Illustration
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About this course
This course has alternative study modes. Contact the university to find out how the information below might vary.
**Arts University Plymouth is an arts university for the 21st century, preparing students who are uniquely placed to provide creative solutions to the complex global challenges of a changing world. Formerly known as Plymouth College of Art, we were granted full university title in Spring 2022. We are now the city of Plymouth’s first and only specialist arts university, allowing us to offer our students a dynamic and unique learning experience.**
Discover Distance Learning with a difference, and join a truly global community of creative learners.* Starting in January* each year, these degrees will kickstart your future in the creative industries, allowing you to study your first year online at home, in the studio or at an international host institution.
**Through this industry-informed degree, you will explore and define what it means to be an illustrator today. You will learn how to apply your understanding to commercial briefs just as much as to personal self-expression, and build a sustainable and fulfilling lifelong practice.**
Through both creative self-expression and challenging ideas, illustrators have the ability to present powerful propositions, develop alternate realities and evoke emotions in audiences and individuals.
Taught by a dedicated illustration teaching team, you’ll develop and build on a variety of conceptual and image-making methods, breaking down and tackling the ‘ingredients’ of illustration and how you might apply them to your own creative practice. Using these you’ll become an effective practitioner in the areas that you feel most connected to – from editorial and advertising to narrative books and research – all informed by the expert experience of your tutors who work in those fields. We’ll challenge you to develop a culturally curious attitude and be sensitive to the ethical responsibilities that illustration comes with.
Throughout this degree you will develop an authentic selection of skills and attributes, placing high value on curiosity and perseverance. You will be challenged to develop authentic ways of working, assuming agency and autonomy as an image-maker and learning what this means to you as a practitioner. Our industry- informed curriculum will present projects aimed at developing an understanding not only of the creative industries, but also of how your work has the potential to function within them, as well as change them.
You will work within a supportive studio environment, exploring your subject both as an individual and as part of collaborative, interdisciplinary teams. You’ll approach independent work with a critical mindset, considering the purpose, rationale, production and application of your own original work, whilst seeking opportunities to collaborate with the creative community of artists and designers around you. We will encourage you to foster and engage with our many nurturing and student-led communities across the university, showcasing your final outputs as part of enterprising collectives, pop-up shops and curated exhibitions.
We place equal emphasis on the specifics of commercial practice (including the in-depth business tools you need to operate as a freelancer) and on providing encouragement to explore and follow the value of your own ideas and passions. As you develop and extend the boundaries of your visual language and critical thinking, we’ll support you to build a truly fulfilling creative practice – sustainable far beyond your time with us.
Our graduates are enjoying brilliantly colourful and diverse creative careers, illustrating toys for LEGO, articles for The New York Times, packaging for Marks & Spencer and greetings cards for Hallmark. Graduating from BA (Hons) Illustration at Arts University Plymouth will leave you empowered, capable and excited for a thriving creative future.
Modules
**Year One**
Academic Skills for Creative Learning
Exploring Place
Contextual Studies
Professional Practice
Amplifying Practice
Interdisciplinary Practice
**Year Two**
Speculative Strategies
Global Challenges
Ideas and Audience
Emergent Practice
**Year Three**
Research and Development
Publication
Positioning Practice
Final Project
The Uni
Arts University Plymouth
Arts, Design and Media
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.
How do students rate their degree experience?
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Design studies
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Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
We don't have more detailed stats to show you in relation to this subject area at this university but read about typical employment outcomes and prospects for graduates of this subject below.
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.
£13k
£16k
£18k
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.
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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).
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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.
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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.
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Graduate field commentary:
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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?
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