Illustration BA (Hons)

Teaching

You are taught through a combination of practical workshops, lectures, seminars and tutorials. Theory and context is embedded within practical sessions supporting students practice led research. A strong emphasis is placed upon students developing their own unique visual language - learning programs designed to support communication, technical and research skills provide the basis for this.

In addition, meetings with personal academic tutors are scheduled on at least 4 occasions in the first year and three occasions in each of the other years of a course.

You have the opportunity to study abroad for a semester in the second year of the course. Further to developing your professional practice, many opportunities to work on live briefs and national/international competitions are provided. This is also supported by our outstanding visiting speaker program which takes the form of lectures, seminars and portfolio reviews.

You use industry-standard design software and have access to printmaking, 3d model making and lasercut facilities throughout the course.

Contact time

In a typical week you will have around 15-16 contact hours of teaching. The precise contact hours will depend on the optional modules selected and in the final year you will normally have slightly less contact time in order to do more independent study.

Typically class contact time will be structured around:

• 4 hours of formal lectures
• 2 hours of demonstrations
• 10 hours of supervised studio practice
• typical class sizes range between 15 - 22 students

Independent self-study

In addition to the contact time, you are expected to undertake around 12 hours of personal self-study per week. Typically, this will involve accessing reading lists and online resources, researching in the library and online, group task work, preparing presentations and developing personal sketchbook practice.

Independent learning is supported by a range of excellent learning facilities, including the Hive and library resources, the virtual learning environment, and extensive electronic learning resources.

Teaching staff

You are taught by lecturers who, themselves, are also professional, published illustrators working across editorial, publishing, advertising and authorial practices. Your learning is also supported by our technical team who provide demonstrations, tutorials and workshops.

Teaching is informed by the research and consultancy, and 60 per cent of course lecturers have a higher education teaching qualification or are Fellows of the Higher Education Academy. You can learn more about the staff by visiting our staff profiles.

Assessment

The course provides opportunities to test understanding and learning informally through the completion of practice or 'formative' assignments. Each module has one or more formal or 'summative' assessments which are graded and count towards the overall module grade.

Assessment methods include a range of coursework assessments such as learning reports, portfolio submissions, interviews, presentations and a final year independent studies project.

The precise assessment requirements for an individual student in an academic year will vary according to the mandatory and optional modules taken, but a typical formal summative assessment pattern for each year of the course is:

Year 1

• Portfolio of practical outcomes
• Sketchbook submissions
• Critical learning reports

Year 2

• Portfolio of practical outcomes in response to set briefs
• Sketchbook submissions
• Critical learning reports
• Individual or group presentations

Year 3

• Major independent study project comprising of a portfolio submission containing practical outcomes, supported by a critical report
• Portfolio of self-directed projects
• Critical learning reports

Feedback

You will receive feedback on practice assessments and on formal assessments undertaken by coursework. Feedback is intended to support learning and you are encouraged to discuss it with personal academic tutors and module tutors as appropriate. We aim to provide you with feedback on formal course work assessments within 20 working days of hand-in.