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Who We Are

The Visual Literacy Online Program is powered by the award winning Illustration Academy faculty. The Illustration Academy has taken a unique approach to training professional illustrators of today as well as those looking to become the professionals of tomorrow.

You will be hard pressed to find an online learning program with such a professional level of instruction. You will learn from artists such as Mark English, Gary Kelley, George Pratt, Sterling Hundley, C.F. Payne, Anita Kunz, Jon Foster and many more.

Click the "Video Tour" button on the menu bar above to see inside the Members area.

What Is It

The Visual Literacy Online Program is for both the serious student and the professional artist. This program provides access to all of the Illustration Academy lessons taught by the world renowned illustrators and painters of today.

The program is about professionals training professionals. It's about real-world training that makes you a better picture maker. This program will help you to develop your portfolio whether you are in school or a working professional. Whether you are entering an Art and Design college, or pursuing a career as a professional, the Visual Literacy Program will help you to obtain scholarships or better clients as a working professional by making your portfolio the best it can be.

If you have the knowledge of thinking as well as a good handle on visual communication, then you are on the road to obtaining an understanding Visual Literacy in terms of illustration. Having knowledge that combines with visual communication and thinking is the key to having Visual Literacy be a part of your life and lifestyle. This could be the sort of website an illustrator could use as a type of illustrator training course. An illustrator will be learning from illustrators about illustration. This type of illustration school is about illustrators teaching illustration as a type of illustration course, a design course, an illustrator class, and even digital painting. The Visual Literacy Program could be thought of as an extension of The Illustration Academy. Visual Literacy in this sense is just being about having a certain amount of literacy in a visual sense, in terms of illustration in particular.

An illustration course or illustration school is not the design of this illustrator course as much as it is meant to help a illustrator training to become better at picture making. Digital painting is also utilized by some members of the Illustration Academy faculty in our online illustration course, or illustration school, as some people call it. Design is another aspect of The Visual Literacy Program, and The Illustration Academy. Digital painting goes hand in hand in this illustrator class and the illustrator training developed over th past 15 years. An illustration school? An illustration course? Illustrators and illustration training has been part of the Illustration Academy and The Visual Literacy Program since it began. The Visual Literacy Program has instructional videos that are here for you when you need them. Podcasts to learn from, and a Member Forum, as well as a Member Image Gallery to share your work. With a subscription, a member can post an image in our Monthly Illustration contest. Share your work and read input from other members and faculty. Get a head start on your career with a subscription to the Visual Literacy Program. It is an education about magazine illustration, book illustrations, computer and digital work. Freelance illustration is also addressed in the forum, as other aspects of illustrating fashion or using pen and ink. Your input is important to others in the Member Forum and Member Image Gallery. Check out our Monthly Illustration contest! Great prizes are offered to the winners of the Monthly Illustration contest. A graphic illustrator can learn from the Member Forum and the Member Image Gallery. The work that is submitted is amazing!
The following faculty of The Illustration Academy and Visual Literacy Program have received the Society of Illustrators Hamilton King Award, or are in the Society Of Illustrators Hall of Fame, or both: Mark English, Gary Kelley, Anita Kunz, Chris Payne, C.F. Payne. These faculty members have done covers for Time Magazine: Mark English, Anita Kunz, Chris Payne, C.F. Payne. Hard to believe Gary Kelley has never done a Time Magazine Cover in his amazing career. These faculty members have won some sort of Society of Illustrators Medal: Mark English, Gary Kelley, Anita Kunz, Chris Payne, C.F. Payne, Sterling Hundley, John English. Last but not least, these members of the Visual Literacy Program and The Illustration Academy have won some type of Illustration Award or have been published in Communication Arts Magazine: Mark English, Gary Kelley, Anita Kunz, Chris Payne, C.F. Payne, Jon Foster, George Pratt, Sterling Hundley, John English, Brent Watkinson, and Doug Chayka. All of these illustrators have earned their livelihood from illustration, and feel that illustration is best learned from illustrators.
This could be the sort of website an illustrator could use as a type of illustrator training course. An illustrator will be learning from illustrators about illustration. This type of illustration school is about illustrators teaching illustration as a type of illustration course, a design course, an illustrator class, and even digital painting. The Visual Literacy Program could be thought of as an extension of The Illustration Academy. Visual Literacy in this sense is just being about having a certain amount of literacy in a visual sense, in terms of illustration in particular.