BA (Hons) Illustration
Contemporary Illustration is amongst the most fluid forms of visual expression, crossing boundaries and breaking with traditions. Illustration is an essential component of visual communication, it has the power to engage, entertain and captivate audiences, as well as present ideas, emotions and meaning.
On the BA (Hons) Illustration course, you will be given the freedom to explore personal expression through illustration. With the guidance of our expert teaching faculty, you will be shown how to use illustration to entertain, communicate, influence, inform and educate. Bring your ideas to life using various mediums such as pencils, paint, ink, moving image, animation, digital tools and more. You will explore image making as a dynamic artistic practice, utilising clarity, vision and your own unique style.
Working in a friendly and busy environment, this course is designed to nurture you in your creative development. Our small class sizes ensure that you will receive frequent one-to-one guidance from our highly-skilled lecturers, allowing for a more tailored learning experience. By the end of the course, you will be equipped with the tools to help define your future and find an individual voice within the field of illustration. Teaching comprises of studio-based design projects, set and live project briefs, self-initiated work, workshops and lectures. You will also have the opportunity to showcase your work through exhibitions and industry events in both Cambridge and London.
WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THIS COURSE
YEAR ONE
The first year of this course is designed to expose you to the fundamentals of this exciting creative discipline, whilst exploring the breadth of possibilities available within the world of illustration.
Through diverse creative briefs, engaging practical workshops and lectures you will be introduced to the design process through embracing discovery, idea generation, critical enquiry, visual language, storytelling, and technical skills. Projects are designed to allow you to build upon and put into practice the skills learnt in workshops and lectures. You will be given the space to experiment and take risks, as you start to define your individual illustration style.
YEAR TWO
In the second year of this course, you will be given the freedom to take control of the direction of your visual language as you start to explore the area of industry that most aligns with your future aspirations. You will take part in more challenging live projects and/or collaborations as you examine the subject in greater depth and continue to develop your core skills.
As the focus becomes more industry facing, you will be encouraged to continue to question convention, disrupt, risk take and use creative thinking throughout. Project briefs, workshops, lectures and crits will shift towards looking at illustration from a professional and commercial perspective, while still developing your understanding of design process, research methodologies, and storytelling. During this exciting time, you will begin to define the subject from your own perspective and begin to shape skills and interests for the final year ahead.
YEAR THREE
Your final year is the link between college and your career in the creative arts. During this year, you will undertake more challenging set briefs and self-initiated work as you examine in depth specific topics of your choosing.
Guided by tutors and industry specialists, you will work on a final project, focusing on your individual personal direction, by refining the detail and depth of existing projects or working on new initiatives. This final project should present your final illustration identity and will contribute to your final body of work from which to select your own professional portfolio.
WE PROVIDE
- Your own individual workspace in the studio.
- You will be allocated personal use of an iMac.
- Studios are open 7 days a week.
- Lectures are based in your studio 5 days a week.
- One-to-one with tutors.
- Access to an extensive range of UK wide practitioners, connecting you to industry and building industry contacts.
- Small group and one-to-one assistance with essay and dissertation writing.
- Guaranteed Graduate Show in London, with no extra costs.
- Free colour printing.
- Access to an in-studio library, printmaking, and photography studios.
THE AWARD
Upon successful completion students will be awarded a BA(Hons) Illustration accredited by Falmouth University.
“I’ve always wanted to find something that could push me to express myself and CSVPA really did that for me.”
Gabriel –
BA (Hons) Graphics & Illustration student
VIDEO
HIGHLIGHTS
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OVERVIEW
Course Location
Cambridge
Course Length
3 years (6 semesters)
Course Start
September
Tutor Support
Specialist tutor support available 5 days a week.
Studio Access
Students have access to our studios 7 days a week, from 8am to 8.30pm, Monday to Friday and 9am to 5pm at weekends.
Awarding Body
Falmouth University
English Language
Up to 5 hours per week if required
How your Work is Assessed
Visual projects with occasional written assignments and a Dissertation in Year 3.
Guest Lecturers
Our course is enriched by programmed lectures and workshops from a range of leading creative professionals.
Your Space
Each of our students has their own workspace and is provided with free colour printing. Students will also have access to an in-studio library and our photography and printmaking studios.
How we Teach
Throughout this course, students will be taught through projects, specialist workshops, guest lecturers, regular one-to-ones, and group tutorials.
Progression
Freelance Illustration, Editorial Illustration, Fashion Illustration, Reportage Illustration, In-House Illustration, Advertising, Publishing (Books/Magazines), Branding, Package Design, Animation, App Design, Website Design, Media & Communications, Art Director, Concept Artist, Storyboard Artist, Printmaker, Retail Advertising, Game Art Design, Information Design
Results
100% of students praised our lecturers’ dedication to supporting their learning*
100% of students said that they had the chance to explore ideas and concepts in depth*
*National Student Survey 2024
UCAS Institution Code
C06
UCAS Course Code
W220
W221 with Integrated Foundation Year
ENTRY
Age
18 years +
Educational Level
72 UCAS points (or equivalent) gained through a Foundation Diploma or Extended Diploma, International Baccalaureate or two A Levels (or similar international High School qualification).
Students who do not meet these entry requirements will still be considered on their own individual potential to succeed.
English Level for International Students
IELTS 5.5+ (with no element below 5.5)
Portfolio
A portfolio of work showing personal work, schoolwork, finished and prepared is required for this course. Your portfolio is the chance to show us your skills and your passion. Download our guide to see what we look for in a portfolio.
STRUCTURE
YEAR 1
One of the first modules you will study is Core Practice. This module will introduce you to a range of the fundamental skills and techniques that you will need for success as your progress through the Illustration degree course.
We believe drawing is at the heart of Illustration. Guided by our team of experienced tutors, you will have the opportunity to experiment with basic elements of illustration, such as colour, tone, texture, shape, scale, composition and context. Delivered through a series of practical workshops, in-studio projects and assignments, you will undertake individual and collaborative projects, all the while learning and refining new methods of working, developing your idea generation and creative thinking, and exploring your own approach to Illustration.
Disrupt. Challenge. Take risks. Exploration is the key theme of this module, and you will be provided the freedom to experiment with a wide range of materials, techniques and thought processes. This module encourages you to challenge popular conceptions and constraints within the design process, exploring and utilising your personal individual language, as you undertake a number of varied and interesting assignments. You will be prompted to reflect on your own work, evaluating its effectiveness in visual communication and assessing how you can introduce your new skills and methods into your individual creative approach.
Creative Expression is a module that will allow you to build on the idea development processes studied in earlier modules, taking your ideas and bringing them to life as you find creative solutions to exciting briefs set by your tutors. Assignments are designed to develop your conceptual thinking and you will explore what possibilities a career as a creative illustrator in the modern world can bring.
You will undertake individual and collaborative projects, which will encourage you to expand your skills in visual communication and creative thinking. Projects will encourage you to explore contemporary issues through your individual artistic expression.
The world of art and design is broad and complex. Guided by our expert lecturers, within this module you will explore the cultural context of art and design, and their impact on the wider world. You will investigate a wide range of creative products, typically drawn from Graphic Design, Film, Animation, Gaming and Graphic Novels, to analyse and identify the significance of the particular sociohistorical, cultural, geographical, philosophical and ideological frameworks in which they were created and of which they are communicating. This module concludes with a written assignment.
YEAR 2
Professional Voice is a module that focuses on you as an individual artist. With the assistance of your tutors, you will identify the areas of Illustration that resonate with your ambitions, and work with them to enhance the artistic skills you may find challenging.
Assignments will encourage curiosity and open-minded thinking as you explore new illustration methodologies. This module will focus on individual creative exploration as you identify and investigate different methods for producing visual outcomes. Projects will provide you with the freedom to reflect on your own way of working, with the intention of developing a more focused use of design processes as you generate illustration ideas. Classes will explore in a deeper context design skills in image manipulation, composition, colour, tone, form and texture.
Research is essential in the artistic design process. Through this module, you will be provided with an insight into research methodologies and their application to the creative industries. The module will cover research of past and current practitioners and theorists, research through experimenting and prototyping, and research linked to specific creative problem-solving exercises. On completion of this module, you will have gained valuable employability skills through the understanding of preparatory research and prototyping. You will also be confident in employing a range of research methodologies relevant to your creative discipline, which will help prepare you for your final year dissertation or video essay.
Within the Applied Process module, you will learn how to approach assignments and produce creative solutions while taking into consideration aesthetic, social, environmental, moral and ethical issues affecting us all today. You will be encouraged to explore a wide range of media and their potential for visual communication.
Projects will require you to develop and utilize your research skills, from both a historical and contemporary perspective, as you determine how and where these newly acquired skills can be applied. Throughout this module, you will be encouraged to continue developing your conceptual and explorative thinking, while identifying areas of personal development.
This module focuses on the notion of you as an Illustrator and instigator or ‘author’ of your own creative project. In consultation with your tutor, you will devise a project that focuses on an individual direction of creative enquiry. This project should enable you to stretch your critical thinking skills and demonstrate your problem-finding, problem-solving, research and professional presentation skills developed in earlier modules to produce a creative outcome.
YEAR 3
In your third year, project briefs become more challenging as you are pushed to stretch your creative abilities and idea generation. This module will include assignments set by your tutor, but also self-initiated assignments that encourage you to reflect on your work in terms of the professional, commercial, ethical, sustainable and contextual influences that surround it.
There will be a focus on developing your critical evaluation skills with regard to your own work, as well as the importance of analysis, innovation, collaboration, creative problem solving and idea generation when approaching an assignment. You will be encouraged to continue investigating different methods of Illustration as you prepare your work for submission. Submission will consist of no fewer than 3 completed projects, which are selected by you from work completed in this module, work that you feel best represents your identity as a creative Illustrator.
This Dissertation module is designed for you to explore in-depth a subject of your choosing. On completion, it should take the form of a presentation of your proposed investigation, followed by either a written dissertation or an annotated video essay.
Working independently, you will need to utilise all the knowledge and skills acquired through the variety of modules studied during your course. The aim of your Dissertation is to: focus in-depth on a specific self-selected topic and develop and evidence a thesis supported by research and a theoretical framework. The Preparation module, studied in Year 2, will have provided you with the necessary skills to define research questions, conduct research and employ appropriate texts in the formation and support of your thesis, critically analyse texts and artefacts, assess the value of sources, and structure your own response.
Your final module provides the perfect opportunity for you to bring together everything you have learned over the course of your degree and showcase your potential as an Illustrator. You will develop a self-initiated project, focusing on a topic of your choosing, that demonstrates your own specific personal area of interest within the creative industry. Your final project should showcase your understanding of design processes and skills in idea generation, research, contextual awareness and strength in Illustration techniques and methods. The work developed and completed in this module will form part of a public exhibition, sharing your work with a wider audience.
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