The BFA in Illustration prepares graduates to be sought after professionals in the world of illustration, particularly for animated shorts and gifs, digital editorial, motion graphics, commercials, illustrated books, murals, textiles, fine art practice, merchandise, animation, and entertainment. We educate our students to have valuable, deep, specialized knowledge, combined with a breadth of diverse skills. Our students become professionals that are highly employable by small and large companies alike in the illustration field. Students will also be well-prepared to work in the freelance economy if they choose.

We are preparing students to be multi-faceted, flexible professionals with an ability to serve a variety of projects. Examples of where alumni work and in which fields they work provides evidence that our curriculum prepares students for a variety of careers. At any given time, we have alumni working in entertainment, editorial, children’s books, the beauty industry, and running active freelance studios with clients all over the world.

The BFA in Illustration degree recognizes and provides both a core knowledge base as well as diverse skills within the major and individual areas of interest. This prepares students to work in a variety of areas, be responsive to industry changes, and ready when new industries appear and begin to have an impact.


Distinguished Alumni

Charlie Kendall

Charlie Kendall

Chloe Kim

Chloe Kim

Kohshin Finley

Kohshin Finley

Liesel Plambeck

Liesel Plambeck


Selected Employers

  • ABC, Inc. and partner
  • Anthropologie
  • Apple itunes
  • Autry National Center
  • Bau-Da Design Lab
  • Capitol Records
  • Chiat/Day
  • Conde Nast Publications
  • Deutsch Inc, L.A.
  • DeVa Communications
  • Disney Consumer Products
  • Eisbar
  • Gehry Partners
  • GUESS?
  • Google
  • Guitar Center
  • Hallmark
  • I Design Studio
  • IE Design + Communications
  • Interscope Records
  • Los Angeles County Museum of Art
  • Los Angeles Magazine
  • Mattel
  • Maverick Records
  • Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
  • Metro Transit Authority
  • MOCA, L.A.
  • Ogilvy Worldwide
  • Netflix
  • Nuby Technology
  • Quiksilver
  • Snap Chat
  • Sony Music
  • Target
  • Tornado Design
  • Twentieth Century Fox
  • Univision 34, KMEX-TV
  • U.S. News and World Report
  • Von Dutch
  • Warner Bros. Records
  • WB Network
  • Young & Rubicam