Illustration

Illustration is an art form that communicates ideas through images, occupying the space between fine art and design, between personal expression and commissioned purpose. Illustrators work across an enormous range of contexts: children's publishing, editorial and news media, advertising, packaging, animation, textiles, and increasingly the digital spaces of games, apps, and social platforms. The discipline requires both technical drawing ability and the conceptual intelligence to understand what a brief is really asking and to answer it in a way that is visually distinctive.

At Norwich University of the Arts this four-year degree gives you the time to develop both a rigorous practice and a professional portfolio. You will work with a range of materials, techniques, and processes, from traditional drawing and printmaking to digital illustration tools, and you will be encouraged to find and develop your own visual voice rather than to imitate a house style. Norwich's identity as an arts-specialist institution means the teaching is focused, the studio culture is serious, and the connections to professional practice are direct.

The four-year duration of the programme at this level reflects the depth of creative and technical development expected.

Graduates of illustration degrees work as freelance illustrators for publishers, magazines, advertising agencies, and design studios. Others move into animation, character design, concept art for games and film, textile and surface design, or art direction. Teaching in secondary schools and art colleges is another route, as is further study at postgraduate level in illustration, visual communication, or fine art.

The portfolio you develop during your degree is your primary professional credential, and the reputation of Norwich University of the Arts as a specialist creative institution means that portfolio carries weight with the employers and commissioners who matter.