Our MA in Illustration welcomes a diverse range of design practitioners who want to expand their practice as critically engaged communicators and visual thinkers able to adapt to a rapidly changing professional landscape.

Supported by a team of professional illustrators and academics, you will be encouraged to explore the development of your visual language and your position within this dynamic and expansive discipline. By challenging your perspectives and exploring illustrative practices from a global viewpoint, you will engage in high-profile live assignments and independently driven research projects, shaping and defining your unique authorial voice. Youll enhance your visual thinking, research and storytelling abilities, applying these skills to resolve complex issues systematically and creatively. Supported by our team of experts, youll be encouraged to take creative risks and push your work in new and exciting directions.

The course will challenge you to critique the discipline, questioning norms and considering how illustration practice can be reimagined to support a more inclusive future. You will consider the role of the illustrator within the current landscape of artificial intelligence and machine learning. At the core of the course is the consideration of the social and ethical implications of your work, ensuring you are well-equipped to navigate and influence the evolving world of illustration.

Typical career paths

Our illustration community has a long history and reputation at Norwich. This course will equip you with strong creative and problem-solving skills, preparing you for a broad range of roles in illustration – either freelance or as a creative team member. Upon completing this course, youll possess the practical skills needed to thrive in the commercial world and the communication abilities to effectively showcase your work. Youll be able to establish yourself as a creative professional, giving you a distinct advantage in the competitive fields of illustration or art. When you graduate, you may be qualified for a broad range of careers.

• Animator, storyboard artist and digital illustrator
• Graphic/editorial designer
• Art director
• Comic book or graphic novelist
• Freelancer
• Creative consultancy
• Creative developer
• Art teacher/lecturer.