Illustration BA (Hons)
Length:
3 or 4 year options
UCAS Code:
W220 (3 Year)
W221 (4 Year)
Institution Code:
N39
Optional Diploma Years:
Creative Professional Development (1 year, Level 5 diploma), or Creative Computing (1 year, Level 5 diploma), available between years 2 & 3
Experiment with different illustration mediums and tools as you build your creative identity and professional skills.
This course nurtures individuality and challenges conventional thinking, valuing the power of illustration to communicate through different media and creative applications. BA (Hons) Illustration is designed to inspires the development of a unique illustrative language with conviction and confidence, opening opportunities in freelance, publishing, design, education and further study.
Engaging in live projects, competitions and collaborations you’ll be immersed in real-world scenarios that prepare you for a successful career in illustration. Throughout the course, you will develop your own way of thinking about illustration, storytelling and the connection of images to text or the spoken word. We will help you develop your personal style as your expertise grows in drawing, print, collage, and multimedia.
You will explore visual storytelling and digital and analogue image-making: from the page to the screen, to installations and interactive experiences. Our support extends beyond the artistic realm to encompass practical insights into navigating the creative industries. We provide valuable advice on freelance careers freelance careers, employment and entrepreneurship, and practical tips on handling commissions and negotiating with clients.
Awards and accolades
The course has a long track record of student and course successes including the RSA Student Design Award, D&AD New Blood, Penguin Design Awards, Carmelite Prize for Children’s Picture Books, YCN Awards and New Designers Best in Show
Why study with us
- Develop core skills and techniques through digital and analogue workshops including printmaking, laser cutting, photography and bookbinding along with essential training in industry standard digital software.
- Understand drawing languages, observational drawing, mark-making, print, collage and multi-media processes.
- Consider your work and how it is situated within a global context, develop your critical evaluation skills, and reflect on your creative practice with awareness of sustainable and responsible ways of thinking.
- Learn to communicate and present ideas clearly to different audiences while developing critical evaluation skills to reflect on your creative practice in a global context.
- Explore storytelling and representing your understanding of the changing world through a range of creative contexts.
- Be inspired by industry visitors including agents and industry organisations such as Arena, The Artworks, Jelly London, The House of Illustration and the Association of Illustrators (AOI).
“The biggest development I’ve had at Norwich is really understanding who I am as an illustrator, and what my personal practice is.”
Tamara Asidi | BA (Hons) Illustration
Course Content
Integrated Foundation Year (optional)
Our Integrated Foundation Year is designed to equip students with the necessary skills, knowledge and confidence to thrive in their chosen degree subject. The course provides a comprehensive introduction to various disciplines, blending critical thinking and creative problem-solving with practical hands-on experience. This year serves as a bridge to undergraduate studies, allowing students to explore their interests within a supportive and inspiring environment, while familiarising themselves with the campus, workshops, and tutors.
Year 1
This unit provides you with a dynamic exploration of the fundamentals of illustration, such as observational drawing, mark-making, print, collage, and multi-media processes. You will learn about the ‘interpretation’ of subject matter from text and concepts into developed illustrations. You will explore observational, life-drawing, and location drawing, investigating perspective, depth of field, composition, scale, colour, and mark-making. You will be encouraged to experiment with your image-making including collage, assemblage, layering, text and image, and printmaking. Our technical workshops will explore digital drawing skills, tools, and software. You’ll be introduced to how illustration is used in industry and applied in different contexts.
40 credits
This unit will encourage you to explore and experiment with a range of techniques, materials, and media. Through project work and workshops, you will explore a range of subject-specific technical and practical skills, including relief printing, digital drawing, layout, and bookbinding. You will experiment with storytelling through visual narrative and sequential design, interpreting text into storyboards. Through our design workshops and activities, you’ll explore the relationship between text, typography, image, and page layout design. You’ll study contemporary and historical illustration practices and develop knowledge and the application of global approaches to fundamental design principles used within contemporary illustration practices.
80 credits
The first week of each academic year is called Wayfinding week. It’s an opportunity get your bearings, establish new connections and, after your first year at Norwich, re-establish old ones. Your course team will talk you through the year ahead and explain the expectations for the year. We’ll help you navigate new encounters and identify areas to focus on as you progress through your course.
An important element of Wayfinding Week is taking part in our annual ‘Make it Manifest(o)’ project. Your course team will introduce the project in which we’ll ask you to consider your hopes and vision of the year ahead at Norwich and work with students in other year groups to bring your ideas to life. The project culminates in a celebratory display of work across the campus. The project will help you to develop your critical creativity through different approaches, concepts, and mediums. You’ll encounter diverse perspectives and build friendships and networks within our university community.
Interchange weeks are opportunities to step away from your disciplinary studies and engage in projects, workshops, visits and talks that extend your knowledge and understanding of the world. Whether you learn a new skill or take part in a global challenge project with students from other courses, you will come away with new insights to take back to your course. Interchange is part of the schedule for all Norwich students with sessions held across and beyond the campus led by university staff, visiting lecturers and students.
Year 2
This unit will enable you to develop and advance your specialist knowledge and skills. You will consider a variety of contexts and audiences for your work, and how it is situated within a global context. The unit also supports you in making considered decisions about your future career through engagement with industry, such as competition entry and working with live briefs. Technical workshops will develop your digital and analogue skills and you will prepare for employment opportunities by developing self-promotional material, such as a CV and online presence. This unit will also explore the creative and cultural economy, and contemporary issues such as sustainability and how illustration can raise awareness.
80 credits
This unit focuses on helping you understand your practice in a wider context through collaboration and interdisciplinary working. Through active participation and working in collaboration with external partners or students from other courses, you will use creative ideas to generate solutions to a live brief. This collaborative learning experience will expose you to a range of new processes and approaches that will develop your creative thinking and decision making. Working with a range of production, print, and display methods, you will explore the process of exchanging ideas, establishing roles and responsibilities, team working, project planning, project management, and professional pitches and presentations.
40 credits
The first week of each academic year is called Wayfinding week. It’s an opportunity get your bearings, establish new connections and, after your first year at Norwich, re-establish old ones. Your course team will talk you through the year ahead and explain the expectations for the year. We’ll help you navigate new encounters and identify areas to focus on as you progress through your course.
An important element of Wayfinding Week is taking part in our annual ‘Make it Manifest(o)’ project. Your course team will introduce the project in which we’ll ask you to consider your hopes and vision of the year ahead at Norwich and work with students in other year groups to bring your ideas to life. The project culminates in a celebratory display of work across the campus. The project will help you to develop your critical creativity through different approaches, concepts, and mediums. You’ll encounter diverse perspectives and build friendships and networks within our university community.
Interchange weeks are opportunities to step away from your disciplinary studies and engage in projects, workshops, visits and talks that extend your knowledge and understanding of the world. Whether you learn a new skill or take part in a global challenge project with students from other courses, you will come away with new insights to take back to your course. Interchange is part of the schedule for all Norwich students with sessions held across and beyond the campus led by university staff, visiting lecturers and students.
Diploma Year (optional)
Students have the opportunity to spend a year after the second of their degree (or the third year if studying for a degree with an Integrated Foundation Year) enhancing their employability options through a Level 5 Diploma. They can choose from courses designed to provide:
- opportunities to gain industry insight, developing employability skills through a series of supported experiences, expanding professional networks and building confidence in the workplace, or
- an introduction to creative computing, building an understanding of how coding skills can be used to advance and complement creative practice.
Final year
This is the first and shorter of the two units that make up your final year of study. Your work will include briefs, both set and self-initiated, including competition briefs set by established professional bodies, as well as ‘live’ client’ briefs set by industry partners and practitioners. As you advance your practice, you will be involved in studio, academic, and technical workshops, including type and image, visual identity, narrative, sequential, and print/digital design. The unit allows you to identify, investigate, and plan a self-determined, critical research project, culminating in a 5,000-word written report. You’ll apply various research methods and methodological approaches, informed by your approach to your creative practice and future career aspirations.
40 credits
Your final unit allows you to create a bespoke professional portfolio developed from your final year projects and aligned to your personal and professional goals. Your research will inform your developing ideas and resolved outcomes in relation to the wider context of contemporary illustration practice, theory, techniques, and ideas, you have explored in previous units. Career development planning and academic workshops will focus on your social media presence, self-promotion, portfolio design, and digital presence. These study areas will combine your subject specialist and industry knowledge with your creative vision to produce a resolved and professional body of practice, so that you are industry-ready once you graduate.
80 credits
The first week of each academic year is called Wayfinding week. It’s an opportunity get your bearings, establish new connections and, after your first year at Norwich, re-establish old ones. Your course team will talk you through the year ahead and explain the expectations for the year. We’ll help you navigate new encounters and identify areas to focus on as you progress through your course.
An important element of Wayfinding Week is taking part in our annual ‘Make it Manifest(o)’ project. Your course team will introduce the project in which we’ll ask you to consider your hopes and vision of the year ahead at Norwich and work with students in other year groups to bring your ideas to life. The project culminates in a celebratory display of work across the campus. The project will help you to develop your critical creativity through different approaches, concepts, and mediums. You’ll encounter diverse perspectives and build friendships and networks within our university community.
Interchange weeks are opportunities to step away from your disciplinary studies and engage in projects, workshops, visits and talks that extend your knowledge and understanding of the world. Whether you learn a new skill or take part in a global challenge project with students from other courses, you will come away with new insights to take back to your course. Interchange is part of the schedule for all Norwich students with sessions held across and beyond the campus led by university staff, visiting lecturers and students.
Careers Information
Our graduates head into jobs at globally recognised organisations including the BBC, MTV the V&A, get roles as designers at publishing houses such as Little Brown, Hachette, Harper Collins and Penguin Random House and at creative agencies such as Havas Lynx and Mullen Lowe. Many enjoy success as freelance illustrators.
Typical career paths include
- Freelance illustrator
- Self-publisher
- Printmaker
- Designer
- Picture book designer
- Public artist
- Artist in residence
- Book publisher
- Animator
- Filmmaker
- Curator
- Director
- Editorial publisher
- Gallery assistant
- Illustration agent
You’ll also get specialist creative careers advice from our Business and Employability Team to help support you as you plan your career.
Maisy Dainty
Tabbed Section
Typical UK offers
A / AS Levels – GCE
GCE A/AS Levels 3 A-level qualifications at grades BCC (104 UCAS Tariff points) or above. Where candidates are not taking 3 A-levels, Norwich University of the Arts will consider combinations of A-level/AS-level and other Level 3 qualifications.
BTEC Extended Diploma (QCF or RQF)
Distinction, Merit, Merit in an art, design or media related subject
BTEC Diploma (QCF or RQF)
Distinction*, Distinction* in an art, design or media related subject
T Levels
A T Level in any subject with overall grade Merit or above
UAL Extended Diploma
Merit
UAL Level 3 Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
Pass
UAL Level 4 Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
Pass
Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
Pass
Access to Higher Education Diploma (Art and Design)
Pass
International Baccalaureate Diploma
A minimum of 26 points
Norwich University of the Arts welcomes applicants of all ages from all backgrounds. Your application will be primarily assessed through your portfolio (if required), responses to questions asked and personal statement, so even if you have no formal qualifications or do not meet our typical offers it can still be worth applying.
If you are studying at the time of your application and your application is successful it is likely that you will receive a conditional offer.
If the qualification that you are studying is not shown, do not worry as we are able to accept other pre-entry qualifications as well as combinations of different qualifications. Please do contact our Student Recruitment Team if you have any queries.
International applications
We accept qualifications from all over the world. To find our entry requirements from a specific country, please check our dedicated international pages.
Most international students are required to hold an English language qualification. Applicants are required to have a minimum UKVI approved IELTS exam score of 6.0 overall, with a minimum of 5.5 in each section. Equivalent English language qualifications are acceptable such as, IB English language syllabus A or B/English Literature (Grade 4).
We also accept some alternative English qualifications. Learn more about our English entry requirements.
You can email us on international@norwichuni.ac.uk if you’d like to discuss your application individually.
BA (Hons) Illustration degree portfolio guidance
Portfolios should show examples of your work — both finished and work in progress — that demonstrate your interests and skills. Your portfolio should be made up of work that reflects your creativity, personal interests and influences, as well as demonstrating your technical skills and ability. It doesn’t have to be perfect as we can assess your potential from your work in progress.
Your portfolio should be relevant to this course, but you can include a wide range of work that shows your creativity, technical competence and understanding of storytelling.
You may wish to include some of the following:
- Drawings, painting or illustrations that demonstrate your skills, including life drawings, still life and images drawn from observing people and landscapes or from your imagination
- Collages and mixed media
- Experimental workbooks
- Animations
- Work created using Adobe Creative Suite or other appropriate design software package
- Photography and photo-montage
- Sequential art including graphic novels/comic strips and story boards
- Examples of experiments with print making processes
- Illustrated stories or comics
Further portfolio advice and tips
Get more advice on presentation formats, layouts and when to submit your portfolio in the application process.
2024/25 University fees for new entrants
Norwich University of the Arts will assess students’ tuition fee status using the guidance provided by the UK Council for International Student Affairs
Students from the UK or Ireland and EU students with ‘Settled’ or ‘Pre-Settled’ status will be charged ‘Home’ fees if they meet the relevant residency requirements. They will usually be eligible for a tuition fee loan from the UK government, meaning that they won’t have to pay Norwich University of the Arts’ tuition fees upfront.
Students who do not meet the necessary residency requirements will usually be charged ‘Overseas’ fees and will not be eligible for the UK government tuition fee loan. Since 2021/22, this includes new entrants from the EU, EEA, and Switzerland who do not have ‘Settled’ or ‘Pre-Settled’ status, because the UK has now formally left the EU.
| Fee status | Course | Annual fee |
|---|---|---|
| Home | Undergraduate degree (full-time three and four year degree) | £9,250 |
| Overseas | Undergraduate degree (full-time three and four year degree) | £18,000 |
Inflation in subsequent years
The rules for inflation on fees in subsequent years depend on the type of fee status and level.
- For Home undergraduate students starting in 2024, inflation may be applied to your fees in later years, if the UK government were to increase the fee cap beyond the current limit of £9,250 per year. If such an increase were to apply, we would confirm this in advance to you of each academic year, and we would limit the increase to the maximum allowed by the Office for Students.
- For Overseas undergraduate students starting in 2024, inflation will be applied to your fees in later years. We will confirm this in advance to you of each academic year, and we will limit the increase to no more than the Office for Students’ recommended inflationary measure, which is RPI-X. RPI-X is calculated by the Office for Budget Responsibility. In setting fees for the following year, we will use the Office for Budget Responsibility’s RPI-X forecast for quarter 3 of the relevant year.
For Home and overseas postgraduate degree students starting in 2024, fees will remain the same for each year of your course.
Financial support for UK students in 2024
Tuition fee loans and loans for living costs are usually available to UK and some EU students, as well as non-repayable Norwich University of the Arts bursaries based on family income. Find out more about applying for funding.
International students
We offer a range of scholarships for international students to support your studies with us.
- Group briefings
- Academic tutorials
- Group tutorials
- Lectures
- Workshops
- Critiques (crits)
- Seminars
- Finished pieces of work
- Presentations
- Written work
- Your research
- A reflective journal
Work-based Learning Opportunities
Between Years 2 and 3 of this course, you’ll have the opportunity to undertake one of the following additional qualifications:
Creative Professional Development (1 year, Level 5 Diploma)
Our Creative Professional Development Diploma gives you the chance to spend a year exploring your post-uni job options through a structured programme of input sessions and work-based learning. This year offers two much-sought-after industry placements – the first lasting six weeks, the second 12 weeks, and a group project or ‘hackathon’ exploring freelancing and business start-up.
Creative Computing (1 year, Level 5 Diploma)
Our Creative Computing Diploma introduces you to coding and computational skills that will advance and complement your creative practice. No prior experience of coding is needed, just a curiosity about creative computing and a desire to push your own practice into new realms. You’ll also develop a wider knowledge of the creative tech industries, available roles and opportunities.
Integrated Foundation Year
Four year degrees are exactly the same as our three year degrees but include an extra year of study at the beginning – an Integrated Foundation Year.
An Integrated Foundation Year is about developing the skills, knowledge and the confidence you need to successfully complete your degree course. Building on your experience from A Level or equivalent courses, the Integrated Foundation Year curriculum allows time to develop the practical, creative and conceptual skills that are critical to successfully completing an undergraduate degree at Norwich. You will achieve this, making full use of the University workshops and studio facilities.
While studying an Integrated Foundation Year on BA (Hons) Illustration you’ll develop visual research strategies through studio-based workshops, considering narrative, and illustration as a mode of communication.
Within the first project you will explore the potential for ‘story-telling’ and sequence. You’ll explore a range approaches to image making, building upon this as you move through the second project, which is focused on specific environments; their past and their present.
As you negotiate the unit you will begin to develop you own visual language, and greater degrees of independence. Projects will be led by course tutors and as part of the Illustration course you will join all years for guest lectures and course events.
Typical UK offers and entry requirements for Integrated Foundation Year entry
GCE A/AS Levels
2 A-level qualifications at grades CC or higher.
BTEC Extended Diploma (QCF or RQF)
Merit, Merit, Pass in an art, design or media related subject
BTEC Diploma (QCF or RQF)
Distinction, Merit in an art, design or media related subject
T Levels
Pass (D or E on the core)
UAL Extended Diploma
An overall Pass
UAL Level 3 Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
An overall Pass
Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
Pass
Access to Higher Education Diploma (Art and Design)
Pass
International Baccalaureate Diploma
A minimum of 24 points
Norwich University of the Arts welcomes applicants of all ages from all backgrounds. Your application will be primarily assessed through interview and portfolio review so even if you have no formal qualifications or do not meet our typical offers it can still be worth applying.
Find out more about four year degrees at Norwich
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