Animation Career Review — an online resource for aspiring professionals in animation, game design, graphic design, digital art and related fields — named Cal State Fullerton the No. 5 public university in the United States for illustration in 2025.
CSUF ranks as the No. 6 illustration school in California, the No. 6 illustration school on the West Coast and the No. 24 illustration school in the U.S. In 2025, Animation Career Review also ranked CSUF as California’s No. 9 school for graphic design and California’s No. 10 school for animation.
CSUF’s Department of Art within its College of the Arts offers Bachelor of Fine Arts, Master of Arts, and Master of Fine Arts programs in art with a concentration in illustration.
Animation Career Review’s 2025 Illustration School Rankings cited the CSUF degree program’s strengths — unlimited access to state-of-the-art production studios, labs and equipment, workshops and seminars, internship opportunities, visiting artists and study abroad experiences.
CSUF illustration alumni work worldwide for such entertainment companies, studios, publishers and brands as The Walt Disney Co., Netflix, Nickelodeon, Riot Games, Penguin Random House, Dark Horse Comics, Hasbro and more.
Hunter Huang, assistant professor of art, said CSUF’s illustration program offers a high-quality education with depth and breadth of coursework at an accessible cost.
“As technologies, tools and workflows continue to evolve, the illustrator’s role as a critical thinker, creative problem solver and visual storyteller is more important than ever,” Huang said.
The curriculum emphasizes strong visual communication while preparing students for a range of careers. It includes a dedicated professional development course where students build industry-ready portfolios and professional materials, he added.
“By combining a strong foundation in technical and conceptual skills with focused guidance toward industry readiness, we ensure our graduates enter the professional field with confidence,” Huang said.
Animation Career Review’s 2025 illustration school rankings features 142 colleges. The company has published regional and national rankings since 2012 for aspiring animators and game designers considering degree programs in related fields. Animation Career Review has published illustration school rankings since 2019.
The criteria used for these rankings include academic reputation, employment data, admission selectivity, depth and breadth of the program, value, graduation rate and retention rate.