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BA (Hons) Illustration and Design with Integrated Foundation Year

Push the boundaries of illustration using a blend of traditional and digital techniques. Develop your own style and release your personal creativity. Perfect your craft alongside experienced academics and like-minded peers. Become industry-ready and launch your career as an illustrator or designer.

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A person holding a book of illustrations created by a student
UCAS codeW225
Duration4 years
Fee (UK)£9,790
LocationOn campus

Course summary

Are you passionate about drawing? Full of creative ideas? Illustration and Design will cultivate your talents. We encourage you to push the boundaries of illustration, blending traditional techniques with computer technology, such as virtual reality and 3D design. You can also combine illustration with other areas, including animation, graphics, advertising, 3D illustration, and web design.

You’ll explore design principles, printmaking, and drawing in your first year, before pursuing a specialist study of illustration during your second and final year. You’ll perfect your craft alongside experienced academics who are all practising professionals at the cutting edge of their field, bringing their industry insights and experience directly into their teaching.

Throughout the course you’ll build and develop a creative, industry-ready portfolio that will help launch your career as an illustrator or graphic designer, or any other role where these creative skills are needed.

Integrated Foundation Year

This course is also available with an Integrated Foundation Year. The Integrated Foundation Year route is an additional year built into your degree, designed to support your success and help you progress with confidence.

If you have valuable work or life experience but no formal qualifications, are returning to education after a break, or want to change direction and explore a new career path, the Integrated Foundation Year offers a supportive way to transition into university study.

If you’ve just missed the entry requirements for a three-year course, the Integrated Foundation Year offers a supportive route to start your university journey.

We’re excited to be enhancing our Integrated Foundation Year to give you an even stronger start to your degree. The updated modules will be more aligned with your chosen subject area and carefully designed to build the knowledge, confidence and skills you’ll use throughout your studies. Full details will be shared soon. We can’t wait to tell you more.

Please note, this route isn’t available to international students.

What you'll study

*Placements are subject to availability and placement providers may require an interview as part of the process. If successful, you'll remain an active student and will have access to a wide range of support from Graduate Prospects.

Many of our courses include a range of modules you can choose from. Some of these options may only be available if you’ve already studied specific required modules. If you’re not sure what you need before picking a module, your course leader can help.

Undergraduate module credits should total 120 credits per academic year. If optional modules are available alongside core modules on your course, you should choose an amount that totals 120 credits.

How you'll learn

Teaching sessions are made up of a combination of personal one-to-one meetings with design tutors and group critiques designed to encourage team working and to create a community vibe among the year groups. This is supported by lectures, seminars, workshops and independent learning. You'll have access to studio spaces outside of teaching time, which facilitates reflection on work and peer evaluation.

Feedback is given regularly during teaching sessions and at the end of the semester. This will enable you to develop your work to the highest standard and also to reflect on how you might have approached the project differently.

Your first year of study introduces you to a range of different media and focuses on the fundamental skills of illustration including observational drawing, printmaking, animation and digital drawing and painting. You'll then progress onto stages 2 and 3 where you'll narrow your focus and develop your own personal style of illustration through open briefs based on real-world commercial projects.

You'll have the opportunity to apply to undertake an optional placement year out in industry between your second and final year, this is sometimes known as a sandwich degree.

At the end of your final year you'll have the opportunity to exhibit your work at the end of year degree show. The show is open to the public and invited guests in order for you to showcase your portfolio and meet potential employers from the design sector.

Entry requirements

Fees and finance support

UK£9,790

Undergraduate fees are set according to rules from Government in line with forecast inflation. If you're a Home fee-paying student, the fee for your first year of study for 2026/27 will be £9,790. You'll pay tuition fees for every year of study. Fees may increase every year based on the Retail Price Index.

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See all course tuition fees.

If you're a full-time UK/Irish/EU settled/EU pre-settled student on the Integrated Foundation Year route, you may be eligible to receive financial support to cover your fees for the full four years. UK and EU settled students may also be eligible to receive a maintenance loan.

Apply now

UK students

Disclaimer

We want to make sure you have clear and accurate information about our courses. Our website always shows the latest updates. If you’ve applied and been offered a place, we’ll contact you in writing if anything important changes.

View our programme specifications(opens in new tab) for further information about what the course covers, learning outcomes and the skills you'll gain when you graduate.