What it’s about:

Digital art majors use the computer as the primary means of making art, including interactive installations, digital photography, animation, sound and video. Students are trained in various software applications and technical skills along with the fundamentals of studio art, such as drawing, design, and color theory.

What the study of this major is like:

Digital artists make art in inventive ways, using any form of digital technology available. In this major you will gain both the artistic skills and the technological expertise you’ll need to create hybrid art forms, and to stretch the boundaries of what art can be.

In a typical four-year program, the sequence of courses usually begins with foundation classes such as drawing, design, and color theory. You’ll also take an intro course in which you study the history of the computer’s use in art and learn basic programming skills.

In subsequent classes these foundational skills are incorporated with technologies that include interactive art and design, time-based media (sound, video and animation) and web design. Some programs offer internships as elective. Seniors usually take one or two capstone classes or complete a senior project, thesis or portfolio.

This is a time-intensive major-you should expect to work very long hours. Successful students usually spend most of the day and night working in the labs. Most courses are project based with a series of assignments that teach practical skills while you complete a finished product such as a video or animation.

Some classes involve team projects to simulate real world commercial jobs. Team projects also accelerate learning-when you work in the lab or studio with other students rather than on your own, you learn much more as you help each other solve problems. When everything works right you learn a little; when things go wrong and you have to figure out why, you learn a lot.

Like most other art programs, you will also learn from critiques of your work by peers and professors.

As you explore colleges, you’ll see that some house this major in the computer science department. Such programs emphasize the programming side of the field, and usually require applicants to have strong math skills. Other colleges will house the major in the art department, and while computer proficiency is expected, they will be more interested in seeing a portfolio of your basic art skills.

Some programs combine courses from different academic department. These programs incorporated aspects of visual and performing arts, computer science, and cultural theory. The goal of an interdisciplinary approach is to give you a broad-based artistic, technical and theoretical background that will prepare you to work in various media and adapt to rapidly changing technologies. Other programs focus more on providing training in current software applications or a particular media, such as computer animation, game art or computer music.

Most programs will allow you to specialize in a particular area or opt for a more comprehensive study of the discipline. Keep in mind that in the digital world, what is state-of-the-art today will be old hat tomorrow. It’s best to look for a program that balances practical training with the fundamental concepts that will prepare you for a life-long career.

Two-year associate degree programs in digital art provide training in computer graphics, sound, and animation, and prepare you for technical support positions in the field or for transfer to four-year programs.

Careers to options and trends:

Animator*; video artist; graphic artist/designer*;game designer*; illustrator; special effect artist; web designer.

This field is expanding and always changing-many student and up doing things that they never heard of as freshmen. Until recently degree requirements were minimal to nonexistent in the game industry; but with more colleges offering this major, more companies will look for graduates with a degree in the field.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that through 2018, multimedia artists and animators should have more job opportunities than most other types of artists.

Source: CollegeBoard 2012 Book of Majors