Online Fine Arts Certificate

Designed for the busy adult learner, the Professional Certificate can be completed in nine months studying part time.

Level 1

4803 Intro to Visual Arts
4018 Intro to Drawing
4800 History of Art
4501 Drawing I

Level 2

7002 Digital Photography I
4502 Figure Drawing
4700 Painting I

Already have some art experience? You can customize the program around your learning goals. Browse our online art courses or course list and talk to an advisor.

4803 Intro to Visual Arts

Develop an understanding of the visual arts by exploring your own artistic creativity. You'll explore paintings, sculptures, experimental pieces, and more, learning to critique their composition and decode their social or political purpose. You'll be introduced to the elements that make up a visual message and build a vocabulary of fundamental terms and compositional techniques.

4018 Intro To Drawing

Learn how to draw with proper techniques, learning how to represent what they see through studies in contour drawing, perspective, positive/negative space, and value. As you progress through this class, you will develop a better understanding of the forms you are observing and become more skillful in representing those forms.

4800 History of Art

Build a foundation in art history and gain a deep understanding of art and the artists who create it. Explore profound themes that have concerned artists for centuries: nature, the human body, society, religion, and politics. Through engaging lectures and projects, you’ll learn how to identify the mediums, materials, and techniques artists use and discuss the styles of important artists, art movements, and historical periods from antiquity through the mid-20th century.

4501 Drawing I

Learn how to analyze what you see in the world around you and communicate it on paper. Through hands-on projects, and guided by a professional artist, you will explore the critical concepts of line, mass, form, perspective, value, and composition, building a solid foundation for all your art and design work.

7002 Digital Photography I

Explore the interaction of photography techniques and environmental factors to create powerful digital images. Students learn the fundamentals of lighting, perspective, and set up and explore techniques for classic assignments: portraits, product shots, indoor and outdoor location shoots, and fast-action sports. Whether you’re a fine artist, graphic designer, or Web developer, a mastery of digital photography gives you creative control of the medium.

4502 Figure Drawing

Follow traditional methods to learn the standard measures and proportions artists use to achieve naturalistic and expressive figure drawings. Illustrations and activities guide students through the structure of the human skeleton and help them understand how the body’s anatomy shapes its external form. The course builds progressively from the fundamentals to the challenges of portraiture, three-dimensional form, composition, and expression.

4700 Painting I

After a thorough orientation to the painter’s materials (paint, canvas, brushes, and solvents), students study a systematic and time-honored approach to painting that enables them to capture proportion, perspective, and lighting. Students learn how to build a foundation with preparatory sketches and underpainting, then gain control over value through monochromatic painting and color studies.

In the program, students learn the following skills:

#1 Visual Arts - You will be able to discuss and creatively explore the fundamental visual elements of art and the composition and visual communication techniques used by artists.

#2 Basic Drawing - You will be able to create basic line drawings using pencil and paper following the principles of perspective and proportion. You will be able to identify and draw positive and negative space in a drawing subject.

#3 History of Art - You can identify and discuss the different ways that artists have approached the themes of nature, the human body, realism, religion, and power and protest throughout the ages.

#4 Intermediate Drawing - You will develop drawing skills that show the ability to analyze a subject, represent realistic form and perspective, manipulate value and color, and reflect contemporary stylistic approaches. Your work will be informed by subject, lighting, color, and media choices.

#5 Digital Photography - You will develop a basic ability to handle different kinds of photo shoots including portraits, product shots, indoor and outdoor settings, and fast-action photos. Your photography will show the ability to manipulate framing, perspective, distance, and lighting to get professional results.

#6 Figure Drawing - You will be able to represent through figure drawing the characteristic shapes and proportions of the human face and body in frontal, profile, and three-quarter views. Your work will show a basic ability to represent three-dimensional form, composition, and expression.

#7 Painting - You will demonstrate a basic grasp of traditional painting techniques that enables you to capture proportion, perspective, and lighting in the world around you. Your still life paintings will exhibit different painting techniques and conceptual approaches.