The next intake for this course is in September 2023.

Become a creatively diverse, professionally distinctive illustrator. This course equips you with high-calibre skills for a dynamic career in publishing, advertising, education and design.

Become an innovative, unique, diverse, and professionally distinctive illustrator.

Through a voyage of discovery and experimentation you will apply yourself to challenging projects and activities, become increasingly self-motivated and confident to strive beyond the constraints of delivering a brief. We aim to foster a confidence to discover, re-map, re-imagine and challenge traditional interpretations of the subject.

You will be encouraged to experiment and challenge what illustration is, with the opportunity to take part in live projects and high-profile competitions that will challenge you to explore problem solving, sequential image-making, characterisation, reportage and editorial illustration. 

Located in a dedicated and inspiring illustration studio you will network with your peers and forge lifelong connections. You will gain opportunities to specialise in a specific field or area of expertise in illustration and flexibility to discover and create self-authored projects.

You'll make use of our drawing room, printmaking studio and Digital Design Hub where you will be immersed in traditional and contemporary techniques such as drawing, screen-print, lino, mono-printing, drypoint, risograph, solar etching, photography, digital image making, 3D model making, painting and multi-media collage. 

An art-school experience will introduce you to exploration of craft and design skills, drawing, communicating ideas and visual concepts, developing a unique personal voice in producing illustrative outcomes for various outputs, such as, publishing, editorial, educational design, graphic novels, narrative, printmaking, moving image, children's books, and packaging.

Studio study will be complemented with history and theory modules which will enhance your intellectual development, graduate and academic skills, whilst providing an awareness of wider contexts pertinent to illustration.

In the 2020 National Student Survey (NSS), 98% of students were satisfied with the learning opportunities on the course. The NSS is managed by the Office for Students and gathers opinions of current students on the course. Additional results include:

• 92% of students said they were satisfied with the assessment and feedback on the course
• 92% of students said they were satisfied with the teaching on the course 
• 91% of students said they were satisfied with the academic support on the course 

If you don't have the appropriate qualifications to start this course, you can study the Year Zero - Arts programme for a year first.