Profiles of Schools/Colleges in Illinois (IL) Offering Animation, Design, Gaming, and Media Related Programs

The city of Rockford, Illinois is rolling with local visual artists landing lucrative positions with the city's numerous commercial businesses.  Rockford illustrators create medical illustrations,  advertisements, comic book designs, instructional materials, cover art and much more.  Talented illustrators living in Rockford have many chances for finding work in this field.

Studio art is a broad major that includes everything from ceramics to photography. Unlike many other art programs where students spend a sizable amount of time in a classroom covering the areas of history and theory, studio art students spend a significant amount of time in the studio mastering multiple techniques for each discipline. These “intensive” workshops prepare students for a career in a variety of fields from advertising to photography.

Illinois is the nation’s fifth largest state and it is home to the country’s third largest city—Chicago. The city of Chicago is more than just a large city. It is an art and culture capital, with more major museums than most other states. One of the most famous, however, is the 150-year-old Art Institute of Chicago. According to the Art Institute website, the museums “collection now encompasses more than 5,000 years of human expression from cultures around the world.” Other major Chicago museums include the renowned Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), and the Smart Museum of Art (of the University of Chicago).

Video games aren’t just for kids anymore. The industry has become so diverse that the average age of a gamer is 32, and 2 out of every 5 players are female. Even more interesting is, decades ago, having a video game console was a luxury, but today, around 65 percent of U.S. households play video games. Thanks to constant change and growth in the video game industry, the demand for talented game designers is higher than ever before. Fortunately, a large number of colleges across the country offer top-tier programs for game designers. Many are located in the state of Illinois.