Illustration, BFA

As an Illustration major, you won’t just be prepared for professional life: you’ll be immersed in it. Career-building opportunities including commissions and exhibitions are woven into our curriculum.

Request More Information

Clicking the button above constitutes your express written consent to be called, texted, and/or emailed by New England College at the number/email address you provided, regarding furthering your education. You understand that these calls may be generated using automated technology.

Overview

Our faculty members are a diverse group of successful working artists and nationally recognized illustrators who will provide you with a broad range of approaches, applications, and mediums to explore. Our proximity to Boston, New York, and Montreal makes it easy to explore and engage in broader cultural trends. Tell stories through your drawing, develop powerful concepts, and learn how to solve creative problems. Pick up tips or get critiqued by the biggest names in the industry through our Visiting Artists series, all while enjoying the support of a close-knit community of committed teachers and passionate students. It’s all at your fingertips.

Student Work

Faculty

Ryan O'Rourke

Associate Professor, Illustration
Phone: 603.428.2649
Email: rorourke@nec.edu
Professional website: ryanorourke.com

Expertise and Awards
Illustration: children’s books, editorials, advertising, institutional, and murals

My work has been awarded by The Society of Illustrators, SILA, 3×3 Magazine, Children’s Book Council, and The International Reading Association.

Educational Background
MFA in Illustration, University of Hartford
BFA in Illustration, University of Hartford

Bio
Ryan O’Rourke has taught in higher education since 2006. Since he started teaching at the former New Hampshire Institute of Art (NHIA) in 2010, Ryan has taught a wide variety of classes focused on the various markets and mediums essential to the field of illustration. He has enjoyed working with a wide range of students across various levels of development, continually helping students discover their own unique way of telling a story visually.

In his tenure teaching at NHIA and NEC, Ryan has helped develop a robust illustration curriculum implementing a broad variety of digital and traditional approaches to solving visual problems. His classes put a heavy emphasis on consistent process, building images from initial ideation and sketch to final output for print or web format. One of Ryan’s greatest achievement as an educator has been the numerous professional opportunities he has obtained for his students prior to graduation. Many of his students have continued to develop successful careers off of the professional relationships established under Ryan’s tutelage with real-world clients.

His professional work outside of academia includes illustration for a wide variety of editorial, advertising, institutional, and book publishing clients. Ryan has written and illustrated two children’s books—Bella, Lost and Found and Bella Up, Up, and Away—for HarperCollins Publishers. He has also illustrated 12 other children’s books for clients such as Clarion Publishing, Boyds Mills Kane Press, Sterling Publishing, and Charlesbridge Publishing. His editorial clients include The Boston Globe, Boston Magazine, Hawaii Magazine, Honolulu Magazine, Houston Press, New Jersey Monthly, New Hampshire Magazine, Spider Magazine, Cricket Magazine, The Hartford Courant, TIME for Kids, Rhode Island Monthly, Yankee Magazine, and more.
Rich Pellegrino

Assistant Professor, Illustration
Phone: 603.428.2645
Email: rpellegrino@nec.edu

Bio
Rich Pellegrino is an award-winning illustrator and Assistant Professor of Illustration and Comic Arts at New England College. He has a BFA in Illustration rom Rhode Island School of Design and MFA from New England College Visual Arts Program. His clients include: NFL, Microsoft Xbox, AMC Breaking Bad, Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel), WWE, Valiant Comics, BOOM Studios Comics, Rovio (Angry Birds), Blue Moon Brewing Co., Planet Rock Magazine, MARVEL STUDIOS, Warner Bros., Lucasfilm and Eric Clapton’s Guitar Festival 2010. His illustration for Planet Rock was awarded the Bronze medal by the Society of Illustrators West 56. He is recognized by Spectrum 22, 24 and 26, Richmond Illustrators Club 2012, and CMYK 37. He is currently working on the 2022 follow up to his solo exhibition from earlier this year at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles.

Degree Requirements

Art Core

(44+ Credits)

Illustration Concentration

(28 Credits)

AHT 3050 - History of Illustration
ILL 1110 - Introduction to Illustration
ILL 3350 - Narrative Figure
Selected in consultation with Faculty Advisor:
- Illustration Elective Credits: 4
- Art course outside the discipline Credits: 4

Liberal Arts & Sciences Core Curriculum, Bachelor's Degree

Electives

Select additional electives to reach 120 credits for a Bachelor's degree.