Course Overview

Do you like to create characters, illustrating a story or an idea?
The Illustration course is to train creative illustrators who are able to perform creatively and effectively in the practice of illustration. The course emphasizes both manual and digital expression skills. Students will begin with observational studies, and then gradually moving towards ideas and concepts development; with the exploration of various media in illustration and advertising related drawings and paintings, the course will also take advantage of the computer aided design software and use it to further enhance the quality of creative illustration.

 

The course will reinforce the importance of research, investigation and experimentation in the process of image making to provide a focus on the problem solving. The area of illustration studies ranges from realistic, analytical and interpretative to expressive approaches. The students will also learn general graphic design, typography, photography, computer graphics, desktop publishing design and so on.
  • Year 1
  • Year 2
  • Year 3

Year 1

Semester 1

  • Art & Design Fundamentals
  • 3D Studies
  • Visual Communication 1
  • Drawing 1
  • Painting 1
  • History of Art 1
  • English
  • Penghayatan Etika & Peradaban

Semester 2

  • Painting & Drawing
  • Illustration 1
  • Visual Communication 2
  • Typography 1
  • History of Graphic Design
  • Digital Imaging & Text 1
  • Writing Skills or Bahasa Kebangsaan A

Year 2

Semester 3

  • Communication Ethics
  • Illustration 2
  • Life Drawing 1
  • Promotional Design
  • Digital Imaging & Text 2
  • Photography 1

Semester 4

  • Community Project
  • Illustration 3
  • Life Drawing 2
  • Basic Advertising & Marketing
  • Interactive & Moving Images 1

Year 3

Semester 5

  • Illustration 4
  • Interactive & Moving Images 2
  • 3D Modeling

Industrial Training

Semester 6

  • Illustration 5
  • Professional Business Practice

 

Campus Life

 
MIA is a community of lively young artists in the making. At MIA, students will find themselves experiencing and exploring new creative forms, expressions of various kind of arts and skills that will contribute to their future careers. To enhance the live and learn experience, we provide an ideal hands-on learning environment, classrooms and facilities for our students as well as living facilities close to campus. With the growing numbers of amenities around the campus such as a shopping mall and an upcoming convention centre, MIA is located in an area where students can truly live and learn to the fullest.
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Career Opportunities

  • Illustrator for
    •  Publisher, Print Media / Online Media
    • Animation Studio
    • Motion Picture / Film and Television
    • Advertising / Design Agency
    • Commercial Production Company
  • Graphic Designer
  • Theater Backdrop Artist & Designer
  • Mural Artist & Designer
  • Commercial Artist
  • Concept Artist
  • Exhibition Gallery Assistant
  • Art teacher / Instructor
  • Freelancer, etc.

Alumni

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    “The art education in MIA strengthens me from the fundamentals to self-exploration with fun and practical teaching. Instead of common approaches, our lecturers guided us to experiment and explore in different ways, which encourage us to look for possibilities while formulating appropriate and effective visual responses to visual communication problems. The learning progress also emphasized on communication and interpersonal skills by providing group projects, this was very important for my career now, to play a role as team member. I learned the importance of time management too when it comes to handling assignments, which is crucial in my career now as sometimes, I have to work on several tasks at the same time.

    Looking back those blood-racing years in MIA, I have spent countless sleepless night together with a bunch of great and talented friends, we did piles and piles of artworks together for the same interest and strong passion that we have. I enjoyed the competition between us to strive to improve our works and mentalities; we support each other by sharing our own stories and experiences. And of course, the people whom I must mention are the dedicated lecturers here. They’re not just teaching the subjects but sharing their own experiences from their work and life, this made the education more lively and inspiring. They give me a lot of support and advice for my career even until now.”

    Eric Tee Kim Thiam
    Graduated in 2013
    Visualiser, Naga DDB 2016
    AMA Art Major Asian Scholarship award winner
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    “MIA is exactly the place which provides a very solid foundation to practice your kick.”

    Jack Lau Kar Kit
    Graduated in 2001
    Founder & Creative Director Mack & Zack Toys Ltd. Hong Kong
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    “I had a great time at MIA. MIA has a very wonderful faculty; the staff is very cooperative and the campus environment is very vibrant. MIA has made the best efforts to provide all the facilities for the students like art materials, course placements, gallery etc. The days in MIA were the golden days of my life and I will remember it for the rest of my life.”

    Teok Chee Long
    Graduated in 2004
    Director Onthree Sdn. Bhd. Malaysia
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    “I like the fact that the classes are small and the lecturers are friendly. MIA allowed a lot of interactions and discussions between lecturers and students. The good relationships fostered explain a deeper learning curve which contributed to my achievements, and I am proud to be an MIA alumnus.”

    James Ng Hang Lim
    Graduated in 2007
    Senior Art Director DR Pte. Ltd. Singapore
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    “I began to develop my interest in art early on with my passion leading to my graduation from Malaysia Institute of Art in 2008. In my major in Illustration, a cross-disciplinary integrated approach was emphasized , I was taught to express art in different media / form during my study in MIA, Graphic design as well one of the compulsory subject to learn and it help to sharpen the design sense of mine too, and in my final project I made my first animation short film. In 2010, I was awarded a full scholarship to study animation in Korea National University of Arts. Now, I am currently working as a successful illustrator in Korea. I am glad I chose MIA as my stepping stone to my dream.”

    Lim Zhi Chuan
    Graduated in 2009
    Concept Artist and Animator @ FunnyFlux, Seoul, Korea
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    “After graduating with Diploma in Illustration at MIA, I went on to continue my degree studies and subsequently completed a BA of Visual Communication at University of South Australia. I have worked as a graphic designer in a packaging company for 2 years, and promoted as a marketing account executive. Thereafter, I worked in the advertising industry in senior leadership capacity for 5 years. I have eventually invested into education industry and teaching young children for the past 10 years.

    I truly enjoyed and had fond memories of my study times at MIA. I am delighted and grateful to the teaching team and committed lecturers who have guided me through my early art and design journey. The concrete fundamental programme have pathed and provided me a strong foundation in my current career.”

    Lim Ai Lin, Airyn
    Graduated in 1999
    Principal, Summer Academy, PJ
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    “The unstereotypical educational policy in MIA allows every student to unleash their own unique style.”

    Loke Yek Mang, Mango
    Graduated in 1999
    Professional Photographer and Founder, Photo Journey Studio