Fine Arts Certificate GES 504 » 360 hours

1. Intro to Visual Arts
2. Intro to Drawing
3. History of Art
4. Drawing I
5. Digital Photography I
6. Figure Drawing
7. Painting I

This program consists of seven required modules. Module descriptions are as follows:

Intro to Visual Arts
What makes a painting work? What inspires a sculptor to create? In this module, you'll develop an understanding of the fine arts by exploring your own artistic creativity. You'll examine paintings, sculptures, and experimental pieces, learning to critique their composition and decode their social or political purpose. The focus is on understanding the elements that make up a visual message and building a vocabulary of fundamental terms and techniques.

Intro to Drawing
Learn basic drawing techniques and how to see and think about form and space. You'll get a better understanding of visual forms and representing those forms on paper. Class projects involve sketches of contours, negative space, and simple and complex forms.

History of Art
Build a foundation in art history and gain a deep understanding of art and the artists who create it. Through engaging lectures and projects, you'll learn how to identify the mediums, materials, and techniques artists use and discuss the styles of important artists, art movements, and historical periods from antiquity through the mid-20th century.

Drawing I
Learn how to analyze what you see in the world around you and communicate it on paper. Through hands-on projects, guided by a professional artist, you'll explore the critical concepts of line, mass, form, perspective, value, and composition, building a solid foundation for all your art and design work.

Digital Photography I
Explore the interaction of photography techniques and environmental factors to create powerful digital images. You'll learn the fundamentals of lighting, perspective, and set-up while exploring techniques for classic assignments: portraits, products, indoor and outdoor location shoots, and fast-action sports.

Figure Drawing
Learn how to make your figure drawings come to life. Following traditional methods, you'll learn the standard measures and proportions artists use to achieve naturalistic and expressive figure drawings. Illustrations and activities will guide you through the structure of the human skeleton and help you understand how the body's anatomy shapes its external form. The program builds progressively from the fundamentals to the challenges of portraiture, three-dimensional form, composition, and expression.

Painting I
Learn a traditional approach to oil painting. After a thorough orientation to the painter's materials (paint, canvas, brushes, and solvents), you will study a systematic and time-honored approach to oil painting that enables you to capture proportion, perspective, and lighting in the world around you. Each lesson guides you systematically through a disciplined approach to creating art. You'll learn how to build a foundation with preparatory sketches and underpainting, and find out how to mix your paints correctly. You'll gain control over value through monochromatic painting and color studies. As you paint a series of still lifes, you'll explore different painting techniques and conceptual approaches.