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BA (Hons)

Illustration

The USW Illustration degree is based at our creative campus in the heart of Cardiff. The course will equip you will all the skills and opportunities you need to maximise your employability in an ever-evolving visual communications industry.

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Key Course Details

  • UCAS Code

    W220

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Cardiff

  • Campus Code

    B

Fees

  • Home students

    £9,000*

  • International students

    £14,950*

  • Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.

You’ll study at USW’s creative campus in the centre of Cardiff. Our studios offer views of the city, and social spaces for generating ideas and collaborating with other students. All our facilities are purpose-built and industry-standard, so you'll have all the professional equipment and software you need while you study, helping you prepare for your tomorrow, today.

DESIGNED FOR

You’ll study at USW’s creative campus in the centre of Cardiff. Our studios offer views of the city, and social spaces for generating ideas and collaborating with other students. All our facilities are purpose-built and industry-standard, so you'll have all the professional equipment and software you need while you study, helping you prepare for your tomorrow, today.

Accredited By

  • AOI (Association of Illustrators)

Career Paths

  • Freelance illustrator
  • Storyboard artist
  • Children’s book illustrator
  • Animation and games production
  • Character designer
  • Concept artist
  • Background artist
  • Prop maker

Skills Taught

  • Creative design thinking
  • Drawing and mark making
  • Colour theory
  • Print making
  • Research and idea development
  • Professional communication

Course Highlights

Placement Opportunities

At USW, we prepare you for your future career from day one. You'll work with industry throughout your degree, and we'll support you to gain valuable experience through internships, work experience and placements.

Outstanding Facilities

All our facilities are purpose-built and industry-standard, so you'll have all the professional equipment and software you need while you study, helping you prepare for your tomorrow, today.

Build an Impressive Portfolio

At USW, we help you start your career before you even graduate, with relevant industry placements, opportunities with live clients, competition briefs, BA Illustration is a degree that is 100% focused on what employers need in the future.

Close up of students hands working on illustration

Module Overview

The degree starts with building a solid foundation in core skills: researching, idea development, drawing, colour theory, image making and printmaking. These are essential to your career as an illustrator.

Colour and Communication for Illustration
In this module you will explore how colour theory and colour psychology can be used to help you communicate your ideas and aid your visual storytelling. Focusing on both the practical and theoretical application of colour and its importance in image making.

Visual Skills
An exploration of your own drawing style and visual language, this module will provide you with opportunities to experiment with a wide range of media and mark making techniques and drawing styles. You will begin to identify and strengthen your own visual language via drawing skills such as, location drawing, life drawing, printmaking and digital skills. These sessions will combine with studio based sessions allowing you to engage in an experimental approach to media, process, mark-making and storytelling.

Illustration Fundamentals
In this module, you'll explore how illustration is applied within the industry of visual communication and illustration, while also considering your visual language, audience and market.

Communication Studies 1
This is a contextual written module where you will look at key movements and features of the past, present and future of illustration practice.

In year two you’ll begin to explore the application of illustration and the many disciplines within the visual communications industry. You will also start to connect with the industry, through partnerships and live projects in the second year, which will improve your illustration practice and employability.

Illustration for literature and information
Explore the application of illustration and examine the relationship between illustrator, client and agent for literature. Focusing on editorial, publishing, illustration for information, digital and printed material.

Place and product for Illustration
This module enables you to investigate the application of illustration with relation to places, products and brands.

Illustration for moving Image
Learn more about the illustrator’s role in the production of animation and moving image. Explore the creation of character design, animation fundamentals, gif making and
augmented reality filters.

Communication Studies 02
Develop an advanced understanding of illustration contexts, its purpose and its applications, with an emphasis on social media, opportunities and trends in the creative industries.

Your final year will enable you to put all your new skills and experience into practice, you will be able to identify your strengths and interests in the broad spectrum of illustration. You will be able to tailor your final year to match these skills and interests, we'll also teach you core business skills in licenses, copyright and tax, and self-promotion. You’ll have the skills and creativity to define you as a contemporary and innovative industry professional.

Critical Research Project by Dissertation
This module provides a link between the methods of academic research and creative practice, it will enable you to undertake a sustained research project in a field relating to
illustration and/or design.

Final Major Project
Through negotiation with your lecturers, you will build a self-directed project, or a professional body of work or portfolio that is based on your strengths, interests or career aspirations.

Client Studies
You will undertake a 70-hour work-based industry placement or complete a live project brief provided by an industry partner.

Professional and Promotional Practice
This module will provide you with the opportunity to learn valuable employability skills, core business skills in licences, copyright and tax and generate professional and promotional outcomes such as a professional website and social media presence.

Competition brief
You will explore the range of illustration and design competitions in this module. Students from the USW Illustration course have achieved success in the following national and international competitions, Penguin Design Challenge, Carmelite Picture Book Prize, YCN Awards, Ruth Borchard Portrait Prize, The Cheltenham Prize and the Creative Conscience Awards to name a few.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

UCAS points: 96 (or above)

Typical qualification requirements:

  • A Level: CCC to include a relevant art and design subject
  • Welsh BACC: Pass the Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate Diploma with Grade C in the Skills Challenge Certificate and CC at A Level with a relevant art and design subject
  • BTEC: BTEC Extended Diploma Merit Merit Merit in a relevant subject
  • Access to HE: Pass the Access to HE Diploma with a minimum of 96 UCAS tariff points

Additional requirements include:

GCSEs: The University normally requires a minimum 5 GCSEs including Mathematics/Numeracy and English at Grade C or Grade 4 or above, or their equivalent, but consideration is given to individual circumstances

International applications welcomed:

We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence please view our dedicated country pages.

English language requirements

International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 72 overall and a minimum of 18 in reading, 17 in listening, 20 in speaking and 17 in writing or equivalent.

Equivalents can be located on our English Language pages.

If you have previously studied through the medium of English IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.

If you do not meet the English entry criteria please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages.

Contextual offers

We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions.

USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.

 

We're here to help

Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch and we'd to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.

 

Fees and Funding

UK Full-time Fee

£9,000

per year*
International Full-time Fee

£14,950

per year*

Further Information

Studying at university is one of the most significant investments you'll ever make. Whilst you’re studying, you’ll have two main financial obligations – tuition fees and living costs. There’s lots of financial help available from the University of South Wales and external funding sources, that may provide loans (which have to be paid back) and grants, scholarships and bursaries (that don't).

*Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits. Once enrolled, the fee is anticipated to remain at the same rate throughout the duration of your study on this course except as described below.

Please be aware that we may increase the maximum fee for home students on full-time undergraduate courses only where the Welsh Government increases the permitted level of inflation of fees. Fees for all students (including part-time, postgraduate and international students) may be amended in accordance with our applicable Fees and Debt Management Policy.  We will ensure that students are given clear, intelligible, unambiguous and timely information about our courses and costs in good time, ahead of the next academic year.

 

Fees and Funding Scholarships and Bursaries Cost of Living Support

Additional Costs

As a student of USW, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment.

* Obligatory

Cost: £250 (per year) 

Cost: £100-£200 (per year)

Cost: £100- £1000

ba-illustration-nss

92% of BA (Hons) Illustration students at USW were satisfied with their course. (National Student Survey 2024).

Course Highlights

How you'll learn

Throughout your time on the Illustration course in Cardiff, you’ll have numerous
opportunities to engage with creative professionals and clients. This may be in the form of an industry visit, guest speaker, or a brief set by one of our professional partners.


Your work is assessed entirely through the submission of coursework, with the majority
(80%) through a practical portfolio of work. The remaining elements integrate practice and theory through written and other forms. You will be encouraged to discuss your work critically with staff, leading designers and other students, through individual and group critiques in a supportive studio environment.

Teaching staff

  • Matthew Morgan,  (Illustration Course Leader)
  • Emma Marshman, (Academic Subject Manager)
  • Sarah Carter, (Senior Lecturer)
  • Liam Barrett, (Illustration Lecturer)
  • Bett Norris, (Illutration Lecturer)

The USW Illustration course at our Cardiff campus offers a stimulating creative environment, with dedicated studios, industry standard Macintosh software and dedicated experienced staff.

Our teaching team is made up of industry professionals and technical experts. They will guide and push you to develop your own identity as an illustrator. You will develop all the skills and professional attributes required to succeed in design. You can expect lectures and workshop both online and in-person. Most of all, you can expect to be hands on and working from days one in our busy and active studios.

Placements

At USW, we prepare you for your future career from day one. You'll work with industry throughout your degree, and we'll support you to gain valuable experience through
internships, work experience and placements.
We have strong links with industry partners that offer opportunities for work experience.
Many of these are right on our doorstep in Cardiff, ensuring you make the most of your time in this creative capital city.
Additionally, in year three, you have a module dedicated to work placements and working with real clients. Your placement will reflect real world working practices to prepare you for employment in the creative industries.

Facilities

Working within our creative campus, Illustration students benefit from a fully equipped Apple Mac suite and illustration studio. Our studios offer views of the city, and social spaces for generating ideas and collaborating with other students. All our facilities are purpose-built and have industry-standard software, we have a Riso duplicator machine and provide some specialist materials such as paper, drawing and painting materials, desktop printing materials and other basic equipment. Illustration students will also have access to a life drawing studio and fabrication equipment such as laser cutting and 3D printing.

Careers and Employability

Careers support

As a USW student, you will have access to advice from the Careers and Employability Service throughout your studies and after you graduate.
Service throughout your studies and after you graduate.
This includes: one-to-one appointments from faculty based Career Advisers, in person, over the phone or even on Skype and through email via the "Ask a Question" service. We alsohave extensive online resources for help with considering your career options and presenting yourself well to employers. Resources include psychometric tests, career assessments, a CV builder, interview simulator and application help. Our employer database has over 2,000 registered employers targeting USW students, you can receive weekly email alerts for jobs.

Our Careers service has dedicated teams: A central work experience team to help you find relevant placements; an employability development team which includes an employability programme called Grad Edge; and an Enterprise team focused on new business ideas and entrepreneurship.

Possible career paths

Our students graduate with an extensive portfolio of skills that cover all aspects of Illustration and design. They are rounded, focused and confident professionals, who are ready to begin a successful career. Our students have won paid commissions from the work created during their modules, ranging from published illustrated books to illustrated giant Snoopy sculptures as part of an arts trail.
Many USW alumni go on to become freelance illustrators, independent business owners,
independent artists, storyboard artists, children’s book illustrators, animation and games pre-production, character designers, concept artists, background artists, prop makers, educators.

Related Courses

Graphic Communication - BA (Hons) Learn more

Next Steps

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