MFA in Digital Arts

Do you want to go further with your artistic abilities? This terminal degree program allows you to build on your foundation and expand beyond the traditional arts. As an MFA candidate, you will hone your craft in digital media and build proficiency in subjects like digital sculpting, digital painting, character design, and other specializations within the digital media industries.

The program culminates with an advanced thesis project that lets you develop and showcase an original body of work that is both personal and reflective of your strongest capabilities as a digital artist. We welcome a diversity of interests, ideas, and backgrounds.

The MFA in Digital Arts program allows you to make the jump from traditional to digital media and equip yourself with the 2D and 3D art skills most relevant to today’s careers in games, animation, and other visual media production environments.

Request Information

Apply Online

Who Should Pursue This Degree?

If you aspire to turn your artistic capabilities into a sustainable career, or simply pick up where you left off in a previous arts program — particularly in the direction of 2D or 3D digital art production — this program may be for you. Ideally, applicants to the Master of Fine Arts in Digital Arts program will have had foundational coursework or formal training in the following: drawing, figure drawing, color theory, composition sculpture, 3D modeling, animation, and digital painting. Applicants with a background in architecture or design may be accepted but will need traditional media rendering skills and a demonstrated proficiency in color and composition.

As a student in this program, you will:

Learn the Tools of Digital Artists
Gain familiarity with the tools and techniques most commonly used for digital painting, 3D sculpting, and more.
Tailor Your Elective Coursework
Focus on the skills and specializations that matter most to you; take advantage of independent study opportunities to design your own courses.
Build Your Professional Portfolio
The MFA thesis project is your chance to make a personal statement and demonstrate your strongest capabilities as a digital artist.

Academic Roadmap

As an MFA student, your studies will begin with a handful of required courses that will form the basis of your digital arts toolkit. From there, you’ll be able to choose from a wide selection of elective offerings in digital art, fine art, animation and production, or project coursework — narrowing your focus in the direction of the skillsets that most interest you. In addition to your regular coursework, you’ll be working toward your final thesis project under the guidance of faculty advisors.

Houdini Certification

DigiPen is a Certified Partner of SideFX, developers of the procedural 3D art software, Houdini. Certification means our students have demonstrated exceptional skill using the industry-leading tool favored by professional technical artists working in the film, television, and games industries.

Admissions Requirements

In addition to other basic admissions requirements, applicants to the MFA program must submit an art portfolio.

View all requirements

Topics Covered

By the time they graduate, students in the MFA program will possess the following qualifications:

Extensive 3D production experience, including the ability to use the most current 2D and 3D graphics applications in the industry, as well as traditional fine arts skills such as drawing, sculpting, and painting.
A deep understanding of the 3D graphics production pipeline, including the creative process and ability to manage projects from brainstorming to completion.
Strong research skills, especially as they relate to art history, character design references, and anatomy.
A specialization in modeling, sculpting, or character art, as well as a unique and highly developed personal voice as demonstrated by their thesis.

Full-Time and Part-Time Options

The MFA program is flexible to your schedule and can be pursued either full-time for two years or part-time for four years. The part-time program will require some coursework during regular daytime hours.

Full-time sample course sequence

Part-time sample course sequence

MFA Thesis

Your thesis begins with a one-semester Thesis Pre-Production course, during which time you will research, develop, and refine your thesis topic proposal. You will then work on your approved thesis project for two semesters under the guidance of a faculty advisor.

Thesis Work Examples

Event Schedule

VA Education Benefits Info Session

Wednesday, November 20, 2024 — 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Student Projects

In addition to your thesis project, you’ll have the opportunity to collaborate with your peers on team-based student projects — including games and films — as part of your elective coursework. These projects give you firsthand experience creating 2D and 3D digital assets in a setting that reflects the professional studio environment. These are just a few projects MFA students have helped create.

Trappist Landing

This 3D adventure game puts players in the role of an exobiologist determined to explore and catalogue alien life forms in the Trappist solar system.

A glowing alien landscape full of strange mushrooms, trees, and foliage with the player's HUD layer on top.

The Luminist

In 3D action horror game The Luminist, the player controls a man trapped in a forgotten subterranean mining town after an elevator crash.

A man wearing a blue coat looks at a decrepit elevator shaft.

Orientation Center for the Unseen

A helpful tutorial video for the newly dead.

A man in glasses and a red argyle sweater sits on a bench reading a newspaper, fascinated by a story.

Meet the Faculty

As an MFA candidate you will take classes from a number of faculty in the Department of Fine Arts, Department of Digital Arts, and Department of Animation and Production. You’ll receive close guidance and mentorship from experienced artists and industry veterans from the world of professional film and game production. These are just a few of the faculty who teach coursework in the MFA program.

Career Outlook

Graduates of the MFA in Digital Arts program can pursue a number of career paths in the game and digital media industries. Thanks to a heavy emphasis on elective coursework, you’ll be able to tailor your studies to these and other job types.

Potential Careers

3D Modeler

A 3D modeler is responsible for creating the creatures, objects, and environmental features for video games, simulations, animations, and other visual media, as well as 3D-printed objects. A 3D modeler must know how to capture the look, weight, and proportion of an object from all angles and work efficiently with sophisticated 3D art tools.

Character Artist

A character artist has the difficult but important job of creating the 3D characters that will typically be the focus of the player’s attention in an interactive video game. In many cases, the character artist will be responsible for both the modeling and texturing of the 3D character, being sure to create a model that can be properly rigged and animated.

Concept Artist

The concept artist creates visualizations to guide the rest of the art team and ensures a consistent visual style for animations, video games, movies, and other media. They must be able to illustrate rapidly to represent new ideas, working from the creative direction and input of a creative director or art lead.

Entry-Level Job Titles

3D Artist
Animator
Technical Artist
Environment Artist

Senior-Level Job Titles

Art Lead
Art Director
Senior Artist
Senior Character Artist
Professor of Fine Arts

Master of Fine Arts inDigital Arts