In this intensive course, students learn to design and build their own virtual 3D worlds. These custom environments are navigated interactively, creating an immersive experience for the viewer. Techniques we learn include: constructing environments with stock assets, 1st and 3rd person navigation, lighting, animation, stock character animation, localized sound, virtual camera, and recording. Final projects are viewable on the computer, or on the web. The course is aimed at a wide variety of uses of VR, including: gaming, animation, cinematic forms, prototyping for architecture or interior design, educational projects, and commercial purposes.

Students will learn through a series of in-class exercises and at-home projects the fundamental drawing skills for the purposes of illustration and figurative art. The course will also include group critiques, examples of relevant artwork, and demonstrations of tools, materials, and techniques. Topics covered will include anatomy, composition, perspective, proportion, gesture, line quality, value, composition, and storytelling. At the onset, working from observation will be stressed to develop the artist’s eye and, later, from original digital reference and imagination using a variety of traditional drawing tools that can easily be applied to digital tools. By the end of the course, students will be proficient at the fundamentals of traditional drawing, familiar with the basic tools of drawing, and adept at imagining, designing, and executing compelling and dynamic figurative imagery. Level: beginner-intermediate.

Typography is a field of graphic design used to give shape to the written word. This introductory course explores strategies for organizing letters, words, paragraphs, pages, and beyond to visually communicate an idea and aims to develop your creative processes in new and powerful ways. Course topics include the anatomy of letterforms, type history and classification systems, type selection and pairing, legibility and readability, and the expressive qualities of type. The course features discussions and critiques, lectures, and demonstrations, as well as hands-on problem-solving exercises and assignments. While this isn't a software-based course, Macintosh computers and Adobe InDesign are used frequently. The course is open to beginning and intermediate graphic designers or individuals developing their professional skills in visual communications. Level: all levels (beginner to advanced).

University College and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts have worked together to bring you our NEW certificate in Virtual Reality. This virtual, non-credit certificate brings a flexible, intensive, skills-oriented program to students and professionals interested in the intersection of art and technology. Through six short online asynchronous courses, students are given the skills to tackle virtual reality environment design for application in a variety of fields.

In partnership with the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts and University College, we have recently redesigned our existing certificate in Graphic Design to better provide our students with the practical and theoretical skills of a design professional. Throughout the program you will learn from a team of faculty with extensive teaching experience and recognition in their field. 

Our newly redesigned non-credit certificate in Illustration provides students with a solid foundation for creating illustrations, learning illustrative techniques, and understanding an illustrator's creative process. University College worked with our partners at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts to redesign this certificate in order to continue to be at the forefront of the intersection of art and technology at Tufts University.