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What makes Fine Art and Illustration at Worcester special?

Combining Fine Art and Illustration creates an opportunity to enhance your artistic abilities and apply them in storytelling contexts. You’ll work with a variety of mediums to create artwork ready to publish and exhibit. Each year you will explore new skills, re-evaluating your previous work as you grow and develop your own unique artistic voice.

The joint honours course allows you to work using diverse processes and methods, supported by lecturers with years of professional experience. Students graduate with global connections and a portfolio of work relevant to roles across a wide range of creative industries.

Overview

Overview

Key features

  • Experience a variety of Fine Art making processes, contexts and media through innovative practice-based research
  • Work with internationally recognised artist-lecturers whose own research interests and networks inform the studio culture
  • Benefit from a vibrant programme of visiting lecturers and MA students and guest speakers
  • Live brief collaboration with national publishers and publications
  • Develop a diverse set of skills and leave with a professional portfolio of practice through work placements, collaborations and opportunities to study abroad
  • Opportunity to travel to destinations in mainland Europe and introduced to exhibition practice through illustration fairs, card sales and exhibitions in the final year graduation show, as well as through an opportunity to showcase their work in London
  • Tailor your course to your individual needs with a joint honours degree
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Entry requirements

Entry requirements

104
UCAS tariff points

Entry requirements

104 UCAS Tariff points

T Levels may be used to meet the entry tariff requirements for this course. Find out more about T levels as UCAS tariff points here.

Other information

If you have any questions about entry requirements, please contact the Admissions Office on 01905 855111 or email admissions@worc.ac.uk for advice.

Further information about the UCAS Tariff can be obtained from the UCAS website.

Some Fine Art student work

Kathryn Martin

Since graduating from the University of Worcester, Kathryn Martin has been studying for an MA in Visual Communication at the Royal College of Art in London. During her first year at RCA, she has participated in two pop up exhibitions at the university, and will have work published in the first issue of a new graphic newspaper, Modern Times. Kathryn says about her years in Worcester:

"Without Worcester Illustration, I would not be at the Royal College of Art. During the three years of my BA, I was introduced to many different ways of thinking and working by excellent tutors who not only supported me, but gave me the freedom to play with my own ideas and research to reach something new. This level of freedom, especially during my third year, not only helped me get the most out of the direction I wished my work to go in, but prepared me for the self-directed nature of the MA course I am on now."

Some Illustration student work

Course content

Course content

Our courses are informed by research and current developments in the discipline and feedback from students, external examiners and employers. Modules do therefore change periodically in the interests of keeping the course relevant and reflecting best practice. The most up-to-date information will be available to you once you have accepted a place and registered for the course. If there are insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, this might not be offered, but we will advise you as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative. 

Year 1

Mandatory

  • Research: Looking through Writing
  • Making: Space, Surface, Time
  • Drawing for Illustrators
  • Image and text

Options

  • Illustration: Digital Processes
  • Illustration and Printmaking

Year 2

Mandatory

  • Research: Writing as Practice
  • Making: Experimentation, Presentation, Reflection

Options

  • Visual Statement
  • Illustration Forms and Genres
  • Location drawing and Reportage

Year 3

Mandatory

  • Contemporary Practice
  • Making: Exit Portfolio

Options

  • Final Research Project
  • Professional Practice
  • Authorial Practice
  • Negotiated Project
  • Negotiated Project 1
  • Research: Critical Commentary
  • Site and Context
2 female students and 1 male student working at table

Joint Honours

Discover our full range of joint degrees and read about how your degree will be structured.

Find out more about studying a joint honours course
Teaching and assessment

Teaching and assessment

For more information about teaching, learning and assessment on this course, please see the single honours course pages for Fine Art BA (Hons) and Illustration BA (Hons).

Programme specification

For comprehensive details on the aims and intended learning outcomes of the course, and the means by which these are achieved through learning, teaching and assessment, please download the latest Fine Art programme specification and Illustration programme specification documents. 

Meet the team

You will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course.

John Cussans

Dr John Cussans

Dr Cussans is an artist and writer working across the fields of contemporary art, cultural history and practice-led artistic research. His work explores the legacies of colonialism in art, cinema and popular culture from anthropological, psychological and science fictional perspectives.

John has a special interest in the use of diagrams in art and design education and is a member of the Social Morphologies Research Unit (SMRU), a collaboration between anthropologists and artists investigating the creative, political and educational use of diagrams.

tobias-hickey

Tobias Hickey

Tobias Hickey lectures in illustration, drawing and printmaking. Graduating with a degree in Graphic Design from Liverpool Polytechnic in 1992 and subsequently gaining his MA Illustration from Central St Martin's College of Arts and Design in 1995.

Tobias initially took on commissions to illustrate children's books. His freelance practice then broadened into design and advertising and he became an established editorial illustrator, with regular commissions for The Guardian, The Times The Observer and The Independent newspapers. His illustrations have been published throughout Europe and in Australia.

Dan Roach Portrait

Dan Roach

Dan Roach is a painter and printmaker. He is Technical Lecturer for Fine Art and Illustration. His practice explores how things seen in various landscapes can be brought into his studio and used as subjects in paintings and prints.

jess-mathews

Jess Mathews

Jess Mathews is a curator / producer based in Cardiff, Wales. Her practice-based research often necessitates a complex dialogue between the roles of writer, researcher, explorer, curator and maker. Key to this process, is that the thing that is produced (be that an object, a text, a book, an event, an exhibition, a symposium), remains open to intervention and moments of between.

Nathaniel Pitt sat down with hands placed on knees

Nathaniel Pitt

Nathaniel Pitt (1975) trained as an artist at Falmouth School of Art in 1997 and gained his MFA from Wolverhampton University 2009 before becoming a fellow at De Appel in Amsterdam, ‘curating in the gallery field.’ Since 2013, Pitt has served as the Director for the gallery Division of Labour, a West-Midlands based not-for-profit dedicated to supporting contemporary art across the UK.

With research interests in regional art market development, art and education and collaborative practice, projects have included artists Robert Barry, Victor Burgin, Brian O’Doherty and Carey Young. Pitt has developed an international profile for his gallery, with past presentations in the 2015 Venice Biennale, Brussels, Rotterdam, New York, Hong Kong, Basel, Vienna and Dallas. www.divisionoflabour.co.uk

Desdemona McCannon

Desdemona McCannon

Desdemona writes about illustration, teaches illustration, organises conferences and exhibitions about illustration, and is a practising illustrator.

Andy Davies

Andy Davies

Andy has worked as a professional freelance illustrator and educator since 2004 and joined the University of Worcester in 2011. He uses his professional practice experience and research interests within his teaching, helping students to develop their understanding of visual communication. His artwork has been used in an editorial context by magazines and newspapers, in marketing campaigns, and for several children's books. To date, his work has been shown in exhibitions in the UK, USA, South Korea, Slovakia and Italy and publications including: 'AOI Images 29, 31 and 35', 'Creative Quarterly Journal', 'Mail me Art: Going Postal with the World's Best Illustrators', 'How to create a Portfolio' and 'Icon'. His work can be viewed on his website: https://andyrobertdavies.com/

lucy-sames

Lucy A. Sames

Lucy A. Sames is a curator and researcher living and working between London, Bristol and South Wales. She holds a PhD from the Art Department at Northumbria University, Newcastle. She is an Associate Lecturer in Visual Culture at UWE Bristol, in Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths (University of London) and in Art and Psychology at University of Worcester. She is curator and convener of Wet Rest; a core member of the Liquidity Cohort at MARs, Goldsmiths; Co-Director and Co-Curator at Res; and a member of the Social Morphology Research Unit in the Anthropology Department and Slade School of Art at University College London (UCL).

Careers

Careers

Employability

Graduates from the Fine Art aspect of the course have had success in a variety of careers in the arts as well. Increasingly, graduates are undertaking a variety of freelance commissions. Often they progress to setting up their own creative businesses or undertaking postgraduate study at some of the UK's most prestigious institutions. Illustrators are in increasing demand as the media industries expand.

Options for the professional illustrator include newspapers and magazines, books, advertising, exhibiting independent work, television and the internet. All these fields are potential showcases for graduates' work. Our interdisciplinary approach gives flexibility and a wider view of the world that is attractive to employers. Graduates will find career opportunities not only in illustration but also television motion graphics, graphic design, story writing, studio management and advertising.

Two students are walking next to each other and smiling

Careers and Employability

Our Graduates pursue exciting and diverse careers in a wide variety of employment sectors.

Find out how we can support you to achieve your potential
Costs

Fees and funding

Full-time tuition fees

UK and EU students

The Government has announced that it will increase tuition fees and maintenance loans by 3.1% from the 2025/26 academic cycle. Subject to approval, the University intends to increase our tuition fees in line with this and as per our terms and conditions. This means that from September 2025 the standard fee for full-time home and EU undergraduate students enrolling on BA/BSc/LLB degrees and FdA/FdSc degrees will be £9,535 per year.

For more details on course fees, please visit our course fees page.

International students

The standard tuition fee for full-time international students enrolling on BA/BSc/LLB degrees and FdA/FdSc degrees in the 2025/26 academic year is £16,700 per year.

For more details on course fees, please visit our course fees page.

Part-time tuition fees

UK and EU students

The Government has announced that it will increase tuition fees and maintenance loans by 3.1% from the 2025/26 academic cycle. Subject to approval, the University intends to increase our tuition fees in line with this and as per our terms and conditions. This means that from September 2025 the tuition fees for part-time UK and EU students on BA/BSc/LLB degrees and FdA/FdSc degrees will be £1,190.83 per 15-credit module, £1,587.77 per 20-credit module, £2,381.66 per 30-credit module, £3,175.55 per 40-credit module, £3,572.50 per 45-credit module and £4,763.32 per 60 credit module.

For more details on course pages, please visit our course fees page.

Additional costs

Every course has day-to-day costs for basic books, stationery, printing and photocopying. The amounts vary between courses.

If your course offers a placement opportunity, you may need to pay for an Enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check.

Accommodation

Finding the right accommodation is paramount to your university experience. Our halls of residence are home to friendly student communities, making them great places to live and study.

We have over 1,000 rooms across our range of student halls. With rooms to suit every budget and need, from our 'Traditional Halls' at £131 per week to 'Ensuite Premium Halls' at £228 per week (2025/26 prices).

For full details visit our accommodation page.

How to apply