Academy of Art University

The Academy of Art University, established in 1929, is the nation's largest private art and design college. This institution offers fully accredited Associate of Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Master of Fine Arts and Master of Architecture (M.Arch) degrees, as well as continuing art education and certificate courses in 13 majors. Courses are available on-campus and online.

The Academy's mission is to provide aspiring artists and designers with career preparation combined with academic excellence. Courses are taught by industry professionals in state-of-the-art facilities. With an overall job placement rate of 80%, alumni have embarked on successful careers with companies such as Disney, Donna Karan, Pixar and Industrial Light + Magic.

Advertising - Certificate, AA, BFA & MFA

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Anyone can make ads that are funny or dramatic; not everyone can make ads that actually help sell their products. The Academy's advertising program will teach you an integrated approach to marketing communications that's backed by solid strategic thinking. You'll create ads that work for the client, the consumer and the times.

When you graduate from this ad school, you'll know how to express product advantages in fresh, meaningful and memorable ways, convincing consumers that they match their needs and lifestyles - this will give you a portfolio that screams for employer attention. You'll also have the skills and thinking ability to land a job that's challenging and exciting.

Animation & Visual Effects - Certificate, AA, BFA & MFA

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At the Academy's School of Animation and Visual Effects, it doesn't matter whether you intend to study 2D or 3D animation; you will be instructed by professional animators who have their fingers on the pulse of the industry. These expert instructors will help you navigate the world of professional animation, and make sure you graduate with the versatility to move between pencil and mouse.

You'll perform the greatest magic trick of all: conjuring living, breathing things out of rough sketches, particle effects and soft bodies. You'll create characters who inspire, video games that get your heart pumping, digital art that nourishes the spirit, and film and visual effects that dazzle the senses - both yours and your future employers.

Architecture - M. Arch

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Architecture is like music... frozen. The Academy of Art University's School of Architecture program has been designed to prepare the graduate - through education and through the process of designing - to create visual and physical changes to our built environment that enhance its quality and our experience.

The Academy's architecture students create the buildings that define a neighborhood, that define a landscape, that define a city, that define and reshape our idea of place. Our instructors recognize that the highest level of architecture successfully integrates design, technology, art, form, environment, construction and culture, and all within the realities of architectural practice. But more than that: the graduates of the Academy's architecture school have a portfolio of work on par with that of any other school, and with artistry to separate them from the crowd.

Computer Arts & New Media - Certificate, BFA & MFA

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Processors, programs, digital memory, bits and bytes don't create. You do. The instructors at the Academy's School of Computer Arts: New Media know that. They'll show you how to use the power of digital technology to unleash the power of your vision. They'll teach you the flexibility needed to realize the future and expose you to the realities of the industries in which you'll earn a living.

You'll start, as every great communicator does, with the basics: drawing, perspective, color and design. Then, you'll learn to think, imagine, dream, and create in a spectrum of techniques never before possible. You can choose to design magazine layouts or websites unlike any other. You can combine 2D and 3D animation to startle and awe. You can create video games that titillate the imagination, film and special effects that dazzle the senses, or digital art that nourishes the spirit.

Digital Arts & Communications - AA & BFA

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Digital arts and communications promote awareness of the user experience while developing creative practices that keep pace and set pace, with ever-changing technologies. Portfolio and professional presence is determined by how well the students evaluate and resolve complex issues through viable solutions enabling them to enter the job market at a competitive level.

The Digital Arts and Communications program integrates traditional art skills and concept development with new technologies and new digital platforms. The steady growth of the internet has proved to be an effective and profitable venue, and the demand for communication devices such as cell phones, personal digital assistants and interactive television have generated a new genre of exciting career opportunities. An emergence in evaluation, study and practices in areas such as user interface development, navigation systems, information architecture, structural workflow, legibility issues and user testing have also developed a new kind language - a fluency expected in the industry.

Fashion - Certificate, AA, BFA & MFA

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In fashion, you must be unique. The Academy's School of Fashion combines European artisanship with New York industry savvy, California freshness with modern American technology. You'll experience a curriculum designed like no other. This one-of-a-kind learning opportunity at the best fashion school in the country is enhanced by a strong faculty influenced by the distinctive St. Martin's touch.

You'll learn fashion design basics and develop your own fashion career with designers and merchandisers from fashion houses like Versace, Calvin Klein, Givenchy, Claude Montana, and Alexander McQueen.

Success in the world of fashion depends on a strong sense of style and a strong feel for design. These are not innate abilities programmed into the genes at birth; they must be learned, and they must be lived.

Fine Art - Certificate, AA, BFA & MFA

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Too often, fine art schools are thought of as places where rich kids play and dreamers vegetate. Too often, they are. Not here. At the Academy's School of Fine Art, your flights of fancy in paint and clay and metal are grounded in solid classical tradition. You'll actually learn how to create art and have it recognized by your grandmother. You'll learn discipline that will distinguish you for a lifetime. Then, with the skills and knowledge that made the masters who they are, you'll be taught and encouraged to let your imagination take flight.

You'll also learn how to find apprenticeships, how to find a rep before you graduate, how to present yourself, how to exhibit in a gallery, how to make yourself known and how to make a living. You'll learn not only art, but the business of art. Imagine a fine art training program that teaches you how to be wonderful, and making a living at it.

Graphic Design - Certificate, AA, BFA & MFA

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Everywhere you look, you'll see the work of a graphic designer. It's the layout of your favorite magazine, the recognizable mark that identifies brands and companies, the annual reports and websites of public corporations, the labels on your choice of wine, and the products you buy in the supermarket.

At The Academy of Art University, you'll learn the tricks of the trade in a graphic design department that is second to none. You'll find yourself in a real-world atmosphere doing graphic design the way professionals do it. You'll be taught by professionals drawn from a talent pool known worldwide. By the time you receive your degree, you'll have the honed skills and technical knowledge necessary to be interviewed and hired by companies such as DreamWorks SKG, LucasFilm, Landor Associates, Primo Angeli, Tolleson, and Disney.

Illustration - Certificate, AA, BFA & MFA

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Illustration careers span a broad range, from the edge of fine art to cartoons and animation. Illustrators can find work with entertainment and game industries - and with publishers, ad agencies, and design studios. At the Academy's School of Illustration, we prepare our illustration students for the ever-changing needs of the business of creativity.

You'll find yourself in a whirlwind of drawing, traditional images and computer imaging. You'll work on foregrounds, backgrounds and storyboards, and also at 24 frames-per-second. While mastering this myriad of skills and techniques, you'll also learn how to represent yourself, how to enter competitions like the New York Society of Illustrators, how to promote yourself, and how to make a living.

You'll receive a balanced education in classical art skills and training in new media that allows you to specialize in the areas of your choice; then you'll leave with a portfolio brimming with work that gets work.

Industrial Design - Certificate, AA, BFA & MFA

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Ask your grandfather to describe the double-edged safety razor he used as a teen; then, look at the sleek, pivoting, three-bladed razors of today. The function remains the same, the form has changed somewhat, but they sure look different and work a lot better.

Think now of snowballing technology, of things that never existed five or ten years ago. Think of new ways to design a television or a computer. Think of automobiles propelled by electricity, the sun or air vapors. Think of everyday products. How might they look and function tomorrow? Think of a new means of transportation. How it might work? Think hard enough, creatively enough, successfully enough, and you'll think of the Academy of Art University.

Here, you won't learn what's going to happen tomorrow. You'll create it. The Academy's School of Industrial Design will teach you how to design the products of tomorrow - today.

Interior Architecture & Design - Certificate, AA, BFA & MFA

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Look around where you're sitting. Look at what you're sitting on. You're looking at interior architecture and design. It's everywhere - homes, schools, hotels, resorts, businesses and hospitals. Everywhere. If you have the desire and passion to create comfortable, intriguing and inspiring environments that people will admire, live in and work in, then this is the occupation for you.

As an interior designer, you'll learn furniture design, ergonomics, the psychology of color and lighting, and the role of the computer in architecture. While learning your profession, you'll become a Jack-of-all-trades because that's what this life's work requires. You have to have the feel of the graphic designer, the hand-to-eye drawing coordination of the illustrator, the imagination of the industrial designer, the eye of the photographer, the knowledge of the computer artist, the style of the fashion designer, and the soul of the fine artist.

It's a beautiful world out there and with what you learn in your interior architecture and design training, you can make it even more beautiful, and give yourself a rewarding career.

Motion Pictures and Television - Certificate, AA, BFA & MFA

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Lights. Camera. Action. At the Academy of Art University's School of Motion Pictures & Television, you'll learn the ins and outs of all three in infinite detail. And, you'll learn them in a "real world" movie studio setting where momentum brings people together to turn the theoretical into the practical.

You'll experiment, but under the guidance of people who have been there, people currently working in the industry, people who know that flights of fancy are the foundation of the future, but budgets are now.

What's more, you'll be working with the same equipment used by major film studios and video production companies. You'll have access to the latest in computer-assisted effects and animation. You'll be part of the most complex, best-equipped film school in America. With the skills you learn here, you can direct yourself into an exciting range of professions that produce a very rewarding living.

Multimedia Communications - BA & MA

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You will do it all... Write. Shoot. Edit. Produce.

You will broadcast it all... YouTube. Blogs. Webisodes. Mobisodes. Podcasts. TV spots. FM Radio. AM Radio. Online Radio. Web 2.0. Web 3.0. And More.

You will learn all of this at the nation's top art school.

• Visual Communications
• Short Form Production
• Editing. Sports Reporting
• Fashion Journalism
• Video Journalism
• Multimedia Production
• Multimedia Writing
• Multimedia Broadcasting
• Multimedia Trends
• And More

Photography - Certificate, AA, BFA & MFA

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Great ideas come from a storehouse of knowledge and feelings within. The mastery of tools and techniques helps you share them with others. Anybody can take pictures; photographers interpret life. Great photographers capture everyday things and events in unique ways. They see brilliantly what others may see as dull. They make the mundane magnificent. They see the world as it would be if everyone could conceptualize.

Light, shadow, f-stops, film and shutter speeds can be learned anywhere. The Academy's photography program will teach you how to develop a concept and create a personal touch, a unique style. Sure, you'll learn the technical stuff. But, that's not the stuff of greatness. Seeing the core, sensing the essence, softening the hard, and steeling the soft: that's what this training is all about.

You'll leave with a portfolio that truly captures the conceptual thinker behind the camera. It will show the work of a unique artist who inspires awe with the job done, because the job is done right.

Information

If you are interested in this school and would like to find out more, please Request Information from Academy of Art University.