The Master of Fine Arts in Digital Arts degree program delivers delivers graduate-level education rooted in traditional art-making knowledge, and emphasizes creativity and personal voice. The application of these skills in a digital context prepares graduates for careers in the 3D graphics and interactive media industries. Graduates will have the tools and vision to become leaders advancing the artistic styling of video games, animated films, and related digital media.
The MFA in Digital Arts degree program emphasizes the mastery of foundational studies in art, which support coinciding courses in art as a digital medium. Graduates will be well-versed in traditional art studies of their choosing, including anatomy, figure drawing, sculpture, and painting. They will also be proficient in their choice of character or concept design, digital sculpting, hard surface modeling, lighting, texturing, rendering, rigging, and the integration of these stages into a project. Innovative digital work for a thesis project is created by combining these studies with original research.
Candidates for the MFA in Digital Arts will focus their work around a central theme of study and demonstrate mastery of the chosen field through the production of a thesis project. Graduates’ portfolios must exhibit a level of proficiency commensurate with specialists in the industry. Graduates will be qualified for positions with titles such as 3D Artist, 3D Modeler, Character Artist, Technical Artist, Texture Artist, Environment Artist, and Art Instructor. In addition, after some years of experience, MFA in Digital Arts graduates may attain positions with titles such as Art Lead, Art Director, Senior Artist, Senior Character Artist, and College Professor.
Graduates of the MFA in Digital Arts will have demonstrated the following learning outcomes:
- Create a significant original digital arts project demonstrating an idea or belief.
- Produce artistic work that is a synthesis of applied research adapted to new purposes.
- Develop artwork through a process of intention, research, design, execution, assessment, and polish.
- Generate artwork with a strong aesthetic appeal through an applied understanding of formal art qualities.
- Independently investigate and resolve solutions to artistic and technical problems.
- Communicate the process and results of their ideas in both written and oral forms. • Practice fundamental team dynamics, including team collaboration and problem solving.
- Apply project management techniques including milestone planning, task definition, and prioritization.
- Understand a broad array of digital arts topics.
- Discover alternative pathways and tools for solving visual arts problems.
Number of Credits and GPA
The MFA in Digital Arts requires completion of at least 60 semester credits with a grade “C” (or 2.0 quality points) or above in each course and a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better. The program typically spans five semesters of 15 weeks each (12 in the Summer), generally accomplished in two calendar years including the summer session for students following the full-time recommended course sequence, and four calendar years for students following the part-time recommended course sequence.
Digital Arts
The following computer graphics courses are required:
Projects and Thesis
The following courses are required:
Fine Arts
The following course is required:
Elective
In addition to the required courses, students must take nine electives for a total of 27 credits. Each course taken can only count for one of following categories. The elective categories are as follows:
The following courses are required: five courses with the ART, CG, ANI, PRJ, FLM, or INT prefix numbered 5000 or higher.
Two courses are required from:
Note:
Additional courses which focus on the development of traditional media and/or observational skill sets may be approved by the Program Director.
One course is required from:
Note:
Additional courses which focus on the development of two-dimensional visual design skill sets may be approved by the Program Director.
At least three credits from any graduate-level offering (5000 or higher) in any department at DigiPen.
Note
Within the electives are the optional Specialization Sequences, with sequence pre-requisites noted below through indentation.
- Character Creation I
- Character Creation II
- Character Creation III
- Character Creation II
- Environment Creation I
- Environment Creation II
- Environment Creation III
- Environment Creation II
- Introduction to Character Rigging and Animation
- Character Rigging I
- Character Rigging II
- Character Rigging III
- Character Rigging I
- 3D Animation I
- 3D Animation II
- 3D Animation III
Graduation Requirements
In order to graduate from the program, students must demonstrate:
- Successful completion of 60 semester credits with a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better.
- Successful presentation and official acceptance of the Final Thesis at Thesis Presentation. This can only happen after 60 credits of coursework are completed (or in progress) and the student has taken and passed PRJ 7002 (or is in progress).
- Submission of an archived copy for the DigiPen Library of the thesis and documentation.
Thesis Requirements
Thesis Proposal Review
Candidates in the MFA in Digital Arts who are completing PRJ 7000 must schedule and present their thesis proposal to an assembled thesis committee. No student may register for PRJ 7001 without approval of their thesis committee.
Thesis Requirement
The goal of the DigiPen MFA in Digital Arts is to develop industry-quality graduates who have an innovative, creative and well-considered point of view. The MFA in Digital Arts thesis is a body of work that demonstrates this professional level of expertise with industry tools as well as showcases a unique voice in digital media. The thesis, created specifically based on the candidate’s project proposal, is expected to meet standards demonstrating technical mastery, depth of knowledge, aesthetics, and problem solving. At the same time, the work will represent the candidate’s individual perspective, style, and philosophy. The thesis project should show a thoughtful and deep understanding of the student’s theme that is compelling and persuasive, technically complete, and executed to a high degree.
The MFA in Digital Arts thesis production includes project planning, schedules and timelines, and design documentation as appropriate. Candidates are required to participate a thesis defense and produce a written paper. The final work and all documents will be archived in the DigiPen Library and gallery.
Written Component
The thesis will have a written component. Its contents will be similar to the information presented in the thesis defense, but it may include more detail and will be formatted as an academic paper.
Thesis Defense
The MFA in Digital Arts candidate thesis defense will be scheduled with the thesis committee once a student has successfully completed (or has in progress) the required coursework (minimum 60 approved credits) and the thesis project is nearing completion.
Students will be expected to deliver a verbal and visual presentation of the thesis work including motivation, research, design, execution, results, and conclusions. The thesis will be presented to the committee and invited public. A question and answer session will follow the presentation, during which the candidate will be required to defend their work.
MFA in Digital Arts Curriculum
Listed below are all the graduate-level courses currently offered at DigiPen and appropriate to the MFA in Digital Arts degree program. Courses designated with an “R” are required in the program, and those designated with an “E” are appropriate as electives within the program.
Graduate-Level Courses for the MFA in Digital Arts Degree Program
| Course | Course Title | R/E | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| ART 5001 | Art Research Methodology | R | 3 |
| PRJ 6001 | Digital Arts Survey and Analysis | R | 3 |
| CG 5001 | 3D Concepts and Production | R | 3 |
| CG 5000 | Digital Painting: Composition and Color | R | 3 |
| PRJ 7000 | Thesis Pre-Production | R | 3 |
| PRJ 6002 | Digital Art Production Process | R | 3 |
| CG 5002 | Organic and Hard Surface Modeling | R | 3 |
| PRJ 7001 | Thesis I | R | 6 |
| PRJ 7002 | Thesis II | R | 6 |
| ART 5402 | Advanced Figure Drawing | E | 3 |
| ART 5410 | Gesture Drawing | E | 3 |
| FLM 5100 | Introduction to Storyboarding | E | 3 |
| ART 5260 | Plein Air Painting | E | 3 |
| ART 6500 | Conceptual Design and Illustration | E | 3 |
| ART 5540 | Character Design | E | 3 |
| ART 5430 | Advanced Figure Sculpting | E | 3 |
| ART 6400 | Human Anatomy | E | 3 |
| ART 6430 | Anatomy: Ecorché | E | 3 |
| ART 5470 | Animal Anatomy and Design | E | 3 |
| ART 5150 | Survey of Sequential Art | E | 3 |
| CG 6250 | Hard Surface Modeling and Texturing | E | 3 |
| CG 6450 | Texturing for 3D | E | 3 |
| CG 6550 | Lighting and Rendering | E | 3 |
| CG 5301 | Procedural Modeling and Visual Effects | E | 3 |
| CG 5302 | Procedural Art and Simulations | E | 3 |
| CG 6101 | Character Creation I | E | 3 |
| CG 6102 | Character Creation II | E | 3 |
| CG 6103 | Character Creation III | E | 3 |
| CG 6201 | Environment Creation I | E | 3 |
| CG 6202 | Environment Creation II | E | 3 |
| CG 6203 | Environment Creation III | E | 3 |
| ANI 5010 | Introduction to Character Rigging and Animation | E | 3 |
| ANI 5301 | Character Rigging I | E | 3 |
| ANI 5302 | Character Rigging II | E | 3 |
| ANI 5303 | Character Rigging III | E | 3 |
| ANI 5501 | 3D Animation I | E | 3 |
| ANI 5502 | 3D Animation II | E | 3 |
| ANI 5503 | 3D Animation III | E | 3 |
| PRJ 510 | Team Project | E | 3 |
| INT 590 | Master’s Internship I | E | 3 |
| INT 591 | Master’s Internship II | E | 3 |
| CSX 510 | Digital Arts Scripting | E | 3 |
| MCM 600 | Masters Continuous Matriculation | E | 1 |
| ART 599 | Special Topics | E | 3 |
| CG 599 | Special Topics | E | 3 |
| ANI 599 | Special Topics | E | 3 |
| FLM 599 | Special Topics | E | 3 |
| PRJ 599 | Special Topics | E | 3 |
| GAMX 599 | Special Topics | E | 3 |
Full-Time
Note:
Additional courses which focus on the development of traditional media and/or observational skill sets may be approved by the Program Director.
Note:
Additional courses which focus on the development of two-dimensional visual design skill sets may be approved by the Program Director.
ART, CG, ANI, PRJ, FLM, or INT course numbered 5000 or higher.
At least three credits from any graduate-level offering (5000 or higher) in any department at DigiPen.
ART, CG, ANI, PRJ, FLM, or INT course numbered 5000 or higher.
Note:
Additional courses which focus on the development of traditional media and/or observational skill sets may be approved by the Program Director.
ART, CG, ANI, PRJ, FLM, or INT course numbered 5000 or higher.
Part-Time
Note:
Additional courses which focus on the development of two-dimensional visual design skill sets may be approved by the Program Director.
Note:
Additional courses which focus on the development of traditional media and/or observational skill sets may be approved by the Program Director.
ART, CG, ANI, PRJ, FLM, or INT course numbered 5000 or higher.
ART, CG, ANI, PRJ, FLM, or INT course numbered 5000 or higher.
At least three credits from any graduate-level offering (5000 or higher) in any department at DigiPen.
ART, CG, ANI, PRJ, FLM, or INT course numbered 5000 or higher.
Note:
Additional courses which focus on the development of traditional media and/or observational skill sets may be approved by the Program Director.
Note:
Electives must be selected from courses offered at DigiPen and numbered 500 or higher. Courses may have prerequisites that should be taken into consideration by the student and discussed with the student’s advisor.