Get degree ideas using our A level explorer tool

Illustration [with Placement year]

Entry requirements


GCSE/National 4/National 5

3 GCSEs at grade C, or grade 4, or above, including English.

UCAS Tariff

96

from a minimum of 2 A Levels (or equivalent level 3 qualifications), including Art, Design or Media subjects.

About this course


Course option

4years

Sandwich | 2024

Subject

Illustration

**Hone your illustration skills and learn how to succeed as a professional artist while studying in the creative powerhouse of Cambridge.**

Join a course that scored 94% for Teaching on my Course and 91% for Learning Opportunities in the National Student Survey 2023. With its vibrant studio culture and small class sizes, combined with excellent printmaking, 3D, photography and life-drawing facilities, our illustration course has consistently high student satisfaction ratings.

We know that our students want to learn from the best, so all of our tutors are professional illustrators. They’ll help you find your visual style and kick-start your career. But they’ll never forget the reason you chose to study illustration in the first place. At Cambridge School of Art, you’ll find there’s always time to experiment, discover, discuss and create.

Our studios and workshops are second to none, and you’ll spend lots of time working there. As well as practising and experimenting with your drawing and observation skills, you’ll get the chance to explore related areas such as storytelling, editorials, animation, printmaking, text and image, and moving illustrations.

But you won’t be restricted to the studio: you’ll also go on gallery visits, local drawing trips, and our annual overseas visit to cities such as Porto and Seville, and take part in live briefs for partner organisations. Our students have recently worked with Cambridge University Botanic Garden, producing designs for their educational resources; Cambridge Gateway From India, researching and creating an information board to accompany the new Gateway Stones on Mill Road; and Cambridgeshire Constabulary, creating and exhibiting artworks for their KNOW Violence Against Women project.

We know that your future career is important and you want to build your CV. So we’ll encourage you to grab every opportunity for real-world experience – entering national and international competitions, working on live industry briefs, and taking up internships.

As an illustrator, a world of possibilities awaits you. You could illustrate books, become a graphic artist, design stage sets or product labels, and even work on animated films.

Let us show you where your talents can take you:
- graduating student Tabitha Wall won the ‘New Talent’ category at the hugely prestigious and international World Illustration Awards 2021.

- Bethan Woollvin was awarded the 2022 Book of the Year Prize by Books for Topics, as well as the 2014 Macmillan Prize, The New York Times’ Best Illustrated Children’s Book 2016, and the 2017 World Illustration Awards' 'new talent' category

- Melissa Castrillon is now a full-time freelance illustrator who has won the Society of Illustrators’ Gold Medal and designed covers for Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy

- Lizzie Knott was commissioned by TKMaxx to design a range of t-shirts for Comic Relief.

**Industry-standard facilities**

As well as our dedicated illustration studio, where you’ll have your own desk, you’ll have use of all our creative facilities, including:
- Life drawing studio

- Ruskin Gallery, a professional digital art gallery

- 3D workshops for physical media including wood, plastic, metal, and clay

- Specialist printmaking workshop including etching, screen-printing, and lithography

- Dedicated Mac and PC suites with latest software including Adobe Creative suite

- Photography and media facilities including darkrooms; studios; film processing; digital printing suite; video editing; and professional equipment loans.

**Careers**
The creative industries are booming in the UK, employing more than two million people. With a wealth of careers to choose from, our graduates have found success as book illustrators, graphic designers, luxury homeware designers and more.

There are plenty of opportunities to get your work seen. At the end of your final year, you’ll take part in our degree show and the New Designers exhibition in London.

Modules

Year 1 core modules: Digital and Moving Illustration; Drawing for Illustration; Illustration Practice; Print, Process and Page. Year 2 core modules: Sequence and Narrative; The Illustrated World; Ruskin module. Year 3: Work placement. Year 4 Core modules: Portfolio Development; Launchpad. Year 4 optional modules: Practice in Context; Working in the Creative Industries.Modules are subject to change and availability.

Assessment methods

This is a hands-on, practical course and our assessment is based on the coursework you complete for each of your modules. This includes completed project work as well as accompanying material such as sketchbooks. We’re looking to see how you research, analyse and develop your work – in other words, how you think as an illustrator. You’ll also attend lectures and produce written material including essays. We’ll look at these when we’re reviewing your progress.

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

Channel Islands
£9,250
per year
England
£9,250
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni


Course location:

Cambridge Campus

Department:

Cambridge School of Art

Read full university profile

What students say


We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

69%
Illustration

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Design studies

Teaching and learning

80%
Staff make the subject interesting
80%
Staff are good at explaining things
82%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
88%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

57%
Library resources
72%
IT resources
79%
Course specific equipment and facilities
52%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

72%
UK students
28%
International students
27%
Male students
73%
Female students
76%
2:1 or above
15%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

A*
B
C

After graduation


The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Design studies

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£16,500
low
Average annual salary
94%
med
Employed or in further education
49%
low
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

29%
Design occupations
17%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
12%
Other elementary services occupations

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Design studies

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£16k

£16k

£18k

£18k

£23k

£23k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

Explore these similar courses...

Share this page

This is what the university has told Ucas about the criteria they expect applicants to satisfy; some may be compulsory, others may be preferable.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This is the percentage of applicants to this course who received an offer last year, through Ucas.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Course location and department:

This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here