"World building” involves the construction of an imaginary world across a variety of disciplines,

such as literature, film, TV and games. In this new course, we will analyze examples of effective

world building and experiment in developing our own. Explore how civilizations organize

themselves from governmental, economic, cultural and socio-political perspectives. Discover

how cultures and communities operate in order to create fictive worlds that operate in a logical, coherent and consistent fashion. Textbook: You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Story by Houston Howard. Prerequisite: Intro to Concept Design or by permission of an ArtCenter advisor.

Selling artwork or working hourly as an employee are not the only ways to make money as a creative person. Learn about the opportunities for retaining copyright ownership and licensing visual works for royalties. Topics covered include art themes, product categories, portfolio requirements; basics of contracts, trademarks, copyrights, marketing, publicity; working with agents and submitting work to manufacturers. Also learn how to self-publish your art content as books and approach traditional publishers. Finally, learn about utilizing “Print-On-Demand” (POD) manufacturers with no set up costs to make an array of products to sell including greeting cards & stickers, tee shirts & apparel, mugs, phone cases, pillows, wall art and more. These revenue models apply to fine art, graphic design, illustration, surface design, lettering and calligraphy, photography and mixed media, and will be of interest to anyone wanting to start their own side hustle or full-time business based on their creative content. Open to all students. 

In the intermediate level course, students focus on the technical aspects of setting up artwork for printing on fabric, wallpaper, ceramics, plastic, paper products and more. Live demos by instructor include working with the various color systems and color indexing files for mass production, and working with manufacturers’ templates and specifications for a variety of product types. Students will prepare art for the purpose of testing their surface pattern designs on a variety of product samples from print on demand sources. The final outcome is a group of product samples that can be photographed for portfolios as well as key technical knowledge. Materials: $100 per student estimated cost for ordering a variety of product samples. Prerequisite: Surface Design 1. 

Designed to help independent creatives thrive in the booming freelance economy, this course explores the total picture of starting and running a business. We’ll addresses four pillars of owning a creative freelance or remote business: mindset, management, mes­saging and marketing. You’ll learn the crucial mindset shifts needed to transform from “creative” to “creativepreneur.” You’ll set up foundational structures and frameworks of a successful business model and gain strategies and systems to make a living from your creative work. Topics include: freelance markets, business structures, designing your time, debt, taxes, choosing your niche, working with contracts, cost and profit, work-life integration. overcoming limiting beliefs, pricing your work; networking v. marketing, the client qualification and onboard­ing process; managing projects, establishing your expertise, working with clients, the abundance mindset, agency v. consul­tancy, and your role as a creative leader. 

Did you know incorporating protects you from lawsuits and credit risks of starting a business? But what kind of corporation and where? This seminar will explain how companies and corporations work and what state is best for you and your team based on tax and legal reasons. We’ll learn the differences, pros and cons of starting Limited Liability Companies, nonprofits, Public Benefit and Social purpose companies and more. We’ll cover what it means to be offered “equity” and what “vesting” in your stock grant or stock options means. We will practice starting a company complete with state registration, by-laws and advisory board agreements.  

In order to get noticed and build a long-term creative career, freelancers and artists must

develop their own distinct, marketable brands. In this course ideal for creative entrepreneurs,

aspiring creative professionals, designers, photographers, illustrators and artists, you will

explore your aspirational goals, core values and distinct approach as the basis for designing your visual brand identity. You will focus on crafting and presenting a consistent visual message

relevant to clients, collectors or patrons. Approaches to marketing, content creation, curation and establishing authorship will be explored.