Illustration

Mark Tocchet
mtocchet@uarts.edu
Chairperson
215-717-6240

Illustration is communication through image making. Illustrators are conceptual artists who work in various media to give visual form to ideas, stories, and information. Illustration can be seen in magazines, children’s books, graphic novels and newspapers, on book and CD covers, in film, computer games and advertisements, and on websites, television and more. The Illustration Department prepares students to develop a fresh, coherent and professional approach to creative exploration, problem solving and image making that can address the needs of a multifaceted, tremendously diverse and ever-changing marketplace.

Illustrators must call upon a broad range of traditional and up-to-date competencies to respond to today’s visual problems. As visual communicators, illustrators need to be open-minded, eclectic, flexible, and imaginative. The illustrator’s solution should be appropriate, intelligent, expressive, and visually engaging.

In order to prepare for a career in this competitive field, The University of the Arts Illustration student develops skills that encompass both traditional and experimental media: from drawing and painting to photography, graphic design, three-dimensional processes, and emerging opportunities in digital image-making. Students may concentrate on a traditional, a digital, or a design-oriented illustration curriculum. These skills are nurtured within a stimulating cultural climate provided by the resources of the outstanding faculty, nationally recognized curriculum, visiting artists, a gallery exhibition program, the University, and the city at large. Each student progresses from general competencies to a personal viewpoint, clarified career goals, a professional attitude, and a finished portfolio.