Illustration

These two year-long modules run side by side.

Exploring Illustration

(100 credit points)

This module provides you with a dynamic exploration of the fundamentals of illustrative practice. During the first year you will explore observational and imaginative drawing and how they are applied to image making. You will be given opportunities to investigate methods and materials relating specifically to digital and analogue illustrative and graphic techniques. We will promote experimentation, playful approaches, reflection and critical evaluation in a studio setting.

You will also work collaboratively on projects to produce inspiring and creative outcomes and be introduced to how illustration is used in industry: how it is applied and how it appears in different contexts.

Ultimately, you will learn how to communicate your ideas visually using line, shape, texture, colour, form, type and image through a range of exciting projects, tutorials and workshops.

Illustration in Context

(20 credit points)

Explore key developments in the history of illustration, and examine illustration's historical and cultural role in communicating and challenging ideas. You'll study breakthroughs including print technology, the cultural significance of illustration in relation to protest, and key concepts including text/image relations, narrative sequence, visual storytelling, and modes of illustration.

Professional Context and Personal Direction

(60 credit points, full year)

In Year Two you will focus on industry and developing a personal direction and visual identity which truly represents you as an illustrator. You will engage in a mixture of staff and live industry briefs which will introduce you to the professional world of illustration.. Technical workshops and seminars will develop your digital and analogue skills further alongside sessions focused on illustrative thinking, process and development that will sharpen your research and evaluation skills, allowing you to become confident in discussing a broad range of illustrative issues.

Contemporary Issues in Illustration

(20 credit points, full year)

Examine key issues in contemporary illustration, including illustration as communication; illustration as storytelling; and illustration and authenticity. These issues will be explored from the point of view of both narrative illustration (children's books; comics; graphic novels; non-fiction) and applied illustration practices (editorial illustration; reportage illustration; scientific illustration; fashion illustration; environmental illustration; maker illustration eg. surface pattern and interiors). This module will also explore contemporary issues such as sustainability and ethical practice in illustration.

CoLab: Research, Exploration and Risk-taking

(20 credit points, second half of the year)

Through active participation with team-based problem-solving, you will work together in mixed teams on a project where you will use your creative ideas to generate solutions to the challenge or brief. Your project will allow you to explore how creativity can make an impact in society, as you choose a theme of sustainability, social justice, enterprise and innovation or community. This collaborative learning experience will expose you to a range of new processes and approaches that will develop your creative thinking.

Optional module

You will also choose one optional 20-credit module from:

• Telling Stories
• Storyboarding
• Experimental Animation
• Publishing: Experimental Formats
• Typography: Use and Expression
• Motion Graphics

These two year-long modules run side by side.

Developing a Distinctive Professional Portfolio

(100 credit points)

By the end of this module you will have a bespoke personal portfolio that is aligned to your personal and professional goals. Your work will include briefs, both set and self-initiated, and may include competition briefs that have been set by established professional bodies, as well as â€کlive' client' briefs set by partners and practitioners. Through research, reflection and analysis of your working process and others you will evidence intellectual, and connected, visual responses, and you will be confident with your own visual language, identity and aesthetic.

These areas of study combined will bring together your knowledge of the subject and industry, with your own creative vision to produce a highly considered professional body of illustrative work.

Independent Journal

(20 credit points)

The Independent Journal is a written and visual project that allows you to document and develop an understanding of your own creative practice in relation to the wider context of illustration theory, history, techniques, and ideas you have explored in previous modules.