Illustration MA
Subject to validation.
Course start date 2025.
Length:
Full-time 1 year, part-time 2 years
Develop and evolve your unique visual language to challenge conventions and expand the practice of contemporary illustration.
Our MA in Illustration welcomes a diverse range of design practitioners who want to expand their practice as critically engaged communicators and visual thinkers able to adapt to a rapidly changing professional landscape. Supported by a team of professional illustrators and academics, you will be encouraged to explore the development of your visual language and your position within this dynamic and expansive discipline. By challenging your perspectives and exploring illustrative practices from a global viewpoint, you will engage in high-profile live assignments and independently driven research projects, shaping and defining your unique authorial voice.
You’ll enhance your visual thinking, research and storytelling abilities, applying these skills to resolve complex issues systematically and creatively. Supported by our team of experts, you’ll be encouraged to take creative risks and push your work in new and exciting directions. The course will challenge you to critique the discipline, questioning norms and considering how illustration practice can be reimagined to support a more inclusive future. You will consider the role of the illustrator within the current landscape of artificial intelligence and machine learning. At the core of the course is the consideration of the social and ethical implications of your work, ensuring you are well-equipped to navigate and influence the evolving world of illustration.
Why study with us
- Advanced technical skills: Develop expertise in a wide range of media and methods, creating sophisticated analogue and digital illustrations that reflect your unique voice and style.
- Interdisciplinary approach: Benefit from collaboration with other postgraduate courses within media and visual communication, fostering a multidisciplinary environment that enhances your learning experience.
- Professional-level resources: Utilise contemporary technology and industry-standard tools, including design studios, media labs, 2D & 3D workshops, licensed specialist software, and a media resource centre. These resources support you in transforming ideas into tangible outcomes and crafting practical solutions to project briefs.
- Ethical and inclusive research: Adopt an ethical approach to your work, focusing on social and ethical implications, accessibility, diversity, equality, and sustainability within illustration practice.
- Professional portfolio development: By the end of the course, create a professional body of work that reflects your interests and prepares you for industry, enhancing your ability to visually communicate research and ideas.
- Innovative problem-solving: Engage with complex visual and conceptual problems through project-based learning, promoting original and innovative approaches to illustration and professional practice.
Course structure
This course is part of our suite of Master’s in Visual Communication, offering a collaborative framework across various specialisations, including MA Animation, MA Advertising, and MA Illustration. This provides students with opportunities to engage with peers from different disciplines while working on individual assignments. Such collaboration mirrors the professional dynamics in the creative industries today, allowing students to gain valuable experience in interdisciplinary teamwork and real-world problem-solving.
This programme is a one-year course including 30 weeks of direct teaching time and a 15-week final project. You will need to complete five units and one 60-credit major project (180 credits in total). All units on the course are compulsory and must be passed in order to complete the award. If you study part-time your modules will be split across two years. Full course details, including aims and assessment criteria, will be provided in the course specification upon validation.
Course content
This unit launches your master’s study experience at Norwich, immersing you in contemporary illustration practices and theories. The focus will be on developing skills that inform and expand your creative practice through purposeful visual storytelling and communication. Research-led projects will immerse you in contemporary and core mark‐making skills building your confidence in conceptual and practical problem-solving. You will experiment with mixed media processes and materials, exploring the boundaries of illustration alongside related fields. The unit includes observational drawing, character development, and emerging technologies such as AR/VR/AI. Iterative experimentation and critical reflection will strengthen your working methods and refine your practice within broader conceptual and ethical frameworks.
This unit focuses on the advanced technical skills essential for idea generation, problem-solving, and practical development in illustration. You’ll experiment across a range of media and processes, enhancing your practice for effective communication. Both individual projects and group collaborations will be explored, with regular presentations and discussions supporting critical reflection and analysis. Through project work, you’ll investigate innovative technical processes, expanding communication and creating advanced creative solutions. Developing content using contemporary and emerging media platforms and technologies, you’ll engage in practice-based research to push the boundaries of different media environments. The unit includes observational drawing, colour theory, Adobe Suite, animation, mixed media, and emerging technologies like AR/VR/AI. Through continuous technical experimentation and critical reflection, you will enhance your knowledge in the emergent skills required to imagine and realise effective illustration for a range of audiences.
This unit encourages exploration of leading practices and emerging research in illustration through reflective analysis and interactive sessions. You’ll develop a critical understanding of your discipline within socio-economic, political, ethical, and cultural contexts, exploring themes like design history, identity, visual language, design psychology, semiotics, and media theory. You will be supported in developing a variety of research approaches, utilising discursive interaction to inform your inquiry methods and push your creative boundaries to inspire new perspectives on illustration.
This unit focuses on professional-level technical skills essential for idea generation, problem-solving, and practical development in illustration. You will experiment with various media to support personal and professional growth, building from the ‘advanced technical skills’ unit. Through individual and group projects, you’ll refine technical processes and explore innovative solutions to enhance your creative capabilities. The unit includes observational drawing, colour theory, composition, Adobe Suite, animation, motion graphics, type and lettering, mixed media, and emerging technologies like AR/VR/AI. Individual and group projects will refine your technical skills within illustration and enhance your problem-solving abilities, allowing you to fully develop and apply advanced creative thinking in practical contexts.
This unit enhances your knowledge of leading practices and emerging research in illustration. By developing effective research and reflective strategies, you’ll improve your comprehension of methodologies and gain insights into creative communication within socio-economic, political, ethical, and cultural contexts. Building on the ‘dialogue, debate, and domain knowledge’ unit, you’ll explore themes like design history, identity and representation, visual language, design psychology, Gestalt psychology, semiotics, consumption, globalisation, and media theory. You’ll refine your research approach by formulating relevant questions and examining interdisciplinary boundaries. Through rigorous analysis and research-led projects, you will enhance your ability to integrate conceptual understanding with practical problem-solving, positioning yourself as a critically engaged and reflective practitioner.
This unit forms the culmination of your master’s study, in which you will design, develop, and execute an individual or collaborative major project. Through careful planning and organisation of activities, time, and resources, you will create a research question, design a viable project to test your hypotheses, and work towards innovative outcomes with feedback from tutors and industry professionals. Throughout this unit, you will continue to deepen your understanding of the historical, theoretical, cultural, technical, and economic contexts surrounding your discipline. Indicative fields of study may include editorial, documentary, animation and moving image, visual communication, and new forms for illustrative practice. Identifying relevant industries, audiences, and stakeholders, you’ll explore challenges related to social and environmental sustainability your project aims to impact. Research-led practice will enhance your ability to synthesise experiments into complex creative outcomes that reflect your chosen pathway and express an original, personal and professional identity.
Careers Information
Our illustration community has a long history and reputation at Norwich. This course will equip you with strong creative and problem-solving skills, preparing you for a broad range of roles in illustration – either freelance or as a creative team member. Upon completing this course, you’ll possess the practical skills needed to thrive in the commercial world and the communication abilities to effectively showcase your work. You’ll be able to establish yourself as a creative professional, giving you a distinct advantage in the competitive fields of illustration or art.
When you graduate, you may be qualified for a broad range of careers.
Career opportunities
- Animator, storyboard artist and digital illustrator
- Graphic/editorial designer
- Art director
- Comic book or graphic novelist
- Freelancer
- Creative consultancy
- Creative developer
- Art teacher/lecturer
You’ll also get specialist creative careers advice from our Business and Employability Team to help support you as you plan your career.
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Entry Requirements
Entrants should normally have achieved a BA (Hons) / BSc Degree of 2:1 or above (or its equivalent), in a subject related to your proposed course of study. Applicants who hold a degree from another discipline may also be considered for entry, subject to the submission of a satisfactory portfolio of art, design or media-related work in support of their application.
Those with industry experience or relevant skills from non-traditional backgrounds are encouraged to apply, including individuals currently employed. If you’re unsure about your eligibility, please contact us for guidance before applying.
Language requirement (International/EU)
If English is not your first language, IELTS 6.5 (or equivalent) is required, with a minimum of 5.5 in reading, writing, listening, and speaking.
Portfolio requirement
For this course we will need to see your portfolio for review. You can either submit a digital portfolio or request an in-person portfolio review with the course team. Further information will be provided once you have applied.
2024/25 university fees
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.
Home/UK
- Postgraduate degree (full-time) £10,600
- Postgraduate degree (part-time, over 2 years) £6,625
For home postgraduate degree students starting in 2024, fees will remain the same for each year of your course.
For 2024, UK nationals and EU nationals who have ‘Settled’ or ‘Pre-Settled’ status may be eligible for a government loan towards course fees or living costs. Both full-time and part-time master’s degree students can apply for the master’s loan. Find out more about postgraduate master’s loans.
Alumni discount
Home Norwich alumni can benefit from a £1,000 discount on Norwich postgraduate degree fees.
Staff and teacher discount
All Norwich staff and art teachers at high schools or sixth form colleges can benefit from £1,000 discount on Norwich postgraduate degree fees.
International
- Postgraduate degree (full-time) £24,000
For international postgraduate degree students starting in 2024, fees will remain the same for each year of your course.
If you are a resident outside the UK and the Republic of Ireland, you will need to pay a deposit of £2,500 to secure your place. This will be subtracted from your total tuition fee.
International scholarships and bursaries
We offer a range of scholarships and bursaries for international students. To find out more and see if you’re eligible, please visit the scholarships for international students page.
Additional costs
Your tuition fee covers the full cost of tuition. Accommodation, cost of materials, and living costs, such as travel and food, are not included in your tuition fees.
Learning and teaching
The course is delivered through a variety of engaging learning and teaching methods. Lectures will introduce you to core topics, provide contextual understanding, and clarify the objectives of assigned tasks. You will participate in creative workshops, technical labs, and seminars, and receive individual mentorship. Throughout these sessions, you will have opportunities to work independently, and collaboratively in groups, engaging in practical and creative exercises designed to enhance your knowledge and skills.
Assessment
Our assessment methods will vary based on the unit you choose and provide a comprehensive measure of your learning and progress. These methods may include:
- Course work
- Presentations
- Learning journal
- Reflective evaluation
- Body of creative work
- Reflective research report
- Team project evaluation
- Major project
- Supporting documentation
- Critically reflective essay
How to apply
Applications to our postgraduate courses should be made directly to Norwich University of the Arts using a Postgraduate Application Form.
Postgraduate Application form 2023-24 – Word format
Applications should be returned to admissions@norwichuni.ac.uk
Terms and conditions
- Norwich Terms and Conditions (11/12/20)
- Norwich Student Regulations and Procedures (01/10/23)
- Student Protection Plan (01/11/23)
When should I apply for an MA course?
There is no official deadline for applying for a postgraduate course. We would recommend you apply by 25 August (at the very latest) of the autumn you wish to start. This will allow time for your interview to take place and the necessary paperwork to be processed if you are successful in achieving a place. International students requiring a visa should apply as soon as possible in the year they wish to start. Email our International Team for more information.
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