Uncover the functionality behind mechanisms you encounter every day and apply your newfound skills to transform your work as an entertainment design professional. By building a simple mechanical design you will discover how simple machines work and how they are used in everyday devices. By disassembling a consumer product, you will gain an understanding of the design and manufacturing methods underlying electronic and mechanical devices. Open to all students.

Take a leap and allow your personal voice to shine through in this workshop focused on color, composition and paint application. “Direct painting” involves working wet into wet and completing a painting in a single session. Each morning will begin with a presentation and a group discussion, followed by in-class exercises and assignments that will help you work fast in the spirit of experimentation and discovery. Photo references will be provided but you will also be encouraged to create your own still life setups. Oil is recommended, but other mediums are welcome.

The lines between sci-fi, production and concept have been blurred. The open-minded spirit of the entertainment industry energizes automotive design. Likewise, transportation design fundamentals give vehicles designed for entertainment a sense of realism. In this intermediate-level course, we will examine buyer/character, usage/theme, ideation sketch development and final renderings through two intensive projects. Prerequisites: Intro to Product and Transportation Design or Intro to Entertainment Design, or by permission of an ArtCenter advisor. Concurrent enrollment in Intro to Communication Sketching or Visual Communication and Form Development strongly recommended.

Communicate your ideas compellingly using 3D rendering software KeyShot. This new course covers rendering techniques and KeyShot basics: workflow, materials, textures, lighting and animation. Projects range from recreating images with provided models and assets, to making photorealistic images and animations of your own 3D models. The first 10 weeks will focus on rendering still images; the final four weeks on creating animated videos.

Set, slate, action! Learn the individual steps required to create an animated film. Simulating a studio environment, you and your classmates will create a 30-second 2D film from start to finish—covering everything from script, storyboards and visual development to animation, ink and paint, editing, mix and music. Prerequisites: Intro to Figure Drawing and Perspective, or by permission of an ArtCenter advisor. Access to ToonBoom Storyboard Pro software and a Wacom tablet and pen is required.

What might the future look like if envisioned by creative professionals, social innovators, grassroots influencers, ecological activists and technology disruptors? In this new course, you will examine speculative and science fiction across a range of media (short stories, films, manifestos, journalism) and get hands-on speculative design experience. Explore alternative futures triggered by mega/macro trends in the social, technological, economic, ecological and political arenas. The work produced in this course will be intellectually creative and boundary-pushing—not for the unadventurous or feint of heart! Prerequisites: prior experience using visualization, ideation sketching and Adobe Creative Suite.