Drawing, Illustration, Photography, Visual Culture Illustration (BFA)
thinkparsons@newschool.edu
212.229.5150
Program Contacts
Jordin Isip, Director
illustration@newschool.edu
In the BFA Illustration program at Parsons, you learn to transform ideas into images in print and screen-based media in formats that range from picture books, graphic novels, hand-lettering, and editorial illustrations to toys, films, animations, gallery art, installations, illustration in performance settings, and experiential design. At the heart of the curriculum is the development of visual storytelling skills. As a Parsons Illustration student, you cultivate a unique artistic vision, authorial voice, innovative problem-solving abilities, and curiosity.
Alumni have created award-winning books, animations, public art installations, and clothing companies. Some have broadened their careers to become textile designers, concept designers, museum curators, art directors, illustration agents, and arts administrators.
Faculty
of the program include internationally renowned artists who have received Guggenheim and MacArthur fellowships, PEN America awards, National Book Critics Circle and Obie Awards, and Society of Illustrators and New York Art Directors Club medals, among
other honors.
Your BFA begins with Parsons’ first-year curriculum, which serves as the academic foundation for all undergraduate programs at Parsons. From your second year on, you dive into courses in your major field of study. Art and design history and theory courses develop your research, writing, and critical reasoning skills, and university electives broaden your perspectives.
New York City’s thriving creative industry and cultural institutions are part of your Parsons education. Our Career Services Office is deeply connected to the art and design industries and can help you advance your career with industry-oriented internships.
Enjoy access to extensive resources including New School libraries, computer labs, archives, and studios, along with Parsons’ state-of-the-art Making Center, facilities offering a broad array of tools to support your creative and academic growth.
Connect to the organizations, businesses, and entrepreneurs driving global creativity and commerce. In classes, internships, and extracurricular projects, you gain marketable problem-solving skills in sectors ranging from government and nonprofits to tech and creative industries.
Enrich your learning and prepare for work in global contexts with study abroad that exposes you to new perspectives and settings in which to apply your creativity. Our study abroad destinations include, Paris, London, Florence, and more.
Explore sample opportunities to create an interdisciplinary path of study around this major:
The New School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin 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, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.
