The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the area of visual development and world building, relevant to such industries as animation, gaming and publishing. It provides the unique opportunity to explore personal narratives through a series of assignments that build on each other through the workshop, culminating into a visual exploration of an imagined world. The course will start with an exercise in multiple iteration of character ideas, story development from the visual, and an investigation of additional characters who provide the foundation for environments and a series of illustrations for a story concept. The format of the course will explore research, mood boards, character development, facial expressions, turn-arounds,  character interactions, thumbnails, color studies and finished illustrations.

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After this course, students who are interested in this area can pursue Mentored Advanced Research (MAP) on topics such as:

1. Create storyboard and finished illustrations for a children’s book, or narrative series
2. World building for an animation or video game
3. Develop a narrative or concept based project for publishing, production or editorial illustration