Foundation Studies

Every SCAD undergraduate student’s educational experience is anchored by SCAD Core, which includes rigorous courses in drawing and design that provide students with a studio experience that builds visual, conceptual, and creative abilities. In these courses, students gain a shared artistic vocabulary, examine and complete visual challenges, and research, conceptualize, and materialize creative solutions.

SCAD is home to the only dedicated School of Foundation Studies in the U.S.

Students advance through foundation studies courses that move in the direction of their academic studies and professional aspirations. For example, in DSGN 115 Creative Thinking Strategies, students majoring in programs such as business of beauty and fragrance, fibers, and industrial design apply adaptive thinking and creative problem-solving skills to seek opportunities for change and innovation. In DRAW 206 Drawing for Storyboarding, animation and sequential art students learn fundamental skills for storyboarding for a variety of motion-based media and demonstrate a command for this in-demand visual language. In DRAW 115 Graphics for the Building Arts, architecture, interior design, and preservation design students learn graphic representation techniques such as orthographic, paraline, and perspective drawing skills. With the help of advisers, students choose elective courses based on specific foundation studies requirements for each discipline. Students pursuing degrees in illustration or interactive design and game development learn crucial skills like linear and atmospheric perspective to invent immersive and expressive environments. SCAD students with career interests in animation or fashion complete courses in life drawing and study the complexities and dynamics inherent to the human form. In DRAW 250 Digital Drawing, students move at the speed of innovation using state-of-the-art technology as they learn to create, render, and manipulate digital imagery. Students abroad at SCAD Lacoste have the opportunity to document their resplendent learning experience through DRAW 341 Travel Portfolio.

In addition to the expansive foundation studies curriculum, SCAD offers students a remarkable array of support and learning services to guide new students as they find their creative voice. The SCAD Drawing and Design Center conducts peer tutoring and workshops in person and online for students to explore and develop drawing techniques and design processes. First-year students have the opportunity to hear from students across disciplines in the lecture series Major Connections and Professional Tool Kit, which feature upper-level SCAD students and alumni who discuss how their current work is rooted in their foundation studies experience.

Foundation studies faculty members hold terminal degrees and high acclaim in their professions. They include a U.S. Artists Fellow, a MacDowell Fellow, a Clio Award winner, a Kennedy Center Faculty Fellow, a Ford Foundation Grant recipient, and Fulbright scholars. Their work has been commissioned and sponsored by governments and institutions around the globe and exhibited at countless galleries, museums, and art fairs globally.

My foundation studies professor was there to help us grow. The way we were graded on growth and development was different from anything I had experienced before. I felt cared for and seen as an individual.

DEBBIE ONYIBE

CEO and lead designer, Erupt Art SCAD Atlanta Salutatorian, SCAD B.F.A., advertising, 2020 Lagos, Nigeria

Golden Freedom Isabella Jacobo Houston, Texas