This course offers an expansive understanding of contemporary illustration through an inquisitive and explorative programme of study. On this course, you will explore multidisciplinary methods of working which extend the concepts of communication, narrative and visualisation through research, practice and discursive critique.

The course offers students a stimulating space for exploring the boundaries of illustration. It will offer the opportunity to unpick the specialist mechanisms related to authorial practice, sequential narrative, as well as publishing approaches such as picture books, zines, visual diaries and other illustrative story play. The course will encourage you to consider co-designed and collaborative methods of practice, as well as autobiographical, autofiction and other approaches derived from the ‘lived experience.

You will be supported by a team with diverse research and practical interests from the fields of illustration and its broader visual cultures. Research and dissemination methods will be introduced and developed with the support of visiting industry speakers, workshops, lectures and seminars with opportunity to situate work in relevant professional contexts.

The course celebrates image making through analogue approaches and digital approaches to working which complement contemporary practice. You will be encouraged to undertake in-depth examination and experimentation of interdisciplinary practical and theoretical research methods through hands-on and playful approaches.