Our BA (Hons) Illustration degree course aims to give those with a passion for image making and illustration the skills they need to capture and communicate ideas through pictures. We celebrate the challenge of finding your individual visual voice through experimenting, risk-taking and critical reflection. You will also explore how your work can be applied across a wide range of contexts, from commercial work to personally-driven projects.
This course provides an opportunity to develop a wide range of transferable skills and design process knowledge that is highly desirable to employers.
What's covered in this course?
Our challenging and exciting Illustration course will help you develop new skills and different ways of thinking, enabling you to find your own individual, visual voice and prepare you for the ever-changing creative industry.
The course celebrates the synthesis between illustration and all the other visual communication subject disciplines, leading to the development of strong student collaborations that again aims to reflect industry practice.
We support a lively creative community, encouraging the value of peer learning. This learning is supplemented by an integrated workshop programme that provides the opportunity to work alongside and be informed by, industry experts from a wide range of disciplines.
Professional placement year
This course offers a professional placement year. This allows you to spend a whole year with an employer, between the second and third years of your degree and is a great way to find out more about your chosen career. Some students even return to the same employers after completing their studies.
The University will draw on its extensive network of local, regional and national employers to support you in finding a suitable placement to complement your chosen area of study. If you do not find a suitable placement, you will be automatically transferred back to the standard, non-placement version of the course.
Please note that fees are payable during your placement year, equivalent to 20% of the total full-time course fee for that year (£1,850 for UK students).
Why choose us?
93% of students are satisfied with this course (NSS 2022)
There will be opportunities to exhibit at high-profile London graduate shows, such as New Designers.
You will receive industry insight from significant practitioners. Visitors to the course include Lawrence Zeegen, Aleesha Nandhra, Raj Dhunna Laura Carlin, Russell Cobb, Sarah Fanelli, Le Gun, NoBrow, Joel Millerchip, Luke Tonge, Jonny Hannah, Isobel Greenberg, Dr Sketchy’s Anti-Art School, Paper Cinema, Fabric Lenny, Owen Davey, Lizzie Stewart and Jo Todd-Stanton.
Live project partnerships include Tiny Tree Books, Baxter and Bailey, Birmingham Design Festival, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, DanceXchange, Flatpack Film Festival, Playground Games, George at Asda, and Moonpig.
Professional practice and core business skills are delivered by outside agencies such as the Association of Illustrators and other external specialists.