Skip page header and navigation

Illustration (Full-time) (BA Hons)

Swansea
3 Years Full-time
120 UCAS Points

By teaching real-world illustration skills and design sensibilities, and instilling knowledge and experience of the creative industries, the course will enable you to pursue a successful, sustainable career path. We encourage you to employ divergent and convergent thinking and practice, independently and collaboratively, through the provision of a practice-based environment. The course is industry-focused and provides transferable skills and excellent employment prospects.

Entrepreneurship and enterprise are integrated into lectures and coursework to prepare you for industry. The course will introduce you to a range of projects covering social, environmental and political issues, addressing a broad base of topics likely to be encountered professionally.

Links with business and industry are an essential ingredient of the programmes and are maintained and developed through ‘live’ projects, work placements, visiting professionals and educational visits.

The course aims to produce highly employable graduates who are well-prepared for work in the creative industries. Many of our graduates forge successful freelance careers, others find employment with design studios, publishing houses, advertising agencies, magazines and newspapers. Clients include Usborne Children’s Books and Moonpig. Lego, NHS Trust, Marks & Spencer, Tigerprint, The British Museum and Lush cosmetics.

Course details

Start date:
Study modes:
  • Full-time
  • On-campus
Language:
  • English
  • Bilingual
Institution code:
T80
UCAS code:
W220
Course length:
3 Years Full-time
Entry requirements:
120 UCAS Points

Tuition Fees 2023/24 and 24/25
Home (Full-time): £9,000 per year
Overseas (Full-time): £13,500 per year

Why choose this course?

01
Driven by industry standards and supported by state-of–the-art technologies, we produce award-winning and highly employable graduates.
02
Many graduates forge successful freelance careers working with a range of clients internationally.
03
Links with business and industry are an essential ingredient of the programme.

What you will learn

Links with business and industry are an essential ingredient of the programme and are maintained and developed through ‘live’ projects, work placements, visiting professionals and educational visits.

We aim to support and inspire groups that are large enough to generate lots of collective energy, but small enough not to preclude individual tuition and personal attention.

The teaching and learning style are project-led and this is supported by skills-based workshops to help students enhance both their technical ability and creative enquiry.

Our students have choices in how they want to progress their practice, whether via ‘traditional’ means, digital means or increasingly, both.

The course requires a robust and rigorous commitment, as it encourages students to think independently and question the world around them and their role as a visual communicator.

Graduates are able to progress to Masters programmes.

Learning in the Digital Era

(20 credits)

Image-Making & Communicating

(20 credits)

Visual Studies 1

(10 credits)

Ways of Thinking

(10 credits)

Contemporary Challenges: Making a Difference

(20 credits)

Editorial Illustration

(20 credits)

Visual Studies 2

(10 credits)

Ways of Perceiving

(10 credits)

Changemakers: Creativity and Value Creation

(20 credits)

Narrative Illustration

(20 credits)

Research in Context

(10 credits)

Visual Enquiry 1

(10 credits)

Changemakers: Building your Personal Brand for Sustainable Employment

(20 credits)

Illustration for Advertising

(20 credits)

Research in Practice

(10 credits)

Visual Enquiry 2

(10 credits)

Advanced Creative Enquiry

(20 credits)

Independent Project

(40 credits)

Graduate Portfolio

(60 credits)

Course Page Disclaimer

  • We listen to student feedback and insights from industry and from professionals to ensure that course content is high-quality and up-to-date, and that it offers the best possible preparation for your future career or study goals. 

    For this reason, there might be modifications to the content of your course over time, to keep up to date with changes in the subject area or in the sector. If a module is no longer running, we’ll make sure to keep you informed, and work with you to choose a different suitable module.

testimonial

Staff

Our People

You will be taught and supported by a wide range of professional staff and teams here to help you get the university experience you are looking for. Our teaching staff were ranked 2nd in Wales for assessments and feedback (NSS 2023) meaning the comments you get back from your work will help you learn. Our commitment to your learning has seen our students us as Top 10 in the UK for Lecturers and Teaching Quality. Find out more about our academic staff who teach across our courses. 

Accommodation

Student working on a project in a studio

Illustration Facilities

The Illustration department is fully equipped to explore a broad range of materials and processes for both traditional and digital works.

example of student bedroom

Swansea Accommodation

Swansea has a huge student population, and the variety of accommodation available will leave you feeling spoilt for choice. Various purpose-built student accommodation providers provide accommodation in Swansea, and the accommodation team can guide you through your options. It will offer ongoing support throughout your time as a UWTSD student.

Further information

  • We are interested in creative people that demonstrate a strong commitment to art and/or design and therefore we welcome applications from individuals from a wide range of backgrounds. To assess student suitability for their chosen course we arrange interviews for all applicants at which your skills, achievements and life experience will be considered as well as your portfolio of work.

    Our standard offer for a degree course is 120 UCAS tariff points. We expect applicants to have a grade C or above in English Language (or Welsh) at GCSE level, together with passes in another four subjects. Plus we accept a range of Level 3 qualifications including:

    • Foundation Diploma in Art and Design, plus one GCE A-Level in a relevant academic subject
    • Three GCE A-Levels or equivalent
    • UAL L3 Extended Diploma in Art and Design.
    • UAL L3 Applied General Diploma and Extended Diploma in Art and Design.
    • UAL L3 Diploma and Extended Diploma in Creative Practice: Art, Design and Communication.
    • UAL L3 Extended Diploma in Creative Media Production and Technology.
    • BTEC Extended Diploma in a relevant subject
    • International Baccalaureate score of 32
    • Other relevant qualifications can be considered on an individual basis

    Qualifications are important, however, our offers are not solely based on academic results. If you don’t have the required UCAS points then please contact the courses admissions tutor or email artanddesign@uwtsd.ac.uk as we can consider offers to applicants based on individual merit, exceptional work, and/or practical experience.

  • At the beginning of each module, we issue the ‘Assessment Specification’, which clearly describes in each assessment criteria what is required.

    Weekly feedback sessions keep students focussed on the requirements, without hindering the freedom to work with expanding ideas.

    Technical tuition is typically delivered via a demonstration lecture and then staff help each student individually as they progress though a challenge.

    All modules have formative and summative feedback, both written and verbal. When the summative written feedback is released, students can book-in for ‘one to one’ tutorial to discuss their feedback further.

    There are no written exams for this course.

  • All additional costs detailed in this section are indicative. It is recognised, for example, that the precise costs associated with a field trip could vary from year to year.

    Mandatory

    • Adobe Suite student rate: £120 a year, but currently free in cluster from UWTSD.

    Necessarily Incurred

    • A3 Portfolio: £20
    • Collection of tools — scalpel, metal rule, plastic sleeves, hard drive, memory stick, pens, pencils, markers: £70
    • Illustration art supplies: £100
    • MacBook: £1500
    • Printing costs: £200
    • Sketchbooks: £40.

    Optional

    •  Student Trips: £200 to £500.
  • You may be eligible for funding to help support your study. To find out about scholarships, bursaries and other funding opportunities that are available, please visit our Bursaries and Scholarships section.

  • Visit Go Global With UWTSD to learn more about opportunities to study abroad.

  • Many graduates forge successful freelance careers working with a range of clients internationally; some are represented by top London Illustration agencies.

    Other graduates find employment with design studios, publishing houses, advertising agencies, magazines and newspapers. A selection of clients includes:

    • Usborne Children’s Books
    • Moonpig
    • Lego
    • NHS Trust
    • Allihoper Greeting Cards
    • Marks & Spencer
    • The Great British Card Company
    • Tigerprint, Bright Agency
    • Graffeg Publishers
    • Tokyo DisneySea Park
    • Welsh Country Magazine
    • Bay Studios
    • The British Museum
    • Magic Leap Inc. Visible Art
    • Lush Cosmetics
    • The Print Haus
    • Astra Games
    • Locksmith Animation.

    The programme also provides a good foundation for those who want to pursue a career in teaching, particularly teaching art and design in schools and, after professional experience, teaching illustration and design in further and higher education.

More Art, Design and Photography courses

Search courses