Digital Media Arts
The Digital Media Arts program explores the synergy between art, design and technology while providing a fundamental understanding of theoretical concepts and technical skills in digital image-making. It begins by introducing beginning skills for making art with the computer, and as it progresses, students can begin to explore more specific areas of interest in fields such as: digital illustration, comics and animation, game design, visual effects, information graphics, data visualization, and interactive design for web, mobile and immersive environments.
Upon completing the DMA program of study, students will have built a strong foundation to pursue further specialized studies at four-year institutions, or explore and experiment with digital art in their own practice. As multimedia experiences become increasingly common in day-to-day life DMA finds itself at the intersection of commerce and culture with new iterations and applications being pioneered in the art world and beyond.
DMA 1 (C-ID ARTS 250) 3 units
Introduction to Computer Graphics
36 hours lecture, 72 hours laboratory
Grading: letter grade or pass/no pass.
Formerly ART 41. This course introduces beginning students to digital image creation through fundamental terms, tools, and techniques. Through multiple applied projects, students will develop skills related to the production of: digital illustration, photo retouching, fine art imagery, and graphic design. The course explores historical background and emerging media trends in digital art as a tool for creative expression.
Transferable to CSU Only DMA 2 3 units
Introduction to Digital Media Arts
36 hours lecture, 72 hours laboratory
Recommended Preparation: DMA 1.
Grading: letter grade or pass/no pass.
Formerly DMA 201. This course introduces students to digital multimedia using technology as a creative tool. Through multiple applied projects, students will explore: web imagery, animation, motion graphics, data visualization, UX/UI, interaction, gaming, visual effects, video production and transmedia storytelling. The course explores how digital media transforms our experience of communication and impacts our cultural, business and personal lives.
Transferable to both UC and CSU; see counselor for limitations DMA 3 3 units
Digital Illustration
36 hours lecture, 72 hours laboratory
Grading: letter grade or pass/no pass.
Formerly ART 45. This course further explores digital image creation and stylization using vector and raster-based software applications. Students learn to create illustrated images for graphics, animation, games, and fine art applications. Applied projects will cover: storyboarding, concept art, portraiture, character design, environments, and material studies for digital image artifacts.
Transferable to both UC and CSU; see counselor for limitations DMA 4 3 units
Introduction to Typography
36 hours lecture, 72 hours laboratory
Grading: letter grade or pass/no pass.
Formerly ART 56. This graphic design course explores the fundamentals of typographic form with a close examination of the architecture of letterforms, alphabet construction and wordmarks. Students learn the appropriate use of specific families of type for work in the field of graphic and communication design. The intersection of type as visual language and expressive at form explored from historic, theoretic and aesthetic views.
Transferable to CSU Only DMA 5 3 units
Graphic Design: Branding
36 hours lecture, 72 hours laboratory
Prerequisite: DMA 1.
Grading: letter grade or pass/no pass.
Formerly ART 44. This graphic design course serves as an overview of visual communications, branding and the commercial arts using digital production techniques. Students will develop applied skills in design software and hardware combined with analog construction, while learning to combine and coordinate type, images and symbols into logos, packaging, posters and ads.
Transferable to CSU Only DMA 6 3 units
Graphic Design: Publication & Production
36 hours lecture, 72 hours laboratory
Grading: letter grade or pass/no pass.
Formerly ART 55. This course examines graphic design through craft and production, including typography, illustration, photography and layout. Students will develop a combination of traditional hand-skills supplemented by design software and production equipment. The history of graphic design will be explored as well as the relationship to marketing, merchandising, and publication.
Transferable to CSU Only DMA 10 3 units
Introduction to Game Design
36 hours lecture, 72 hours laboratory
Grading: letter grade.
This course surveys the history, technology, narrative, ethics, and design of games. Students will work in teams to develop novel game-design story boards, game design documents and graphics. The course will explore the interplay of narrative, graphics, rule systems, in the creation of field, card, board, roleplaying, and digital games.
Transferable to CSU Only DMA 15 3 units
Interaction and User Experience Design
36 hours lecture, 72 hours laboratory
Grading: letter grade or pass/no pass.
Formerly ART 43. This digital media arts course explores visual communications associated with non-linear media such as mobile apps, game engines, and websites. Students will learn to apply User Experience design theory and UX/UI principles to screen based interfaces, data visualizations, and navigation display. The history of user interfaces will be explored through arcades, gaming, home computing, and the Internet.
Transferable to CSU Only DMA 20 3 units
Digital Animation: 2D
36 hours lecture, 72 hours laboratory
Grading: letter grade or pass/no pass.
Formerly ART 47. This course further develops the skills and software used to create 2D digital animation and multimedia. Students will learn the history and theory of various traditional and new-media animation methods as well as applied techniques to create both small and large-scale, stand-alone animation projects.
Transferable to both UC and CSU; see counselor for limitations DMA 25 3 units
Motion Graphics and Visual Effects
36 hours lecture, 72 hours laboratory
Grading: letter grade or pass/no pass.
Formerly ART 48. This graphic design course explores developing animated digital graphics combined with sound for web, video, film and games. Projects in motion graphics encompass dynamic typography, animated logos, title and credit sequences, social media, AR/VR Filters, and visual effects. Students will learn to render digital video non-linear editing and compositing of clips to create professional quality productions.
Transferable to CSU Only DMA 27 3 units
2D Game and Interaction Design
36 hours lecture, 72 hours laboratory
Grading: letter grade.
This course combines the skills learned in previous design, animation, and interaction classes, to emphasize the unique characteristics of two-dimensional computer games and interactive applications. Students will learn the fundamentals of software based game design, acquiring new skills about game design and interaction, while applying skills learned in earlier coursework. Students will create games or interactive experiences targeted toward entertainment, education, or commercial spaces.
Transferable to CSU Only DMA 30 3 units
Digital Animation: 3D
36 hours lecture, 72 hours laboratory
Prerequisite: DMA 2.
Grading: letter grade or pass/no pass.
Formerly ART 46. This course further develops skills in digital animation. Students digitally construct three-dimensional objects and learn to deal with virtual space. Specific relationships will be made between electronic modeling and the visual arts, in particular, sculpture, animation, illustration, gaming and other areas of digital graphics and multimedia.
Transferable to both UC and CSU; see counselor for limitations DMA 31 3 units
Introduction to 3D Modeling
36 hours lecture, 72 hours laboratory
Grading: letter grade or pass/no pass.
This course is an introduction to the fundamentals of 3D modeling through content creation of props, environments, and characters specific to game engines and animation production workflows. Polygon, NURBS, and subdivision modeling will be covered as will the application of textures.
Transferable to CSU Only DMA 40 3 units
Multimedia Design
36 hours lecture, 72 hours laboratory
Grading: letter grade or pass/no pass.
Formerly ART 42. This course combines the skills learned in previous design, animation, and interaction classes, to emphasizes the unique characteristics of three and four-dimensional computer graphics. Multimedia allows students to explore the advanced visual characteristics of virtual dimensions in both time and space through: graphic interfaces, game engines, projection mapping, and transmedia story-telling.
Transferable to both UC and CSU; see counselor for limitations DMA 90 3 units
Special Studies: Design & Multimedia
36 hours lecture, 72 hours laboratory
Grading: letter grade or pass/no pass.
Formerly ART 49. This course is for graphic design and multimedia students who have completed a series of foundational classes and are prepared to do advanced work in a specific area. Students work independently on projects formulated with faculty assistance to develop personal skills for their chosen specialty in graphic design, web and interaction, animation, game design and/or the multimedia arts.
Transferable to CSU Only