<p>My son is a junior in hs, mostly honors classes and ap history. GPA-94, Class rank-top 15%. He hasn't had many art classes at this point because of his honors schedule, but will be taking some as a senior. He has taken the summer program at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and will be attending again this summer. He enjoys illustrating, sketching, creative writing, graphic design, and he is interested in comics and graphic novels. We're not sure of which majors or courses would be appropriate for him or where to start looking. If anybody could help with this issue or make any suggestions it would be much appreciated. Thanks.</p>
<p>I think if possible, it would be good to branch out to another program this summer. I would recommend that he take a look at the School of Visual Arts in NYC. They have a summer program that is more reasonably priced than Parsons or RISD. They, also, started out as a specialty school for cartooning, though they have grown into a strong school with several other majors. MICA in Baltimore would, also, be a good option to explore for a summer program. I recommend this because it will give him a much clearer idea if going to a freestanding art school vs. an art program within a university or LAC is the way he wants to go. It will assist in building a strong portfolio which is a must for the top Art Schools and it will give him direct experience at at least one of top choices for his planned major. SVA is one of the few I am aware that actually has a cartooning major though it would seem to me that schools with strong illustration departments would be OK too. Finally, most schools want to see strong general skills and will require what they call observational drawing; ie: drawing from real life not a magazine or out of one's imagination. He should have figures, still lifes, and color work (oil and/or watercolor). He should have a portfolio of 15 to 20 slides representing a variety of mediums. For some schools he can include anime (cartooning), others will not want to see that at all.</p>