Illustration with Arts Foundation Year

Illustration is a discipline that uses visual art to communicate, explain, interpret, and tell stories, spanning editorial illustration, children's book illustration, narrative art, information design, and increasingly digital and interactive contexts. It is a field that rewards people with strong visual imagination and a commitment to developing their own graphic voice, and it requires both artistic skill and the ability to respond to briefs and work within the constraints of real-world communication contexts.

At the University of Lincoln, this four-year full-time programme begins with an Arts Foundation Year: the first interdisciplinary year of the programme, designed for students from a wide range of creative backgrounds who wish to develop their artistic foundations before specialising in illustration. The Foundation Year is shared with students from across Lincoln's creative degree programmes, giving you a broad perspective on the visual arts before you focus on illustration in the subsequent three years. You will develop your drawing, visual storytelling, printmaking, and digital illustration skills alongside your conceptual and critical understanding of how illustration operates as a professional practice.

A sandwich year with a work placement gives you direct professional experience in an illustration or design context. Entry typically requires around 88 UCAS tariff points.

Illustration graduates work as freelance illustrators, editorial artists, children's book illustrators, concept artists, motion graphic artists, and in design studios, publishers, and advertising agencies. Building a strong portfolio during the programme is central to establishing a professional illustration career. Many graduates also continue to postgraduate study or develop their practice through artist residencies and commissions.