About Graphics and Drawing Department

Graphics and Drawing Department study programmes are in line with accredited Bachelor's and Master's programmes and they operate based on academic year schedule as approved by the Dean of Faculty of Art. Visual Arts study programmes at Graphics and Drawing Department comprise of two accredited study branches; Graphics and Drawing, respectively. Bachelor study followed by Master study in Graphics are split into three Studios: Graphics Studio, Typesetting and Book Studio and Graphics Design Studio. A welcomed addition is a newly established Double Degree Studio of Virtual Reality Digital Graphics. Drawing Specialization includes Drawing Studio in Bachelor and Master programmes.

Graphics Studio – studio programme aims at developing thinking, awareness and shaping students' views reflecting contemporary society and artistry expressed through free creation. The study syllabus here is designed around creation and work with traditional (letterpress, intaglio) and new graphic techniques (serigraphy, offset, digital technologies). In addition, all available experimental forms of printing and reproduction techniques are studied with creative perspective. Computer programming and photography handling comprise separate studies that lean heavily on graphic methods. Students get familiar with broad range of graphic techniques and technologies with its spill-offs to other media (object, animation etc.) and at the same time becoming aware of its potential.

Graphic Design Studio – teaching concept stems mainly from needs of artistic operation and reflects market demand for designers with complex skills, being able to set, analyze and carry out their creations in cultural or other social fields. Students study and present various strategies of understanding design in the context of overall material and non-material cultures. Emphasis is laid on working with text as a tool for space orientation and perception of space as being the scene for the text. Cornerstone of this all is a process of working on given assignment in such a way, that students fully immerse in assignment work while perceiving the contractor's request and aligning it with their own artistic identity. Students are required to get the deepest possible knowledge and comprehensive analysis of the topic being worked on. Studio peers are at hand to help students with their work and artistic development with the desire of deepening their knowledge and gaining experience so that they become accomplished and original artistic creators. First part of the study sees students encouraged to express and perceive their own presentation while studying drawing concepts, typography basics, text analysis and their ability to feel space. Students work on projects ranging from graphic design brochures to exhibition catalogues, posters, architectural solutions of exhibitions or scenography looked at with overall concept yet with full emphasis on details; engaging polemical thinking to be applied to the initial stage through the final delivery or launching of those projects.

Drawing Studio – drawing is perceived by Studio peers in three basic ways:

  1. As a traditional study discipline - especially in the first and second study years, with emphasis being laid on figurative factual drawing.
  2. As a specific medium of creating a work of art. A wide range of drawing expressive means is used in such a way that excludes concept of consequent realization in different "definitive" material. A large drawing or wall drawing as well as an illustration of a literary text may be results of these artistic expressions.
  3. As an instrument of artistic thinking - in broad generalization, drawing, seen through the eyes of the Studio, is perceived as a specific space of author's conceptual thoughts, designs and creations in general. A simple sketch is sufficient to start with and proceed to any media carrier or process the selected concept asks for. The result may be painting on canvas, digital printing, installation in a public space or video or any type of action.

Virtual Reality Digital Graphics Studio is purposefully designed as a workplace of new methods and technologies in graphics being operated jointly with Instytut Sztuki Wydzial Artystyczny Unywersytet Slaski in Katowice. It offers Double Degree type of studies that specifically deal with digital graphics, applied mainly in forms of virtual reality such as computer games, interactive web applications, mapping, etc.


Updated: 13. 04. 2021