Overview

The Illustration course is for those wishing to turn their interest and passion for image making, drawing and creative ideas into an exciting and fully formed professional creative career.

It all starts with a strong programme of both traditional and digital technology workshops to equip you with a wide range of transferable skills that give you the tools you’ll need to bring your ideas to life. We will also take a deeper look into the subject by engrossing you in practical and useful research in and around your subject. Alongside developing your professional portfolio, you will engage with a series of business and marketing materials that will teach you all the necessary next-steps you’ll need upon graduation to have a successful and sustained career in Illustration.

The course will guide you through a diverse range of practical projects which encourage a contemporary and interdisciplinary approach to the subject by engaging is a vast array of materials, processes and technologies. These include but are not limited to traditional drawing skills, numerous printing methods, digital software, moving image and 3D sculptural work. The fluid engagement in multi-disciplinary activities, makes this the ideal Illustration course for those who want to push their practice into new and exciting places.

Employment opportunities in this field are varied. Previous graduates have gone on to work in editorial illustration, fashion, advertising, comic books, theatre, tv and film production, children’s picture books, textile design, professional artists, arts management, curatorship, art direction, games art and animation, teaching and study at postgraduate level.

Course information

BA (Hons) Illustration, is a practical course that encourages passion, collaboration, risk-taking and playfulness and enables students individual and idiosyncratic creative journey and portfolio development.

The course develops four distinct strands of activity (research, development, portfolio, and professional practice) that are scaffolded across the 3 years to produce confident, agile and resilient students well prepared to face the challenges of an unpredictable, demanding and globally competitive world. The staff team bring their wide range of skills, expertise and current professional practice to their teaching and the course models itself on professional and real-world processes and behaviours.

BA (Hons) Illustration is a creative and exciting course that others a wide range of employability destinations, both in its own right, as well as underpinning many other creative professions. After study students go on to work in freelance editorial illustration, fashion, advertising, comic book, tv and film production, children’s picture books, textiles and homeward design, artists, arts management, art direction, games art and animation, teaching and study at postgraduate level. The course promotes interdisciplinary approaches and outcomes, placing these within realistic and professional contexts across all 3 years of the course.

Sound pedagogic practice mixed with imaginative delivery and assessment methods will enable you to produce personal and expressive portfolios that demonstrate a high level of communication skill and technical prowess. You will be helped to develop the necessary creativity, critical reflection, curiosity, contextual awareness, professional and entrepreneurial underpinning and practical skills to pursue sustainable professional careers in both home and international contexts.

The course enables experimentation across a diverse range of materials and technology including print, digital, 3D, traditional skills and moving image and this fluid engagement in multi-disciplinary activities results in the acquisition of valuable transferable skills

You will work on a mix of project briefs set by staff and external clients as well as working on self-initiated tasks, national / international competition opportunities and collaborations with other courses across the faculties of the university and beyond. The course is highly established within this discipline provision in the sector and students from the course have won and/ or been acknowledged in a range of national and international competitions and external opportunities.

The course is studied 3 years full time plus an optional study abroad/placement year. The optional year is strong recommended as it contributes to confidence and professionalism in your final year.