The mission of our Master of Fine Arts degree is simple — provide the tools and guidance to advance your existing art education using the latest in digital art production. Courses throughout the graduate art degree are rooted in traditional art but focused on the mastery of digital mediums. With aid from multifaceted faculty, access to advanced resources at the college level, and completion of a self-tailored thesis project, you’ll stage the composition of your highly personalized career.
A top ranked education
DigiPen is Ranked 1st in Animation School Programs in Washington State.
Source: Animation Career Review, 2026
The MFA in Digital Arts is a terminal degree that puts your trajectory as an artist in the focal point. No matter if you’re looking to expand beyond your established traditional art background or build upon your current digital arts experience, our program devotes two semesters to leveraging foundational art topics and strengthening the 3D art skills that are most relevant to today’s careers in games, animation, and other visual media production environments. After spending a semester preparing a thesis proposal with the aid of faculty advisors, the two-year graduate program culminates in an extensive thesis project that showcases your range as a creative artist and a level of quality that reflects your personal artistic palette.
Our MFA graduates shape themselves into a particular kind of artist during the program, then they go and make that their career. In addition to being hired by local game and tech companies, our grads find individual roles by showing strong independent skills and marketing their unique skillset.”
Mark Henne
Program Director
A Byte-Sized Program Breakdown
A Digital Art Entry Point for All
Designed to meet artists where they’re at, with refresher courses and advanced classes in both traditional art and digital media.
Establish Your Style in Your Thesis
Focuses your MFA degree on your pick of electives and developing an advanced thesis that showcases your strongest capabilities.
Collaborate Within Your Discipline
Team up with your graduate art degree cohort in project-based courses where you’ll build a proof of concept for a game or film.
Learn From Seasoned Pros
Engage with experienced faculty from studios like Disney and DreamWorks, and build connections with local companies like Microsoft.
Join a Network of Success
Transition into Master of Fine Arts job opportunities, with alumni at gaming giants like Rockstar and animation studios like Pixar.
Thesis Project
From animations to VR experiences, here are just a few examples showcasing the range of thesis topics you can pursue.
Complete your degree with a final masterstroke.
Demonstrate your professional level of expertise in your thesis, a two-semester final project that amplifies your distinctive message and serves as a showpiece for your portfolio. Research, develop, and refine your capstone under the guidance of three experienced faculty advisors of your choosing.
Animation
Cinematic 3D Rendering
Game Proof of Concept
VR Experience
3D Sculptures and Figures
Documentary
View Sample Thesis Projects
Faculty
Instructors with Industry Insight.
From day one to graduation, our faculty and academic network guide your journey with relevant courses and classes aligned with your career goals to ensure you're ready to enter the industry with confidence.
Featured Mentors
Since beginning his tenure at DigiPen in 2013, Finnerty shapes MFA thesis development through traditional drawing and painting. He frequently exhibits paintings and drawings in galleries in the Seattle area.
Specializations: Traditional Drawing, Painting, Art History, Design
A Pixar alum, Henne brings a technical approach to the MFA space. His credits include Disney classics like The Incredibles and award-winning special effects in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Specializations: Animation, Visual Effects, Organic Movement, Facial Articulation
Samuels uses his prop-making skills to make the most of real-world references through sculpting models and sets. His background in tabletop gaming offers an added level of thesis advising for game industry enthusiasts.
Specializations: Art Direction, Sculpting and 3D Printing, Painting, Environment Design, 3D Art
From his stop-motion work at Will Vinton Studios to directing art on the Xbox at Microsoft, Brunner engages with VFX tools and brings up-to-date insight into MFA game and film projects.
Specializations: Procedural Art and Simulations, Game and Animated Film Production, Experience Design, Art Direction
My biggest takeaway from DigiPen was understanding that a foundation in traditional art and storytelling plays the most important role, no matter what job in the industry you want.
Mingyuan Li
Degree Program Alum
The more you know about 3D and the pipeline, the more valuable you can be at a studio, even primarily as a concept artist like me!
Francisco Guerrero
Degree Program Alum
Nobody at my undergrad really understood the animation, entertainment, or illustration world, so DigiPen happened to be the perfect program for me to fill in the gaps.
Melissa Murakami
Degree Program Alum
Entering into the workforce was pretty easy because I’m not defensive about making those changes — I’m just committed to making my work better and becoming a faster artist.
Hannah Patten
Degree Program Alum
I strive to be a small part of [our students’] creative journey and enjoy seeing their careers as they develop and flourish.
Christopher Poplin
Associate Professor
Student Teams
Skills aren’t formed through books and lectures alone.
Collaborate with your MFA in Digital Arts peers and form a small team to build a proof of concept for a video game or animated film during your third semester. Adopt a visual style, shape a narrative world, and craft a cast of characters in a concept pitch that showcases your advancing expertise.
Focus Areas
Art/Animation
Define your project’s art style and outline the characters, environments, and atmosphere that define your game or film concept’s story and emotional impact.
Graphics
Create the assets and models to strengthen your game of film concept’s deepening world, using cutting‑edge technological tools and modern techniques.
Academic Concentrations
Your Degree, Your Way.
Take your education in the direction that best fits your goals. Define your electives based on one of four established tracks, or pick a new focus and form your own personalized track.
Animation
Character Rigging
Character Creation
Environment Creation
Look over this list of applications and tools you’ll use for project development throughout the program.
- Houdini
- Unreal Engine
- Maya
- ZBrush
- Substance 3D
- Adobe Creative Cloud
Our students are passionate, and our MFA highlight articles bring their stories to the forefront.
Upcoming Events
Our online events are in cooldown and will respawn soon.
Online Events
Curriculum
Instructors with Industry Insight.
From your first day of class to the day of your commencement, our renowned faculty and network of diverse professors have curated your academic progression to transition you into the workforce with ease and confidence.
Featured Courses
Schedule a 1:1 Meeting 
Alumni Highlights
Turn your passion into your career.
DigiPen graduates go far. Through our comprehensive, project‑focused methodology, our graduates find what they can do with a masters in fine arts to discover new opportunities, expand their professional options, and take their careers to new heights.
Current students connect with top industry professionals through exclusive events hosted by DigiPen’s Career and Alumni Relations department.
- Networking Mixers
- Industry Company Days
- Reverse Career Fairs
- Internship Support
- Course Audits for Alumni
Our graduates shape the next generation of games and interactive media at major companies, close‑knit indie studios, and their own passionate‑driven ventures.
- Rockstar Games
- Sucker Punch Productions
- Nintendo
- Funko
- Pixar
- Walt Disney Imagineering
- WEBTOON
- Double Fine Productions
- Crystal Dynamics
- Visual Concepts