Current instructor

Stephen Hilyard

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.62/5 from 8 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

What students say

Original student reviews · all captured dates

ART 429
Quality 4/5Difficulty 2/5
Professor Hilyard is a really great professor if you have some challenging project ideas and need some help getting things done. He has expansive knowledge of the animation industry and clearly knows how Maya works in general, plus he never sets limit to your project idea. Take his class if you have interesting ideas for your portfolios!
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ART 428
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Stephen was always around to provide feedback. Don't get me wrong- if you don't put work into this course you won't pass. Need to understand the software he teaches you and it's not something you can just wait until the night before and wing it. As long as you give ample time towards your projects, start early and ask for feedback you'll have fun.
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ART 529
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Mr Hilyard has definetly gotten closer to his students by coming around and providing feedback, I think that is very supportive. Since I've taken many classes with him, I've noticed he has changed for the better. I think his feedback on your work in constructive and he is a fair grader.
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ART 428
Quality 2/5Difficulty 4/5
Stressful due to the large amount of homework (6 hours a week of boring and complex video tutorials), intense critiques, and overall not friendly professor. Lectures were excessively long and time could have been better used for in-class work time. Also - why is it required to buy an expensive drawing tablet if we never used it?
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ART 429
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
I personally enjoy working with Steve,though I do agree with other comments regarding his dry humor,sometimes harsh feedback, long lecturing. But I guess it kinda depends on person and how you like his way of teaching. I personally think Steve gives some really valuable feedback in terms of professional development. I'm taking his class again now.
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ART 429
Quality 2/5Difficulty 3/5
I didn't dislike him, and he grades fairly, but he's not a professor I'd recommend at all. He gives long, excruciatingly dull lectures, and if you ask for clarification or help on anything he's covered before he'll act like you didn't pay close enough attention or didn't take good notes, and if you're lucky he might condescendingly help you.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Stephen Hilyard

Independent Study: Independent graduate work in advanced area of study under direction of art faculty.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=10 letter grades); Fall 2025: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=8 letter grades); Spring 2026: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=12 letter grades).

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026

Recorded teaching history

Distinct courses recorded per term

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Spring 2027ART 699Independent Study
Spring 2027ART 999Independent Study
Fall 2026ART 4293d Digital Studio I
Fall 2026ART 629Advanced Digital Studio
Fall 2026ART 699Independent Study
Fall 2026ART 999Independent Study

Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.

Instructor identity & provenance
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