Illustration BA (Hons)

You'll gain insider tips to promote and grow your brand, respond to real-world briefs, and use industry tools to elevate your work. It's everything you need to manage rights, meet client expectations, and snag opportunities in this exciting field.

From the creative aspects to handling the commercial demands, we'll dive into the dynamic world of a pro illustrator. With hands-on activities for building your portfolio to analysing trends, this is your launchpad for activating major talent.

Strap in as we equip you with the core business skills and connections to propel your budding career. The journey starts now as you position your distinctive talents within major commercial and cultural networks. Success and self-expression await!

Lectures, discussions, and projects will guide you to understand images and their roles in society, history, and politics. You'll improve your academic writing and research skills with experienced lecturers, all about the visual arts. By looking at different media, art, and design, you’ll discover the strong effect visuals have on communication.

After finishing, you’ll know how to wisely look at and create images that reflect culture, preparing you for advanced study. This module will help you think in depth about how we communicate through images.

You’ll get better at using different ways of printing and promoting your work, mixing handmade and digital techniques. By thinking about how to design books, you’ll make illustrations that really bring the words to life. You’ll gain professional skills in creative and imaginative visual storytelling by experimenting and researching.

This module gives you everything you need to use all the tools of an illustrator, getting you ready for diverse creative roles.

You’ll look into how storytelling is used in images, using various examples. Dive into different ways to come up with ideas in your sketchbook. Match your methods to what the industry expects by trying out different techniques.

Learn to create illustrations that tell a story for particular audiences. Analyse varied examples to develop your own style.

You’ll also learn how to turn complicated ideas into illustrations and understand where your work fits in the creative industries.

This module will help you sharpen your personal illustration style and get ready for real-world assignments.

You'll study how practitioners have used graphics to communicate persuasively on health topics. Then, you'll develop your own awareness campaign.

You'll research issues in graphic medicine, experimenting with concepts and techniques and learn to tailor visual narratives for your audience.

This module is an opportunity to question perspectives and advocate through art. Building your skills for illustration that educates, challenges and questions.

You'll use various research methods, analysing how images build stories across panels and pages. And you'll experiment with different media and styles to find your voice.

This module develops your conceptual thinking as you interrogate principles and push boundaries of the medium. You'll refine techniques that enhance flow and atmosphere and emerge with sharper skills for illustration in books, comics and storyboarding.

Analysing artists' books and literary sources, you will gain critical appreciation of sequence and narrative in printed works. Experimenting with image/text interplay in analogue mediums, you can advance personal illustration style within the rich “book” tradition, intertwining communication and craft. The module promises an imaginative journey into illustration’s storytelling roots.

Analysing how practitioners use editions to spotlight issues, you will devise impactful visual narratives around chosen causes. Collaborating in an editorial team, you will plan, produce and distribute publications with professional integrity. The module presents a chance to amplify unheard voices while adding an important string to your illustration bow.

Examine historical representation across disciplines to see how images offer bold perspectives throughout history, as you sharpen your analytical skills by comparing different visual histories and academic arguments. You'll discuss critical issues in using visual culture as a form of historical storytelling. When you finish this module you'll be ready to choose a topic for your final year project.

You'll explore design, fashion, illustration, photography, film, television and online materials associated with feminist art canons, representation of disability and the treatment of victims of true crime on screen. You'll also consider research methods and to prepare for your final year project.

Analysing depictions and theories of the body, you will articulate critical perspectives rooted in textual analysis. With scholarly writing as key outcome, your engagement with academic sources and tutorial support will inform identification of coherent research strands. The module provides conceptual building blocks to anchor studies at the intersection of culture, identity and creative practice.

You’ll experience a new culture by exploring art, design, or performance at an international partner university. This adventure adds a global angle to your learning and helps you develop skills for jobs all over the world.

You’ll work by yourself, think deeply about what you’re learning, and see how it connects to your degree. When you return, you’ll have broadened your creative outlook and job opportunities.

Choosing this module lets you explore diverse approaches and build international connections.

Engage with theories and research suited to the subject. Analyse seminal comic book texts, considering the interplay of production elements and audience reception.

Join a team of creative students and do a project together. Try new things and see how they can help you.

You’ll also grasp how to use your skills with others. Sometimes you’ll be a leader, sometimes a helper. Talk about your ideas and learn from them. You’ll make something to show what you learned and share it with others.

This module helps you gain new skills and understand other fields. You’ll be a smart and creative person, ready to solve real-world problems.

You’ll choose learning tasks that add up to 60 hours, like internships, volunteering, research, or remote study that match your career plans. Workshops will help you make meaningful goals and think about what you’ve accomplished. Through this, you’ll grow the knowledge, skills, and qualities you need to thrive in the workplace.

By looking at your growth through active participation and reading, you’ll become a perceptive, eager job-seeker who stands out.

You’ll try different methods and settings to create a drawing style that’s meaningful to you. This module offers chances to grow professionally, like doing real-life drawing, experimental image-making, and working in public areas.

By the end, you’ll become more confident in your drawing skills. This will add more to your set of creative tools, helping you succeed as an illustrator.

As a team, you will embark on a journey of entrepreneurship, starting with ideation and ending with the launch of your product or service. You will analyse complex factors influencing a successful launch, conduct thorough research to assess feasibility and gain valuable insights into marketing, manufacturing, and sales strategies.

Working together on pitch presentations, you will discover your strengths as an entrepreneur or team member. This module provides transferable skills essential to thrive in creative industries, whether you plan to launch your own company or seek employment with top organisations. You will develop the mindset and abilities to spot opportunities and act on them, which will benefit your career.

You’ll pick an idea and dive deep into researching it, trying out different things, and thinking critically about your work. Your research skills, creative ideas, and artistic expertise will shine as your project flourishes.

By the end of this module, you’ll learn how to fit your work into professional and ethical standards. You’ll also excel in self-learning, all while creating illustration work that really speaks to your audience.

This module is all about helping you grow into a successful illustrator by asking questions and getting creative on your own.

You'll learn to meet deadlines, fulfil requirements, master specialist software, and develop an authentic artistic brand that sizzles. No drag here - just hands-on projects to refine technical skills while defining your signature style.

This module sparks your creative blaze to thrive within the commercial landscape. Learn to adapt your gifts and wield a competitive edge when opportunity calls.

Prepare for hands on experience in responding to briefs with artistic fire. By the finale, your illustration talents will be unleashed as industry-ready weapons, ready to thrill clients and activate success!

We'll explore concepts for planning, self-promotion, and building an electrifying portfolio to activate your passions. Refine self-marketing materials with real industry hype tailored to hook future clients.

You'll develop the independent drive and tech abilities to propel your work across the modern digital universe. Learn how to creatively engage and exhibit art online and IRL to pull in viewers and opportunities.

Thanks to this high-octane module your portfolio will be locked, your creative brand loaded, and your presence ready to soar across the professional stratosphere. Time to take your illustration career into the stars!

In this module, you’ll think deeply about your own projects and learn to evaluate them critically. This will help you explain the context and your understanding of your work to others.

Improve your skills in reflecting on your work, developing visual ideas, and researching the background of your projects. You’ll do this both on your own and with feedback from others.

You’ll practice making presentations in different ways, so you can show off your practical work in various situations.

You’ll get better at sharing your ideas, answering questions, and explaining your artistic vision.

This module will give you valuable experience in presenting yourself and your work effectively—whether you’re networking, showing your work at an exhibit, or talking to potential clients.

With the guidance of your tutors, you get to select a theme for an extensive research project, commonly known as a dissertation. Your project will showcase your in-depth research and analysis, which will be based on both original and secondary sources.

You will meticulously examine your sources, conduct your own research, and learn the best practices for writing a compelling academic paper. This dissertation project will enhance your ability to formulate research questions, consolidate information, make persuasive arguments, and present your ideas clearly.

Once you complete the project, you will have conducted an in-depth and thorough study. It will demonstrate your profound understanding and interest in a particular aspect of visual culture.

Critically analysing cultural artefacts and debates to formulate a response, you'll engage theory, historical contexts and academic conventions. You'll carry out practice-based research through prototyping and visual studies.

This will culminate in a scholarly body of work and a reflective portfolio that will showcase research mastery and creative thinking.

Complete relevant tasks demonstrating your specialised skills and independence.

Gain global perspective, reflect deeply on personal growth, and build valued transferable abilities for professional life after university. Return home with experiences that inspire your practice and understanding of art’s global connectivity.

During this module, you'll spend 6 months working on your own business venture, then 3 months gaining industry experience. This opportunity allows you to apply what you've learned in a practical setting while exploring different career options. You'll also have the chance to develop professional relationships and expand your network.

Assess your personal strengths and weaknesses to set goals for the future. Throughout the module, you'll demonstrate increasing independence while still valuing the support of others. Gain a broader understanding of the world through real-world experiences and insights. Additionally, you'll earn valuable credits for your CV and enhance your skill set.

By the end of this module, you'll graduate with the practical experience that employers are seeking.

This experience lets you learn firsthand how to set up and run a small business. You’ll absorb professional practices and business situations that matter to your entrepreneurial goals. Make important connections while working independently within set rules. Think deeply about your strengths, weaknesses, criteria for success, and future plans.

This opportunity is useful for your career. It lets you use what you’ve learnt in your degree in the real world and helps you understand your capabilities.

After finishing this placement and the related assessments, you’ll get more credits for your sandwich degree. This practical experience is a valuable step in developing an entrepreneurial way of thinking.

You’ll spend 24–48 weeks at a chosen company, learning from professionals and helping out with actual projects. Gain confidence, knowledge, and skills by taking on more responsibility with gradually less help. As you progress, you’ll make professional connections and think about how you’re doing. Take in what you learn about how industries and businesses work.

This placement is an ideal chance to grow in your career. By using what you’ve learnt in a workplace, you’ll understand more about your own strengths, what you need to work on, and your plans after you graduate.

After this placement and the related assessments, you’ll get extra credits for your sandwich degree. This practical experience is a valuable part of your education.

Evaluating international contexts, you'll critically relate on-site activities to your disciplinary knowledge, gaining global creative insights. Working independently abroad, you'll complete relevant assignments, honing skills transferable to your future creative career.

Upon returning, thoughtful reflection will reveal your personal growth as you process new worldviews and cross-cultural competencies. This invaluable opportunity provides a chance to expand your creative knowledge while developing adaptability as a global citizen.