Artists who are inspired by stories, their own or someone else's, can find creative fulfillment as illustrators or cartoonists. In both disciplines, visual fluency speaks in concert with narrative intentions.

Illustrators and cartoonists are skilled artists with a literary streak. The successful illustrator can work in a variety of media to express meaningful concepts, but first he or she must be able to grasp that meaning by penetrating metaphorically into a text. By creating original comics that confront every issue found in the modern novel, graphic novelists have reinvented cartooning. Cartoonists can also become creative collaborators by taking another writer's material and orchestrating it with their own images.

At SVA, you become an illustrator or cartoonist by developing your technical skills into a highly interpretative instrument. Before going into the marketplace, you will practice drawing with pen and pencil, and painting with oils, watercolor or gouache; you will learn color composition and anatomy; you will work from live models and from pure imagination; and, most importantly, you will learn how to interpret, for skills must be accompanied by a well-developed artistic sensibility.

No one understands that better than the illustrators and cartoonists teaching at the School of Visual Arts, who share their considerable talents and experiences with you. We offer a variety of drawing and painting courses—taught by members of our outstanding illustration and cartooning faculty—that are listed in the fine arts section of this website.