Hereford College of Art and Design - Illustration Courses BA(Hons)

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Level: Undergradtuate
Study Mode: Full-time / Part Time
Duration: 3 years (full time), 6 years (part time)
Application: To UCAS (full time), Direct to College (part time)
Application Deadline: 15 Jan 2010
UCAS Course Code: W220
Institution Code: H18
Validated By:

Students working in old Woolworths shop window, Ludlow

Click here to view BA (Hons) Illustration Blogspot showcasing recent student work

The ability to communicate an idea visually is a difficult and valuable skill. If you can affect people’s emotions by engaging them in a story that entertains, amuses and thrills or explain information accurately and with style, then you will be prized by a wide range of people engaged in a huge variety of projects. You will have a career that will be challenging and fulfilling. You will be envied and admired by your peers because you will be in control of your own world, you will be in the business of entertainment and you will have the opportunity to affect people by making them think about themselves and what they do. You could make a difference. The global community needs young people with energy, imagination and attitude to solve new and difficult communication issues. There are exciting opportunities for illustrators with knowledge, skill, wit and imagination to work in a vast variety of fields including film, television, theatre, publishing, advertising, and information graphics, print and with interactive new media platforms. ………….or you could work in a more traditional craft based way. It’s up to you.

The course has been developed in consultation with a range of practicing artists, designers, writers, publishers and teachers. Their accumulated knowledge has been combined to create a programme that is relevant, appropriate, interesting, challenging and most importantly, fun to take part in.

Projects are designed to reflect real world situations and issues. We want our students to begin showing, selling and sharing their work with communities at local, national and global level whilst still on the course, not after they leave.

We offer opportunities to reach out and meet practitioners, see their work and learn about the world they inhabit, as we travel to the most interesting events, exhibitions, studios and people. We want to work in partnership with students by exploring the ways in which illustrators manufacture pictures for a wide variety of outcomes. We look at the history of picture making and we discuss and debate contemporary fashions and trends.

All this is delivered in a friendly and industrious studio where everyone enjoys their own workspaces. You will form part of a community that will provide you with the space to acquire the knowledge, skills and information necessary to confidently emerge as an employable illustrator.

Year One
The modular course is defined at each of the 3 year levels in order to make it clear as to exactly what the learning is and why we are learning it. Students at each level will work both individually and as part of a team to encourage, support and develop knowledge and understanding in a variety of contexts. Theory and practice are ‘integrated’, where possible, in order to keep learning meaningful, relevant and engaging. A wide variety of assessment tasks are used to develop key and core skills that will be necessary to deal with all aspects of lifelong learning and working.

Year 1 focusses on key fundamental picture making skills, delivered via series of activity based workshops and projects. Drawing, mark-making and composition will be core, developing into work in print, collage, basic photography and storytelling. Students will constantly reflect on their own personal study progress and begin to plan activities that best suit their ambitions.

Year Two
Year 2 seeks to apply some of this new found knowledge and skill by undertaking a range of competition and ‘live’ briefs that introduce students to the demands of the professional Illustrator. Study trips and visiting Illustrators and Designers will invigorate the learning environment and extend our knowledge of what it takes to survive in the commercial world.

There will be space to begin to develop a personal visual language, tested by a variety of tasks that conclude with exhibitions and presentations. Discourse modules will allow for free discussion of this emerging personal vision and how best to apply it in a professional context.

Year Three
Year 3 is designed through collaboration between teacher and student. Personal study plans and the declaration of realistic career goals will form the basis of extensive personal projects designed to create a portfolio of work with which to launch a career in a specific specialist area of illustration. Professional Practice elements and the development of an on-line presence will continue the process of preparation for employment or post graduate study.