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TAD offers areas of focus in Drawing + Painting, Entertainment 2D Design, Entertainment 3D Design, and Illustration.

All students are required to take twelve months of Foundations before selecting their industry focus, after which, their study will focus in that area for the final eighteen months.  Students are able to personalize their education by selecting Electives in other disciplines outside their industry focus, if they choose.

TAD offers three ways for students to learn: Online, TAD Pods and TAD Workshops.   All three ways to study have been designed to work together to create a unique and highly effective educational experience, though students may learn solely in the comprehensive online program if they are not able to attend workshops or participate in PODS.

TAD Online: The core curriculum is delivered online by TAD faculty, in a real-time virtual classroom, using cutting-edge educational software. TAD’s online classrooms include audio dialogue between faculty and students, lecture and studio style classes, assignments, streaming video, text chatting and many other features lending to an even better-than-simulated classroom environment. Unlike traditional art education, students can watch instructors solve problems with their traditional work digitally in real time, using TAD's classroom technology. TAD has structured classroom times, but live classes are available for viewing On Demand throughout the semester for students to watch at their convenience anytime, day or night.

TAD PODs: TAD currently offers POD locations in 3 cities in the United States: Richmond, Virginia, Kansas City, Missouri and Austin, Texas. Students work, share ideas, develop a sense of community and receive in-person feedback from professional faculty at TAD PODs. PODs are open to students in each industry focus - Illustration, Painting, Entertainment 2D, and Entertainment 3D. No POD is specific to a select discipline, although the faculty leading the PODs may be more versed in the field in which they have experience.  Students interested in participating in a POD are strongly encouraged to not only look at the most desirable location, but which faculty they most want to interact with on a regular basis. Students interested in participating in a POD should indicate which POD location they are interested in when they submit their application. POD students pay a studio fee of up to $300 per month. Living accommodations will not be provided by, facilitated by or paid for by The Art Department, and is therefore the responsibility of the student, should they relocate in order to participate in a POD.

TAD Workshops: TAD offers 2 three-week long workshops for TAD students before the start of each semester in January and July each year. These workshop create an immersive environment for hands-on learning, art creation, and networking with both faculty and industry professionals. TAD students are offered the opportunity to attend one workshop for free as part of their tuition. Workshops are designed with flexibility in mind, so that students are able to continue classroom work during that time. Online classes will be offered on-demand, so students in any time zone can access them 24 hours a day. Workshops will be held in alternate cities each year to make them more accessible to all students and though  workshop attendance is not compulsory for students, they are strongly encouraged to attend at least one TAD workshop per year. Travel expenses and accommodations are not the responsibility of The Art Department, although TAD will attempt to identify travel services and accommodations at discounted rates during workshop times.

This number varies, depending upon the host city. Below are approximations for each POD:

Richmond POD – 25
Austin POD – 25
Kansas City POD – 25