Master of Fine Arts in Computer Graphics and Animation

The Computer Graphics/Animation MFA Track prepares graduates to pursue a career in animation or self-directed creative research in animation as it relates to the areas defined in the Art & Technology MFA Track.

Graduate courses, group discussion, critiques and consultation with thesis advisors emphasize creative thinking, character, storytelling, and storyboard development, digital compositing and special effects experimentation, and computer programming. The program exposes students to both 2D and 3D computer animation.

The results will be in the completion of a portfolio of innovative computer animation. The student who plans to prepare for a career in computer animation will most likely create a portfolio of commercially-based animated shorts, each with strong characters, a well-defined story, with a strong sense of beginning, middle, and end. The student who plans to prepare for a career in self-directed creative research in animation will create a portfolio of innovative computer animation which is self-expressive, ready for gallery exhibition or animation festival presentation.

Animation projects will be presented in a professional thesis exhibition including photographic documentation of the animation stills in a thesis book complete with written critical evaluation of the thesis project. The animation on video tape and on digital media must also be submitted upon completion. Graduates will also be expected to make a successful oral defense of their final thesis to thesis advisors.