Illustration BA(Hons)

International requirements and visas

We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

Visas and immigration advice

Portfolio 

Admission to this course involves reviewing your portfolio. After you apply, we will ask you to share a link to an online portfolio of your work. This enables us to see your potential and understand your approach and motivations.

We will ask you to log on to Student View to share your portfolio link. We will not be able to progress your application to Brighton until you share your portfolio.

• Find out about the specific requirements for your course.

Creating your portfolio
We’ve put together advice and guidance to help you create and share your portfolio and we run regular online portfolio advice sessions where you can get help from our expert team.

Top reasons to choose this course

• Success of our graduates – our alumni are at organisations including The Tate, MTV, Weiden + Kennedy and many more high-profile institutions.
• Artistic reputation – we’re renowned for producing artists who are confident in using their own creative voice and who work in a range of styles.
• International exchanges – there are exchange opportunities with Nagoya University of the Arts in Nagoya, Japan; Lasalle College of the Arts in Singapore; SRH University of Applied Sciences in Berlin, Germany; and Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) in the United States.
• Develop valuable transferable skills – these include critical thinking and writing, independent research and analysis, excellent presentation, written and oral communication skills. 
• Optional placement year – gives you the chance to make industry connections and gain valuable experience.
• Option modules in your second and third years enable you to tailor your degree to your specific career ambitions. 

• Live industry projects and links with professional practice – these mean that you will leave university confident in your own illustrative technique and theory, ready for your chosen professional path. 
• Engaging audiences with your work – we’ll teach you how to promote and share your work.
• Collaborative working – just like in industry, you will connect with students from the visual communication programme, developing contacts for when you graduate.
• Major graduate show – at the end of the degree you will exhibit a body of work in the public graduate show, a large-scale exhibition. 
• Brighton Illustration Fair – this annual event takes place on campus, bringing you into contact with industry professionals and giving you the opportunity to show your work.

Follow our course on Instagram at @brighton_illustration

Year 1

Year 1 introduces you to the basic concepts of visual communication in illustration. Through a series of studio-based projects and workshops in observational and life drawing, photography and book arts, you will begin to develop your own visual language.

Follow the Illustration course on Instagram.

Modules

• Introduction to Visual Communication: Orientation and Exploration

  You will be introduced to the key concepts and practices of visual communication – a dynamic and mobile subject that has been fundamental in shaping modern global culture and continues to profoundly influence the way we perceive, understand and navigate the world. You will look at the history, practices and techniques that inform visual communication, explore experimentation, creativity and design approaches and critically reflect on your practice through guided and independent study.

• The Practice of Visual Communication: Investigation and Application

  Visual communication is a diverse and constantly reformulating practice that uses a wide range of technical processes to engage with audiences. This module introduces you to a range of working methods, practices and techniques. You will explore a range of technical skills and investigate new approaches, combining existing techniques and exploring traditional methods to develop innovative outputs.

• The Theories and Practice of Visual Communication: Media, Messages and Meaning in Illustration

  You will examine, define and apply concepts, practices and debates that inform visual communication. You’ll explore the theoretical concepts and contemporary and historical approaches that have been used to communicate messages and meaning and apply these to practice by experimenting with media, contexts, techniques and processes. Through focused analysis you will critically reflect on the ongoing debate and reformulation of visual communication as a subject area.

• Developing a Visual Language: Personal Project

  Visual communication encourages diverse approaches to professional practice and the development of a personal visual language and in this module you will explore visual communication and your relationship to it by constructing a self-directed project. As you begin to identify and locate your practice within a framework of critical debate and ethical considerations you will have the opportunity to experiment with concepts, define approaches and critically reflect on them with an analysis of contemporary practice.

Making sure that what you learn with us is relevant, up to date and what employers are looking for is our priority, so courses are reviewed and enhanced on an ongoing basis. When you have applied to us, you’ll be told about any new developments through Student View.

Watch 2022 graduate Imogen Donegan talk about her experiences of studying Illustration at the University of Brighton.

Year 2

Year 2 introduces the key concepts of sequential communication with a focus on self-initiated, collaborative, experimental and independent ways of working. You will also begin to explore the creative industries via a personal and professional development programme. In years 2 and 3 you will also attend a weekly professional practice lecture by guest speakers working within the industry. You have the opportunity to apply for an exchange to Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

Modules

• The Theories and Practice of Visual Communication: Audiences and Contexts

  Visual Communication actively engages with a diverse range of audiences through constantly changing platforms and media, and this module considers how audience and context influence meaning is an essential aspect of effective visual communication. You will critically consider and reflect upon your own practice in relation to external frameworks and theoretical positions.

• Global Challenges – Visual Communication

  In this module, you will explore how visual communication can influence social, cultural, political and economic views and behaviours. You will consider how creative practice can be an impactful, change-making tool for communicating and highlighting challenges including equality and inclusivity, creative and sustainable economies, wellbeing and climate change.

• The Theories and Practice of Visual Communication: Context of Personal Practice in Illustration

  In this module you will expand your understanding of the diverse approaches to visual communication through a self-directed project. You will identify areas of interest, integrate complex information and research and locate your practice in the wider context of Illustration. You’ll experiment with the concepts and practices you’ve investigated through practical application and be encouraged to critically reflect on your work.

• Theories and Practice of Visual Communication: Contemporary Practice

  In this module you will consider contemporary professional practice and your relationship to it. You will investigate, explore and evaluate your work in relation to practical, theoretical and research considerations of contemporary visual communication, whether your aspirations are entrepreneurial, vocational or academic.

Work by Illustration student Tijani Bin Mohd Fayzak.

Placement year

Gain valuable experience and earn money during an optional placement year following year 2. You’ll return to the final year of your degree with added confidence, additional real-world experience and valuable contacts. 

A placement year gives you the chance to work with established professionals in design studios, galleries, film sets, music labels, creative agencies, newsrooms and many other environments. You’ll be able to get an insight into creative workflows and come away with a portfolio filled with real-world projects that will stand out in a competitive job market.  

It can also help you discover your creative direction and passion for a particular area of work, helping you grow artistically as well as professionally.   

Our dedicated Placements and Employability team will support you in getting a placement that suits your interests and career goals by helping you with your CV and cover letter writing, applications, online testing and more. Plus, they’ll provide support and guidance when you’re on placement and make sure that everything is going well. 

Final year

In year 3 you will build upon the creative and analytical abilities you have developed. Teaching encourages greater personal development as you move towards a more self-directed programme of study. You will work on set and self-initiated projects, prestigious competition briefs and live industry projects, while establishing professional practice links.

Modules

• The Theories and Practice of Visual Communication: Articulation of Illustration 1

  The practical nature of this module enables you to develop your work in a systematic manner, expanding and refining it. You will respond to a series of briefs, theoretical positions, perspectives and contexts that reflect contemporary illustration and visual communication practice. You’ll also explore formats across print, digital and moving image in settings including editorial, film, brand, fine art and academia.

• The Theories and Practice of Visual Communication: Articulation of Illustration 2

  This module will see you working with increasing independence, expanding and refining your understanding of visual communication relating to the debates, theories and practices of contemporary Illustration. You will identify a subject area of interest that relates to, informs or influences your practice and examine this topic in depth. You will have a choice of assessment formats, each with a distinct set of requirements and related professional skill sets.

• The Theories and Practice of Visual Communication: Independent Practice in Illustration

  This module enables you to demonstrate self-direction, independence and individuality within a professional context. You will begin to operate as an independent practitioner, working in a progressively autonomous manner as you undertake a sustained period of self-directed study. You’ll have the opportunity to conclude your studies and prepare for professional contemporary practice by producing a significant body of work.

Work by Illustration degree student Sophie Barnard Leary.

Facilities 

• Dedicated studio space.
• Technical staff are on hand to assist you in the workshops.
• Central media centre with computing facilities specific to the needs of designers and illustrators.
• Specialist equipment including materials for sound, film and photography.
• Students also have access to the TECH HUB – a team of technical demonstrators based in Grand Parade who provide specialist creative software support including Adobe CC (Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, After Effects etc), Rhino, Blender and C4D, as well as web and blog-related software. They manage digital manufacturing services within the School of Art and Media, including laser cutting, 3D printing, CNC routing, plasma cutting and 3-axis CNC milling. They also have VR headsets and 3D scanners. The TECH HUB has its own dedicated PC suite with all of the software they support as well as standard university programmes.
• Department print bureau.
• One of the country’s best-stocked specialist art and design libraries.
• Internationally important Design Archives which include a wealth of work in graphic design and illustration.
• Dedicated technical workshops in letterpress printing and book arts.

The University of Brighton Design Archives.

Meet the team

Illustration degree course leader Roderick Mills is an award-winning illustrator and film-maker. He has worked across most areas of illustration including editorial, publishing, corporate literature, web design, advertising, exhibition design and animation. In 2011, Roderick joined the board of directors of the Association of Illustrators and became deputy chairman. Read Roderick’s profile.

Liv Taylor is a visual strategist and cultural researcher interested in how we build enquiry in creative and cultural projects. Her process questions what ‘research’ is within an academic and creative context. Through dialogue and experimentation in the ongoing project Atelier Index, she is interrogating codes in our visual world relating to metadata, semiotics, research, looking and archiving.

Jasper Goodall is an influential illustrator working commercially for clients worldwide. Alongside contemporaries, he reinvigorated the illustration genre during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Using digital media and making images that could be used alongside fashion photography in magazines such and The Face, Dazed and Confused and Arena, he injected illustration with an aspirational and cutting-edge vibe. Read Jasper’s profile.

Irene Fuga is an artist who works with students to explore specialist professional practices including publishing, editorial, character, product packaging and promotion, across print and screen-based delivery. Her clients have included Ferrari, Vogue, The Greenwich Hotel, Selvedge Magazine, Bulgari, Condé Nast Traveller UK, Maison Margiela, Red Magazine, Max Mara and Penguin Books. Read Irene’s profile.

Claire Scully is a multidisciplinary professional Illustrator, author and educator specialising in drawing. Her book Internal Wilderness (Avery Hill Books) is part of an ongoing project looking at ‘landscape and memory’ and explores our relationship with the environment. Her clients include Random House, Harper Collins, New York Times, Adidas, Birmingham Museum of Art and English Heritage among others. Read Claire’s profile.

Dave Williams is an image maker who enjoys working with the qualities of paint, printmaking and drawing in combination with digital design approaches. Professionally, he has created work for the BBC, The Royal Shakespeare Company, Transport for London and The Economist. Read Dave’s profile.

Other staff who teach on the course include: 
Elaine Perks, Jim Stoten, Kate Gibbs, Jeremy Radvan and Emma Stibbon RA.

Roderick Mills

Summer shows 2024

Course fees

The fees listed here are for the first year of full-time study if you start your course in the academic year 2025–26.

You will pay fees for each year of your course. Some fees may increase each year.

UK undergraduate and some postgraduate fees are regulated by the UK government and increases will not be more than the maximum amount allowed. Course fees that are not regulated may increase each year by up to 5% or RPI (whichever is higher).

If you are studying part-time your fee will usually be calculated based on the number of modules that you take.

Find out more

• Brighton Boost – cost of living help for our new undergrad students. Find out about how we can help with your study, accommodation or travel costs and more...
• Fees, bursaries, scholarships and government funding info for UK and international undergraduate students
• Student finance and budgeting while studying
• Read our student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf) for more on University of Brighton tuition fees.

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