Photography students learn how to compose, shoot and develop traditional film and digital photographs. Students are generally required to take classes in developing, printing, and criticism.
Film students learn how to produce, shoot and edit films on traditional stock, as well as video. Some film programs emphasize traditional narratives, while others focus more on experimental and avant-garde films. Required classes include film writing, cinematography, sound, editing, and history.
Fashion designers design clothes and accessories, such as purses and jewelry. While some students design off-the-rack clothes, others go for trend-setting haute couture. Required classes are usually split between skills courses, such as sewing, sketching and pattern making, and academic subjects like color theory, fashion history, and professional practices.
Industrial designers learn how to design functional products. Students learn how to suit form to function, and how to lend utilitarian objects a bit of artistic flair. A student can expect to take classes in technical drawing, model making, and industrial design theory.
Interior designers combine a knowledge of architecture, furniture and decoration to lend a feeling of place or mood to a particular indoor area. Students must have a strong sense of composition and a love of interdisciplinary studies. Students can expect to take classes in lighting, textiles, cultural anthropology and architecture.
Sculptors create three-dimensional artwork either through the shaping or carving of a hard material, such as in marble figures, or through the combination of a number of found objects. Students will usually take classes in which they become familiar with different materials, such as wood, stone and clay, as well as in representational and abstract sculpture.
Printmakers etch designs or images in hard wood or metal blocks. These blocks are then stained with ink or paint and printed onto paper. Many printmaking programs also educate students in computer-assisted printmaking and screenprinting, in which they learn to use computer design software.
Programs that offer writing degrees typically ask students to specialize in poetry, fiction or creative nonfiction. Most programs focus on creative writing rather than analysis or research, which is the domain of English literature programs. Students generally take classes on narrative, character and theme.
Drawing students learn the basics of representing form using pen and pencil. Students generally concentrate on realistic drawing, technical draftsmanship or abstract sketches. Classes will usually take classes in the history of drawing, ink drawing, pencil drawing, charcoal drawing and in drawing human figures.
Students who specialize in animation learn to add motion to their images. Students typically receive an education in the principles of both illustration and filmmaking. Students take classes in the history of animation, storyboarding, drawing and computer animation.
Art education is the study of the methods of teaching artistic production and techniques. Art education students learn how to create art and how to explain the process to others. In addition to art courses, students will generally take classes specifically relevant to teaching, such as methods of instruction and classroom management.
Art historians research and criticize classical and modern art, which they attempt to situate in their historical context, linking it to world events, ideas and other arts. A student can expect to take classes in the history of Western art, non-Western art, art theory, and at least one studio class.