Toronto Craft Alert

Arts and commerce collide in Seneca’s new Independent Illustration diploma program

Artists with an edge.

That’s the plan at Seneca College, where an illustration program with an entrepreneurial twist will begin in January.

The only diploma program of its kind in Ontario, the Independent Illustration program offers a unique focus on the business of art.

In addition to learning about traditional art forms such as drawing, painting, mixed media, sculpture and digital media, students will create and register their own small business, have a working website, and have the accounting, marketing and revenue generating skills to succeed as entrepreneurial artists.

“Illustration is a competitive industry and in order to succeed, artists need to have the entrepreneurial skills to market themselves and their art,” said JoAnn Purcell, Co-ordinator, Independent Illustration.

Graduates will produce work for a range of audiences including children, web and game users, viewers of news media and advertising, as well as comics and graphic novel readers.

“This program will build the illustration skills of the students so that they can get down to business once they graduate,” said Purcell.

An industry veteran, Purcell helped develop the curriculum and believes it will give graduates a leg up in the industry.

She knows what it takes to make a name for oneself in the business. While she has been a faculty member of Seneca’s School of Communication Arts since 1999, she also works as a visual artist in a range of creative industries, including animation, graphic design and visual effects for clients such as Nortel Networks, Dupont Pharma, Bank of Nova Scotia, Alias Systems, Novartis and the Thompson Group. She is also a partner in Acme Pictures, a successful video, television and special effects company.

As a fine artist, Purcell has exhibited her paintings and prints in galleries in Toronto and Ireland, among them Open Studio and Graphic Studio Gallery. Purcell has executed a number of painting commissions for corporate clients such as CAMH, Ernst & Young, Nickelodeon, and the AIDS Committee of Toronto.

For more information on the Independent Illustration diploma program, visit http://www.senecac.on.ca/fulltime/ILU.html.