Design courses

About Illustration - BA (hons) Degree in Cardiff Metropolitan University

Course Overview

Illustrations are active images; they always have a purpose, making sense of complex ideas. As illustrators, you will work to enable understanding of the everyday; enriching literature and poetry, and responding to social issues from science and medicine to politics and economics.

With core skills in drawing and narrative you will explore and experiment with materials, developing a range of both technical skills to find your own visual languages with which to tackle challenging subject matter.

Through our unique curriculum you will grow a practice that is defined in its purpose not only by how you make your work but by what the work is about and how it communicates, underpinned theoretically and historically.

You will test your illustrations in a variety of environments and scenarios – exploring beyond the immediate world of the illustrator through, for example; animation, film, printed and digital media to contextualise and articulate your discipline, enriching your work with a greater understanding of the environment it operates in.

Illustration is constantly extending its reach and, whether it’s working with clients and collaborators or authoring and directing your own projects, you will graduate with a multitude of transferable skills.

The challenge is to understand and use visual trends in a critical way, whilst developing your own unique approach to consider the power of images in a visually saturated world. You’ll shape your own practice so that it speaks to audiences in a way that’s helpful, mindful, and most importantly, inclusive.

​Course Content​

Unlock ideas for illustrative material – from a variety of perspectives. You’ll explore applied narrative, drawing, making and collaborative processes, incorporating a wide range of skills that include:

• Drawing experimental and observational
• Painting
• Printmaking
• Understanding colour
• Characterisation
• Composition
• Personification i.e. working with inanimate objects as characters
• Metaphor
• Storytelling
• Animation stop-frame/experimental
• Book binding
• Book design and book cover design
• Editorial illustration
• Zine making
• Poster design
• Gif making
• Design for personal website
• Shadow puppetry/ puppetry
• Live briefs/ competitions

You’ll start to think about your speciality – honing your skills and building on your strengths. And in your final year, you’ll work towards producing a sophisticated body of work to showcase your passion for communicating ideas.

Right from the beginning, you’ll look ahead to the future. You can get exposure to the industry through live briefs and work placements, travel and study abroad or expand your academic skills with a research project.

Employability & Careers​

The course is designed to develop you into a rounded and capable illustrator and intellectual. This is built upon a curriculum that has your potential in mind. As such, the emphasis that will have been placed upon your work ethic, both creatively and academically, is matched with significant focus on real world experience. This will include building contacts and undertaking placements as well as live briefs. You will be offered support in forming your own business should you choose to do so.

You can elect to take a route through your second and final years of studies where you can engage with businesses or prepare to launch your own business upon graduating. In your final year, rather than submit a dissertation, you have the option of devising a detailed business plan.

Graduates from the programme are well placed to join design companies, work as illustrators and designers in large organisations, or set up their own businesses. Some take further training, for example a PGCE. Some elect to take their studies further by studying at CSAD for a Masters level qualification and there are opportunities to take this further still, through a Professional Doctorate in Design.

Academic qualification equivalents

• Secondary School Diploma or equivalent, include one English, Grade 12 (ENG4C or ENG4U), minimum 60%

English language requirements (one of the below):

• IELTS      :      6.0 overall* with no sub score lower than 5.5
• PTE         :      Overall - 52, Reading - 51, Speaking - 51,Listening - 51,Writing - 51

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