial list of places where our students have completed practicums, internships, or residencies:
- Wired Magazine
- Samaritan’s Purse
- The Salvation Army
- Fort Wayne Museum of Art
- South Bend Art Museum
- Animal Planet
- Zondervan Publishing House
- Esquire Magazine
Careers in Illustration

An Illustration BFA offers a competitive edge in the job market, and it’s seen as a gateway degree to a Master of Fine Arts. According to the Wall Street Journal, students who earn a BFA degree have relatively high-income levels, job prospects, and levels of job satisfaction.

Here’s a sample of places our students have worked post graduation:
- Amazon
- MailChimp
- Sotheby’s
- Youth for Christ
- The New Yorker Magazine
- Marketing and Branding Agencies
- Freelance Illustration