Illustration and Concept Art (Distance Learning)

“Concept Art is the birthplace of ideas, while Illustration breathes life into those ideas, shaping worlds and narratives.”
Iain McCaig, world renowned Concept Artist (‘Star Wars’ films franchise, ‘The Avengers’, ‘Guardian of the Galaxy’, ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’, ‘Terminator II’, ‘Outlander’ ...)

Join us and be part of a vibrant studio culture and community of students working individually and collaboratively to help shape the future of the U.K.’s Creative Industries.

On our exciting and unique Illustration & Concept Art degree course you will learn from experienced lecturers/practitioners and engage with innovative, up-to-date, industry aligned curriculum that encourages you to push boundaries and explore new approaches. With hands-on experience, digital fluency, a diverse creative skillset, professional and entrepreneurial abilities, our graduates are equipped to hit the ground running, and launch their careers creating distinctive, high quality visual content for the publishing, editorial, advertising, animation, film, television and video games industries.

We understand the importance of collaboration and interaction to seamlessly connect on-campus students with distance and flexible learners. Whether you are studying in one of our studios or studying remotely, you’ll be able to engage in real-time discussions, work on group projects, and participate in group critiques. This ensures all students, regardless of location, benefit from the same high quality educational experience and the opportunity to build a network of peers and contacts.

At both levels 5 and 6 you will engage directly with industry professionals in both requesting assignment briefs and receiving invaluable personal feedback. Some examples being renowned concept artists and illustrators Andrew Porter, Tyler Edlin, Marco Bucci, Viviane Schwarz, Korky PauI and Keith Robinson, including two of our own graduate alumni Darren Watford and Stephen Harris.

Our students take part in both national and international annual competitions, including the World Illustration Awards (AOI), Bologna Book Fair - Children’s Book Illustration Competition, V&A Illustration Awards, Picture Hooks Competition, The Rookie Awards (Illustration, Animation, Concept Art, Video Games, VFX, VR and Design), Cheltenham Illustration Awards, Macmillan Prize for Illustration and Folio Book Illustration Award.

We are a member of the AOI (Association of Illustrators) that provides students, tutors and professionals with excellent on-line and published resources, including opportunities to attend specialist one-day workshops, benefit from industry guest speakers, and be included in student portfolio surgeries.

The key to success is for you, whether as a student or graduate, to stay passionate, continue learning and growing, and be open to new opportunities and experiences.

Our programme modules are designed to build and extend students’ creative skillsets and knowledge of illustration and concept art for the creative industry fields that include film, television, animation, video games, children’s picture books, publishing, editorial, design and advertising.

In terms of module structure, scaffolded learning is applied, as this helps level 4/year 1 to level 5/year 2 students to acquire, develop and build their technical and creative skills, extend specialist knowledge, learn from feedback and critique, and self-directed learning skills. Level 6/year 3 students apply their accumulated knowledge and skills to more independent and autonomous study modules. This encourages the development of self-directed learning skills and prepares you for real-world demands of the creative industries when you graduate.

The tutor team provide detailed instruction and guidance for completing each module and stage of a project, including the ways in which the modules link through each level - using increasing knowledge and skills that will be applied to specific illustration, concept art and design techniques, traditional and software tools, academic engagement and best practices.

Experimentation also plays an important and intrinsic role within the creative design process at all levels of the course; with both your personal art style and voice evolving as you progress through each level.

Course Structure
This course includes the following core, compulsory modules that all students complete:

Level 4 | Year 1
Drawing Fundamentals – 20 credits
Digital Illustration Fundamentals – 20 credits
History of Art & Design – 20 credits
Drawing & Concept Art – 20 credits
Digital Illustration & Design – 20 credits
History of Illustration: Theory & Practice – 20 credits

Level 5 | Year 2
Industry Practice Report – 20 credits
Industry Practice Project – 20 credits
Self-Promotion & Industry Contacts – 20 credits
Commercial Project – 20 credits
Specialist Industry Project – 40 credits

Level 6 | Year 3
Independent Research Project – 40 credits
Major Project Visual Development – 20 credits
Major Project Realisation – 40 credits
Portfolio Development & Promotion – 20 credits

Feedback
During each module and level of the degree ongoing formative feedback and suggestions are provided on your work and performance. In addition, summative assessment provides grading, plus written feedback and feedforward at the end of each project. Tutor and peer recommendations at group presentation stages are constructive and identify where improvements can be made.

Community
The course continues to build and maintain a vibrant student community. Group sessions and forums play an integral and invaluable role in ensuring students feel fully supported in their studies. Students will make regular and ongoing use of online platforms to share their work and record their on-going learning journey.

Occasional changes to modules and course content may take place. Students will be notified when applicable.

The course uses a variety of assessment methods to assess creative, academic, and professional skills. These include:

• Creative Journals (sketchbooks with combined research and drawing)
• Project Design Books (project development & reflective evaluations)
• Traditional Portfolio of Work
• Digital Portfolios of Work
• Self-Promotional Materials (e.g. branding, website design, social media utilisation)
• Presentations (oral and visual)
• Research Books, Reports and Independent Research Projects
• End of Year Shows
• Graduate Exhibition

Assessments and ongoing formative feedback are provided via tutorials, one-to-one/group discussions, presentations, peer reviews, and critiques to ensure students fully understand how to improve their work and achieve high grades.

The primary way of delivering this course is online and teaching includes a combination of live/recorded lectures, small group seminars, workshops, presentations, guest lectures, and one to one discussion with your tutor.

Students will receive 12 hours of teaching time per week throughout this course at each level. Additional one-to-one online tutorial meetings will provide further support and allows a perfect opportunity for you to review and reflect. Online students will also have the opportunity to collaborate and share work with their on-campus peers during sessions.

Students are provided with online platforms (recorded Microsoft Teams sessions), our Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is also via Microsoft Teams, including student forums, one-to-one and group tutorials, plus email feedback. All module project handbooks and learning support materials are made available to access online via our VLE programme areas.

At undergraduate level, an increasing emphasis is placed on independent study when progressing through the programme. Independent study can take place at home, and our on-campus students can also access their specialist studios, plus the Higher Education (HE) Learning Resource Centre (LRC), Monday to Friday. The LRC is also accessible on-line, and students have access 24/7 to many specialist student resources, including on-line specialist books, journals and magazines. Student independent hours per week are approximately 24-28 hours.

For each level /year of the course students need to complete a total of 120 credits, that is made up of several individual modules and equates to 1200 hours of learning.

The illustration and concept art industries have always traditionally drawn on principles of ‘studio’ and project-based learning, critiques and feedback. To that end, the assessment approach for the programme aims to engage students in authentic learning environments, with increasingly complex creative problems to solve as they progress through levels 4, 5 and 6.

Teaching consists of online live/recorded lectures, small-group seminars, presentations, guest lecturers, workshops, including one to one and group tutorials. These are core modes of teaching that inherently facilitate your learning - used interchangeably and are often combined to suit a particular learning activity.