Course Listings
FD162
Fundamentals of Digital Painting
Units:3
Fundamentals of Digital Painting will cover use and creation of custom brush sets, general digital painting techniques, good organization of layers, composition, and proper usage of layer blending modes.
LA247
Introduction to Sociology
Units:3
Designed to introduce students to a sociological understanding of how we build and live in communities. With a strong emphasis on the psychology of power structures, social institutions, social reasoning, and social constructivism, this course helps students to understand the role of the individual within the larger society. With a broad scope into the science of groups, topics may also include urgent current events to build a vivid understanding of the social interactivity in everyday life.
LA237
Financial Literacy
Units:3
Economics, mathematics, and sociology combine to form the study of financial literacy. Knowing how to handle money, investments, retirement, and much more are covered in this course. Though money offers a shifting ground, this course should give you the ability to adapt to changing conditions.
LA175
Poetry Workshop 1
Units:3
LA111
The primary goal of this course is to provide practice in the basics of poetry writing, with a simultaneous exploration of poetry's various theories and techniques. Students will be introduced to a variety of literary styles and devices via assigned readings by accomplished authors, with guided in-class discussions and group analyses of the craft at work in each piece (aspects such as meter, structure, rhyme, voice, tone, free verse, lyric, and form). Students will be required to complete a variety of writing assignments and similarly take part in close critiques of each other?s new writing, both in class and via written feedback composed away from class, providing textual analysis from both aesthetic and technical standpoints, articulating both emotional and intellectual responses to the works. Accomplished guest authors will visit the class to provide additional mentoring and inspiration. Excursions to public readings will augment classroom instruction. Class work may culminate in a formal publication and/or public performances (e.g., as part of LCAD?s Literary Companions Reading Series). By the end of the semester students will have broadened their understanding of the genre from a writer's perspective, improved their mechanics in regards to craft, and perhaps even taken several giant steps closer to discovering their own unique voices and visions as authors. Similar to how the College Preparatory Writing classes are structured (and how other courses accommodate both undergraduate and graduate students in the same class), LCAD?s Creative Writing Workshops will be able to simultaneously accommodate students taking the course as an Introductory Workshop (at the 100 level, practicing the basic craft essentials) and those in the more Advanced levels (200, 300, 400, working on more complex aspects of technique and voice, longer pieces, or a collection of works). While all levels will benefit from group feedback and critiques, individual assignments will be appropriate to the enrolment level.
AH305
Worldly + Otherworldly: Fantastic Creatu
Units:3
AH114 or AH115
For centuries, earthly creatures, charmed animals and otherworldly beings conjured by artisans, magicians, folklorists, natural philosophers, and physicians, have inspired both wonder and delight as well as revulsion, alarm, and terror in the hearts and minds of otherwise thinking persons. Considering beasts and beings of all sorts, both earthly and divine, this course seeks to investigate the origin stories of such creatures and inquire as to what motivations compel an individual or society to conjure such creatures. From the Classical World to Medieval Scandinavia, from the Americas to Slavic Europe, this course explores how art and monstrosity intersected in the cultural imagination to both delightful and devastating effect. In consultation with a range of visual and literary primary materials, including the Great Chain of Being, the Malleus Maleficarum (the Witches Hammer), and Della Porta’s How We May Produce New and Strange Monsters, students will conduct close readings, originate research, formulate essays and create original artwork of their own in an effort to gain insight into earlier states of mind as well as open avenues into wholly new creations. All readings for the course will be in English, although international and graduate students may be asked to give additional reports on texts written in other languages.
FD151
Fundamentals of Figure Drawing
Units:3
This course is an introduction to drawing the human form. Students work from the draped and undraped model. Emphasis is on accurate representation of the figure utilizing observation with the elements of gesture, measurement, construction line, volume, proportion, and surface anatomy. Materials include graphite and charcoal.
FD154
Fundamentals of Painting
Units:3
FD150
This course is an introduction to the basic skills, tools, materials, and techniques used in painting with oils. The student paints from direct observation, primarily using the still life as subject matter. Emphasis is on solving the problems of representing form in space by applying the elements of composition, perspective, value, and color. Topics include preparing supports for painting and various painting techniques. Materials used: oil paints
FD160
Pictorial Design for Illustration
Units:3
This course introduces 2-D design principles in constructing pictorial imagery. The relationship between the principles of design and formal elements of art are addressed, and how these components apply to composition and illustrative applications. Appropriate and effective fusions of form and function and illustrative styles and strategies are also explored.
FD161
Fundamentals of Illustration
Units:3
FD150 + FD151
An introduction to illustration and the role of the illustrator in the communication arts field. Through assignments and in-class demonstrations and brief exercises, students will explore the practices and principles of communicating visual concepts and executing successful illustrations. Students will work with a variety of media and surfaces and will be expected to understand the uniqueness and use of each individual material and practice by the end of class. The course will place an emphasis on visual communication and problem solving. Students are expected to come prepared to every class, and to find individual solutions to the illustration “problems” provided them throughout the semester and to successfully execute each project to the breadth of their ability.
LA281
Graphic Novels
Units:3
From memoirs to fantasy and superheroes, graphic literature has come a long way in recent decades. This survey course takes a look at graphic literature and what it means to communicate story in visual images.
GD251
3D-1: Animation for Motion Graphics
Units:3
FD137 + FD142
This advanced course introduces 3-dimensional computer modeling, concepts, technology and techniques (i.e., 3-dimensional virtual coordinate system, wire-frame, texture mapping, light source and camera positioning, etc.) through assignments that emphasize innovative object or product design and photorealistic representation.
LA192
Intro to Poetry - Literary Survey, Analy
Units:3
William Carlos Williams suggests, "It is difficult to get the news from poems yet men die miserably every day for lack of what is found there." In this class, nobody dies. Through lecture, discussion, and writing exercises, students address the following topics: rhythm, image, form, diction, metaphor, condensed language, denotation, and connotation — all keys to not only not dying but rather living a meaningful life.
AH210
Western Art History 1
Units:3
This course introduces students to art historical issues and important monuments from pre-history until the Renaissance period in the Western tradition. It establishes a social, political, and historical context for the production of art in society, and provides art students with a sense of the historical development of styles as a continuous tradition relating to their own work.
IL223
Words, Images + Ideas
Units:3
FD160 + FD162 + FD161
This course gives the illustrator hands-on opportunities to explore the interaction of words and images. Students will learn basic principles of type and its role in visual communication and historical context. This course will also encourage experimentation with type and text as a central component of narrative art, which includes, book, comics, editorial / advertising illustration, and posters. Processes and genres may include: Adobe Illustrator, Indesign, calligraphy, signage, graffiti, tattoo, relief printmaking and illustrated type.
LA245
Intro to Philosophy
Units:3
From the mystics of the East to the Classical philosophy of the west, this survey course takes a look at our cultures' attempts to understand the world we live in and how to live the good life.
LA193
Creative Writing Workshop: Literary Sum
Units:3
Taking place either in New York City (with excursions to surrounding areas) or The West Coast (San Francisco mainly, with perhaps Oregon and Washington hops). 10-14 nights in June-July; cost approx. $4,600 for airfare and hotel (with all taxes and surcharges included), transportation between cities, all museum/gallery/event entrance fees, several dinners, a few tours, meet-and greets with established authors, and tuition for the 3-unit class. Likewise, this class could be taken by any student to fulfill the Liberal Arts elective, or applied to a Creative Writing minor. As the literary counterpart to ?The New York Scene? Art History course, we?d study the writing generated from each area visited, but assignments would be mainly student?s own creative writing, inspired by the writing, art, and culture of each place. New York is the literary and publishing capital of the world, so there would be lots to do and see and write about there?from the legendary reading series at the 92nd Street Y and bookstores galore, to tours of publishing houses and the campuses of Columbia and NYU, to an ?Oscar Wilde in New York Walking Tour? and Shakespeare in the Park. Readings might include selections from Paul Auster, Galway Kinnell, Sharon Olds, William Kennedy, Edgar Allan Poe, Sarah Vowell, David Foster Wallace, Walt Whitman. If we head north instead of east, most of the trip would be centered in San Francisco with its legendary literary scene -- City Light Bookstore, The Six Gallery, Marin County Poets -- and readings might include works by Kim Addonizio, Isabel Allende, Philip K. Dick, Dave Eggers, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, CB Follett, James Houston, Jack Kerouac, Jack London, Tupac Shakur, Mark Twain. This West Coast trip might include a leg to explore the literary scenes of Oregon (Richard Brautigan, William Everson, William Stafford, Gary Snyder, Vladimir Nabokov, Ken Kesey), and/or Washington (Raymond Carver, Tom Robbins). Similar to how the College Preparatory Writing classes are structured (and how other courses accommodate both undergraduate and graduate students in the same class), LCAD?s Creative Writing Workshops will be able to simultaneously accommodate students taking the course as an Introductory Workshop (at the 100 level, practicing the basic craft essentials) and those in the more Advanced levels (200, 300, 400, working on more complex aspects of technique and voice, longer pieces, or a collection of works). While all levels will benefit from group feedback and critiques, individual assignments will be appropriate to the enrolment level.
LA194
Creative Writing Workshop: Multi-Genre
Units:3
The primary goal of this course is to provide practice in the basics of writing in multiple genres, offering students a wide range of options for expressing their stories and words regardless of the forms they may take. While traditional structures and vehicles such as songwriting and spoken word performance art would be included, this class is meant to help encourage daring and difficult works that may push the boundaries of established forms and formalities. This may include multiple-disciplinary literature, literary artwork, installations, interactive works, intertextuality, and new media. Students will be encouraged to explore different avenues for their writing, understanding that there is no single "right way" to communicate a story, and that sometimes new inventions of form and even format is called for. Students will be required to complete a variety of writing assignments and similarly take part in close critiques of each other's new work, both in class and via written feedback composed away from class, providing textual analysis from both aesthetic and technical standpoints, articulating both emotional and intellectual responses to the works. Accomplished guest authors will visit the class to provide additional mentoring and inspiration. Excursions to public readings will augment classroom instruction. Class work may culminate in a formal publication and/or public performances (e.g., as part of LCAD?s Literary Companions Reading Series). By the end of the semester students will have broadened their understanding of the genre from a writer's perspective, improved their mechanics in regards to craft, and perhaps even taken several giant steps closer to discovering their own unique voices and visions as authors. Similar to how the College Preparatory Writing classes are structured (and how other courses accommodate both undergraduate and graduate students in the same class), LCAD?s Creative Writing Workshops will be able to simultaneously accommodate students taking the course as an Introductory Workshop (at the 100 level, practicing the basic craft essentials) and those in the more Advanced levels (200, 300, 400, working on more complex aspects of technique and voice, longer pieces, or a collection of works). While all levels will benefit from group feedback and critiques, individual assignments will be appropriate to the enrolment level.
LA198
Creative Writing Workshop: Script Writng
Units:3
The primary goal of this course is to provide practice in the basics of script writing, with a simultaneous exploration of various theories and techniques related to creating scripted stories and storytelling techniques. Students will become familiar with common terminologies and structures: beat sheets, treatments, outlines, pitches, One Act, 3-act, 4-act, Teleplays, Screenplays, Documentaries, Multi-media, Graphic Novels, etc. Students will be introduced to a variety of styles and devices via assigned readings by accomplished authors, with guided in-class discussions and group analyses of the craft at work in each piece (aspects such as structure, conflict, plot, character, point of view, setting, dialogue, voice, tone, narrative form). Students will be required to complete a variety of writing assignments and similarly take part in close critiques of each other's new writing, both in class and via written feedback composed away from class, providing textual analysis from both aesthetic and technical standpoints, articulating both emotional and intellectual responses to the works. Accomplished guest authors will visit the class to provide additional mentoring and inspiration. Excursions to public readings will augment classroom instruction. Class work may culminate in a formal publication and/or public performances (e.g., as part of LCAD's Literary Companions Reading Series). By the end of the semester students will have broadened their understanding of the genre from a writer's perspective, improved their mechanics in regards to craft, and perhaps even taken several giant steps closer to discovering their own unique voices and visions as authors. Similar to how the College Preparatory Writing classes are structured (and how other courses accommodate both undergraduate and graduate students in the same class), LCAD?s Creative Writing Workshops will be able to simultaneously accommodate students taking the course as an Introductory Workshop (at the 100 level, practicing the basic craft essentials) and those in the more Advanced levels (200, 300, 400, working on more complex aspects of technique and voice, longer pieces, or a collection of works). While all levels will benefit from group feedback and critiques, individual assignments will be appropriate to the enrolment level.
AH404
Los Tres Grandes—The Mexican Muralist Mo
Units:3
AH114 or AH115 + AH204 or AH205 or AH206 or AH207 or AH305
Los Tres Grandes explores the Mexican Muralist movement of the 1920s from its beginnings under the post-Mexican Revolution government to its present-day influence on Chicanx and Street artists. Utilizing a curricular framework centered on Los Tres Grandes (the big three), Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros, our studies will then expand to include further influential figures such as Frida Kahlo and Rufino Tamayo among others. Students will be required to demonstrate their understanding of the material through visual (art) projects, a formal writing assignment, and participation in class discussions. Prerequisite: One course from Ancient Civilizations category and one course from either Medieval Worlds or Renaissance/Early Modern category.
AH411
Vision, Passion, Rebellion - Modern Art
Units:3
Set primarily in Paris, this course traces the development and public reception of modern art in Europe from the mid-19th century through the early years of the 20th century. The main focus of this course is the Post-Impressionists, artists working in diverse styles during the years 1880-1900. In order to better understand the radical approaches to art undertaken by these artists, the course will include a brief investigation of the cultural, political, and artistic trends which led up to the period known as Post-Impressionism. Thus, students will gain familiarity with the major art movements of the 18th and 19th centuries: Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism, and Impressionism. This course will be framed by the theories of “bohemian” poet Charles Baudelaire, whose close friendship with many artists helped shaped the trajectory of modern art. Encircled by other likeminded writers, these artists spurred the creative process and championed one another. Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Munch, Mucha, and Klimt are among the artists examined in this class. Through close analysis of the artists’ own words, students will explore the psyche of the modern artist as they sought to create an expressive art imbued with feeling, originality, and innovation. This course requires a museum visit, independent research, analysis of primary sources (artist letters and essays), and the creation of an artwork related to course content.
AH190
Rome, City of Splendor
Units:3
Rome, the Eternal City, is a city unlike any other. It is entrenched in history and undeniably beautiful, where Roman ruins serve as a backdrop for classically restrained Renaissance structures and dramatic Baroque spectacle. This course takes students through the incredible transformation the city has undergone from ancient times through the rise of Christianity, culminating with the tumultuous era and style of the 17th-century Baroque. Through these great epochs of Roman history, the city attracted some of the most revered artists including Raphael, Michelangelo, Gentileschi, Caravaggio, and Bernini. Students will leave this class with an in-depth understanding of the innovation of Roman architecture and engineering, what led to the decline of ancient Rome, and how the city transformed from a glorious capital of pagan culture to the prominent seat of the Catholic faith, home to over 900 churches. Requirements for this class include a museum visit, independent research, and the creation of an artwork related to the course content and historic techniques analyzed in this course.
AH116
Ancient Civ: Egypt-Greece-Rome
Units:3
If consciousness is shaped by our history, then where are we, collectively, if we’ve lost faith that a shared historical commonality among cultures ever existed? To the people who thrived in the strange and beautiful empires of ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, religious and cultural differences found in one’s neighbors weren’t unusual, confusing or frightening—they were part of everyday life. In short: normal coexistence. In the class Egypt, Greece, Rome—we’ll explore the commonalities and shared experiences found among these three remarkable civilizations, as well as follow the cultural fault lines exploited by those in power which eventually forced these empires to dissolve. Together, we’ll explore three millennia of artefacts, objects, architecture, writings, as well as cultural and religious practice to see how these civilizations evolved, ran alongside one another, then overlapped and overcame one another to lay the foundations of modern western society. Through lecture, images, discussions, essays, and close readings, students will learn to identify, decode, understand and describe artworks and objects from the past, translating them from visual to verbal and textual language. In addition, in an effort to gain insight into the ancient state of mind, students will reconstruct a piece of history with a hands-on laboratory project and a small, original artwork of their own. No prerequisites.
AH409
Intro to Exhibition Design
Units:3
AH320 or AH404 or AH405 or AH406
This course will introduce students to current theoretical and real-world applications of exhibition design operating today in museums, galleries, and contemporary art spaces, both real and virtual. Through weekly in-person exploration of cultural sites in and around Orange County and Los Angeles, students will observe and critique aesthetic and practical decisions made by professional curators and exhibition designers, with particular emphases on structural layout, cultural themes, the curation and arrangement of objects, and how artworks interact with one another in outdoor and indoor spaces. In doing so, students will sharpen their perceptive skills, strengthen their discourse specific to the fields of art production, curation, collecting, and museum studies, and pursue theoretical examples of design brought to life within the rich artistic landscape of Southern California. Students produce written journal entries, participate in discussions, produce directed reading responses to museum catalogues, articles, and other didactic material, as well as participate in oral presentations and collaborative hands-on projects. Prerequisite: One course from Ancient Civilizations category and one course from either Medieval Worlds or Renaissance/Early Modern category.
AH408
Living Thru History—Understanding the Am
Units:3
AH320 or AH404 or AH405 or AH406
Since 1954 when the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Brown v. Board of Education, the people of the United States have been engaged in a series of “culture wars” concerned primarily with identity—particularly race and gender—and a grappling with its morally ambiguous past. This deep and alienating sense of polarization and clashing of identities—some voluntary and others forced upon us—has only intensified over the years, coming to an explosive climax in the chaotic and tragic years of 2020-21. Everything from the anti-mask movement and “cancel culture” to the fate of Confederate Statues and defunding the police falls under the rubric of a longstanding, and increasingly tribal culture war in the United States. In this course we will look at the broad historical context of the 1960s from which these battles emerged and trace them through the present. In doing so, we will pay close attention to the ways in which the expansion of rights, freedoms, and liberties for historically marginalized groups has elicited conservative reactions seeking to roll back those gains through an often sectarian vision of American culture and history. This course will focus on flashpoints or sites of contestation—Roe v. Wade, the Oklahoma City Bombing, the rise of “Alt-Right” groups such as the Proud Boys, recent controversies about “Big Tech” censorship, the fate of civil rights, Black Lives Matter protests, and the violent denouement of the Trump Administration. Students will produce written responses to the readings and also formulate a final project determining the role of art and the artist in meeting this particular historical moment. Prerequisite: One course from Ancient Civilizations category and one course from either Medieval Worlds or Renaissance/Early Modern category.
AH407
Exiles in L.A.—Art, Architecture, in L.A
Units:3
AH320 or AH404 or AH405 or AH406
Los Angeles, not known for being a bastion of either culture or liberalism during the early twentieth century, was—for a time—both a cradle of high-modernism and a refuge from the charnel house of European fascism. Icons such as poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht, Marxist philosopher Theodor Adorno, noir filmmakers Fritz Lang and Billy Wilder, composers Arnold Schoenberg and Igor Stravinski, novelists Thomas Mann and Aldous Huxley, and architects Richard Neutra and Rudolph Schindler, many of whom had fled the Nazis, made their homes in Los Angeles. In this course, we will examine the lives and major works of the many refugees and exiles who transformed LA’s intellectual and aesthetic culture in the 1940s, as well as look closely at three critical aspects of their enduring legacy. First, the transnational exchange of aesthetic and intellectual history between Europe and the United States; Second, the effects of fascism on aesthetics and its implications; and Third, the degree to which the creative output of European émigrés provided survival strategies in the wake of such genocidal and illiberal ideologies. What, in other words, can we glean from Brecht’s poetry, from Adorno’s “reflections from damaged life,” from Fritz Lang’s deeply expressionistic noir films, from Huxley’s Brave New World? Through the consumption of text and images representing this history students will create a project utilizing this aesthetic and intellectual history of art (and artists) as a means of strategizing survival in today’s climate. Prerequisite: One course from Ancient Civilizations category and one course from either Medieval Worlds or Renaissance/Early Modern category.