Illustration [with Foundation Year]

Follow in the footsteps of established illustrators, designers and creators by developing your individual visual style.

With its vibrant studio culture and small class sizes, combined with excellent printmaking, 3D, photography and life-drawing facilities, our Illustration course has consistently high student satisfaction ratings.

We know that our students want to learn from the best, so all of our tutors are professional illustrators. They’ll help you find your visual style and kick-start your career. But they’ll never forget the reason you chose to study illustration in the first place. At Cambridge School of Art, you’ll find there’s always time to experiment, discover, discuss and create.

Our studios and workshops are second to none, and you’ll spend lots of time working there. As well as practising and experimenting with your drawing and observation skills, you’ll get the chance to explore related areas such as storytelling, editorials, animation, printmaking, text and image, and moving illustrations.

But you won’t be restricted to the studio: you’ll also go on gallery visits, local drawing trips, and our annual overseas visit to cities such as Porto and Seville, and take part in live briefs for partner organisations. Our students have recently worked with Cambridge University Botanic Garden, producing designs for their educational resources; Cambridge Gateway From India, researching and creating an information board to accompany the new Gateway Stones on Mill Road; and Cambridgeshire Constabulary, creating and exhibiting artworks for their KNOW Violence Against Women project.

There’s even the chance to study abroad for a semester, in the Netherlands or Poland – with funding on offer to help cover the costs.

We know that your future career is important and you want to build your CV. So we’ll encourage you to grab every opportunity for real-world experience – entering national and international competitions, working on live industry briefs, and taking up internships.

As an illustrator, a world of possibilities awaits you. You could illustrate books, become a graphic artist, design stage sets or product labels, and even work on animated films.

One of the highlights of our students‘ academic year is the annual drawing trip to Lisbon. Each year our our second and third year students have the opportunity to join a course drawing trip to Lisbon, Portugal.

Careers

The creative industries are booming in the UK, employing more than two million people. With a wealth of careers to choose from, our graduates have found success as book illustrators, graphic designers, luxury homeware designers and more. Want to follow in their footsteps?

Cambridge is the perfect place to gain experience – a creative hotspot that’s home to thousands of established businesses and start-ups.

There are plenty of opportunities to get your work seen, too. At the end of your final year, you’ll take part in our degree show and the New Designers graduate exhibition in London – the perfect launchpad for your career.

Graduation doesn’t need to be the end of your time with us, of course. You might decide to stay at ARU and study for a Masters, such as our renowned MA Children’s Book Illustration. Take advantage of our Alumni Scholarship and get 20% off your fees.

*=optional.

Year 1: Foundation in Art and Design.

Year 2: Digital and Moving Illustration; Drawing for Illustration; Illustration Practice; Print, Process and Page; Into ARU.

Year 3: Sequence and Narrative; The Illustrated World; Ruskin module.

Year 4: Portfolio Development; Launchpad; Practice in Context*; Working in the Creative Industries*.

This is a hands-on, practical course and our assessment is based on the coursework you complete for each of your modules. This includes completed project work as well as accompanying material such as sketchbooks. We’re looking to see how you research, analyse and develop your work – in other words, how you think as an illustrator. You’ll also attend lectures and produce written material including essays. We’ll look at these when we’re reviewing your progress.