Digital Animation (Bachelor of Fine Arts, B.F.A.)

The Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) in Digital Animation degree at Missouri Western offers an art student the opportunity to become proficient in skills that are useful for producing a wide range of animation for cinema, broadcast television, gaming, and interactive media. Students will gain a broad foundation in animation from traditional hand-drawn to 3D animation. Balancing theory and practice, the educational emphasis will be on developing creative problem-solving skills and processes; honing artistic identity; spatial and temporal thinking and analysis; mastering digital animation technologies; and, research of new strategies for learning through digital advances. The Digital Animation degree reflects the convergence of computers and art, and emphasizes working with 2D and 3D graphics in a computer-based, graphics-intensive environment. The flexible curriculum allows you to specialize in an area based on your interests and talents.

Students who choose this bachelor degree program will have no more than 6 years from admission or subsequent declaration to meet the requirements listed below. If certification, accreditation or statutory requirements change and additional requirements become effective during this time, the new requirements take precedence.

General Studies
Students must complete General Studies courses42
Major Requirements
ART 110Beginning Drawing I3
ART 120Two-Dimensional Design3
ART 129Design Software Applications3
ART 160Beginning Drawing II3
ART 170Three-Dimensional Design3
ART 190Digital 3D Fundamentals3
ART 205Survey of Art History I3
ART 210Animation Fundamentals3
ART 221Digital 3D Modeling3
ART 250Motion Graphics3
ART 255Survey of Art History II3
ART 315Illustration I3
ART 325Digital 3D Lighting3
ART 326Introduction to Game Design3
ART 353Digital Animation3
ART 358Character Animation3
ART 485Digital Animation Portfolio3
Select twelve additional credit hours of advance study in major12
Animation Fundamentals
Digital 3D Modeling
Motion Graphics
Digital 3D Lighting
Introduction to Game Design
Advance Motion Graphics
Digital Animation
Advance Digital Lighting
Character Animation
Advance Digital Sculpting
Digital Animation Production
Select six additional credit hours of guided electives6
Graphic Design I
Typography
Photography I
Topics in Ancient/Medieval Art
Topics in Modern/Contemporary Art
Independent Research/Project
Topics in Renaissance/Baroque Art
Topics in Non-Western Art
Internship In Art
Audio Production
Greenscreen & Rotoscoping
CGI Integration
Dynamics
Motion Capture
Matchmoving
Introduction to Computer Programming
Or any Advanced Study course listed above
Select six additional credit hours of Art History6
Topics in Ancient/Medieval Art
Topics in Modern/Contemporary Art
Topics in Renaissance/Baroque Art
Topics in Non-Western Art

Program Graduation Requirements

  1. Earn a grade of C or higher in all major coursework.
  2. Earn an overall GPA of at least 2.0 and a major GPA of at least 2.0

University Graduation Requirements 

  1. Earn a minimum of 120 credit hours (100 level and higher, maximum of 6 CED credit hours applicable).
  2. Earn a minimum of 30 credit hours in upper-division courses.  Lower-division transfer courses accepted as meeting upper-division departmental course requirements cannot be used to fulfill this requirement.
  3. Earn 30 of the last 45 credit hours at MWSU in institutional coursework (exclusive of credit by examination).
  4. Participate in required departmental and campus wide assessments. 
  5. Fulfill the Missouri Constitution requirement.
  6. Successfully pass the Missouri Higher Education Civics Achievement exam.