Open Studies Course Registration

Essentials of Culinary Photography is the first course in a specialized series for photographers eager to dive into the world of food and beverage photography. Unlike other genres, this field demands precision in styling, mastery of lighting, and the ability to evoke flavor and texture through imagery. In this course, you’ll strengthen your technical skills while learning to craft visually compelling photographs for commercial, artistic, and digital platforms. You'll explore essential techniques and tackle the unique challenges that make food photography both demanding and rewarding. Designed as a strong foundation, this course prepares you for more advanced topics in future classes, equipping you to approach food photography with clarity, creativity, and confidence.

This course guides students through the full 3D production pipeline, from initial concept references to final rendered portfolio-ready assets. Students will create a complete character or prop asset using industry-standard tools such as Blender, ZBrush, Maya, and Substance Painter, with AI-assisted workflows integrated at key stages (concept generation, topology cleanup, texture enhancement). The final project emphasizes both technical competency and creative expression, equipping students to adapt modern AI workflows into established pipelines while maintaining professional-level craftsmanship. By the end of the course, students will deliver a fully textured, posed, and rendered 3D model, presented in a polished showcase format, suitable for inclusion in a professional portfolio.

In a saturated media communications environment where visuals drive perception, this course develops expertise in applying the power of art direction as a strategic tool for shaping narrative, identity, and influence. Students will develop the practice of art direction for total design—bringing together concepts, considerations of virtual and physical space, visual elements, and movement to create cohesive promotional ecosystems across multiple platforms. Through case studies and creative projects, students will deepen their understanding of audience psychology, integrative design, and cross-platform storytelling. Assignments address real-world applications—from cultural events to product launches—with critical reflection on aesthetics, ethics, and representation in visual promotion. Students will produce a ready-to-launch campaign plan and gain fluency in the language of influence through art direction.

In this live online course, students will get an end-to-end understanding of the Figma Suite, focusing on the principles and practical application of responsive design and advanced prototyping techniques. Students will learn the skills to create high-fidelity and interactive designs along with how to collaborate, create design systems, and incorporate AI into their workflows.

A course for artists and designers getting started with Illustrator. Create incredible vector graphics with drawing & shape tools, fills, strokes, color, gradients, patterns, brushes, typography, and editable effects. Students will learn how Illustrator files are exported and used in other applications such as Photoshop, InDesign and more. New features and best practices will also be covered. This course will be taught online using Zoom & Canvas and Adobe Creative Suite access is included for the duration of the course.

Elevate your Photoshop skills! This course is for artists, designers and photographers looking to enhance their digital image editing expertise. Explore topics such as color correction, retouching, image manipulation, layers & masks, Smart Objects & Smart Filters and generative AI capabilities. We'll cover digital file formats and industry best practices. Join us for an interactive learning experience. This course will be taught online using Zoom & Canvas and Adobe Creative Suite access is included for the duration of the course.

Looking to master the core languages of the web? Join our professional studio course and gain a comprehensive understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This hands-on, project-based program is designed to transform you from a beginner into a proficient web developer. We'll start with HTML to structure content, move on to CSS for creating visually compelling designs, and then introduce JavaScript to add dynamic interactivity. By the end of the course, you'll have the foundational skills and a portfolio of work ready for the professional world. No prior experience is required.