Today, digital art is a much sought-after field of study due to its expansive use in a variety of visualization applications throughout the world, including interactive, immersive, and screen-based media environments, as well as AI-driven visual production and computational creativity. Without the foundations in the principles of design, studio practice, and a portfolio of critiqued work, the application rarely produces professional results.
Our goal is to help students understand the relationship of design and technology. This allows students to develop the ability to create and compose content that communicates ideas in an effective manner for both general and specific markets, positioning design not merely as production, but as a framework for shaping contemporary media experiences. Successful presentations will educate, inform, motivate, entertain, persuade, challenge, and inspire audiences while transcending the medium of delivery.
The digital arts major will take courses in areas including game design and interaction design experiences, animation, 3-D modeling, character design and development, digital sculpture, motion capture, motion graphics, visual effects, and storyboarding, providing both conceptual and technical fluency across evolving digital production contexts, including emerging AI-supported workflows and immersive media tools.
Digital Arts with Game Design Concentration
As interactive systems increasingly integrate artificial intelligence, real-time simulation, and immersive technologies, this concentration will use an interdisciplinary approach, bringing together elements of animation, graphic design, and UI/UX as well as computer science, architecture, behavior studies, psychology, and education, to prepare students for emerging technologies in game design.
These technologies continue to evolve, and the need for interdisciplinary approaches that combine technology, art, and design in an applied setting becomes increasingly important. The concentration responds to a growing demand for designers who understand game logic, technical art production, and interactive systems beyond entertainment alone. As the game design industry expands, professionals and employers are looking for students with a focus that encompasses the standards and knowledge that a concentration like this would achieve.
Students completing this concentration become familiar with new creative and expressive ways of applying game design fundamentals to digital art and of applying digital art to game design, learning to use emerging technologies to create games as forms of digital art. The concentration leverages collaborators from academia and the design and gaming industries to prepare students for opportunities as digital designers with technical art skills within the game design field, including work across interactive media and emerging digital platforms, where AI, simulation, and immersive technologies are reshaping creative production.
Department of Digital Art and Design
The Department of Digital Art and Design promotes the synthesis of technological tools and artistic expression. In the classroom and art media labs, students use state-of-the-art hardware, as well as a wide variety of two-dimensional, three-dimensional, and graphics software applications. Advanced tools, including motion capture, gaming, 3-D printing, and emerging technologies, are considered among the most advanced in the metropolitan area, supporting hands-on production across interactive systems and contemporary media workflows, including AI-assisted production tools and real-time digital environments.
In addition to receiving an academically rich course experience, students are introduced to practical concerns related to the professions of computer graphics and graphic design through the integration of industry-driven content into the classroom in the forms of real-world projects, internships, site visits, and industry presentations. This applied emphasis clarifies how the program differs from more traditional studio-only models by connecting design practice directly to professional contexts and evolving media environments. Digital Art and Design students' academic research is further enhanced with multidisciplinary, practical, and global experiences in the context of New York Tech's diverse regional and international communities.
A distinguished faculty of practicing artists and designers provide students with a meaningful and rigorous academic experience that fosters creative exploration, critical thinking, refined craftsmanship, and professional development in preparation for careers in digital art and design within an evolving landscape shaped by artificial intelligence, interactive systems, and emerging creative technologies. Admission is competitive. Digital Art and Design applicants are required to submit a portfolio of previous artwork in which samples are evaluated for art, design, and conceptual thinking skills.
All curricula are designed to increase student awareness of the entire field of visual arts and contemporary digital media environments. Prior to specialized study, each area requires the same first-year foundation curriculum, which establishes principles of artistic concepts through emphasis on color, design, drawing, motion, time, and visual presentation. In addition, foundation courses provide an art historical and theoretical context. This is followed by a focused course of study that allows students to refine their crafts in the areas of animation, graphic design, interactive/game design, and motion graphics, while engaging evolving digital production methodologies and emerging creative technologies.
International F-1 students who successfully complete this degree are eligible for an additional 24-month STEM OPT extension to work in the U.S. in an area directly related to their area of study immediately upon completing the customary 12-month post-completion Optional Practical Training (OPT).
Back to Top This program follows our general admission requirements, plus a portfolio review.
Portfolios
Portfolios should include assignment-based projects and/or self-directed work that demonstrate art, design, and conceptual thinking skills. The artwork should be original and cannot be reproductions of already existing artwork or designs.
Portfolio Requirements
- Ten original artworks in digital, traditional, or mixed media mediums that showcase an understanding of art, design, and conceptual thinking. Submissions can be entirely digital, entirely traditional, or a combination of mixed mediums.
- A description sheet that includes the following information for each submitted artwork: title, medium, dimensions, date of creation, running time (if applicable).
- (Optional) A document describing yourself as an artist or designer. Document could contain information such as your inspirations in art, your creative process, or goals you are looking to achieve in the fields of digital art and/or design.
Formats
- All artwork must be submitted in PDF file format.
- Description sheet must be submitted in PDF file format.
- Animation/Video work (max. three minutes) may be included as a link to an uploaded file on YouTube, Vimeo, or a personal website. Please include the URL in your description sheet.
Submit Your Portfolio
Application Materials
International Students Special Requirements