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Illustration
- BA (Hons)
- 3 Years
- Full-time
- 28/09/2026
- Undergraduate
- Main Site - Arts University Bournemouth
Course summary
On BA (Hons) Illustration at AUB, you will experiment, test, and develop your creative practice. Curriculum and studio culture is prioritised around the space to build fun and engaging cultural product. In this environment, you will shape a skillset with appropriate tools, media, and conceptual approaches. With this aim in mind, students take part in workshops, lectures, seminars and more within our curriculum focused illustration studios located in Arts University Bournemouth’s exciting cultural learning specialised campus.
Illustration is a way of seeing and understanding the world as well as a way of applying image making skills in a commercially relevant way. Throughout the course you will challenge and interrogate the way you think about illustration, imagery, and style, guided by a dynamic course team consisting of specialist practitioners. Visiting lecturers and industry partners also place considerable emphasis on the realities of working within the professional environment and the wider creative community.
Overall, the course aims to foster rich, distinctive illustration-based practice. You will explore a range of processes and techniques from drawing, painting, and printmaking, towards digital painting, moving image, games art, CGI and more! This broad palette of creative strategies will let you hone and choose your own professional visual identity. The intention is for you to build a tool kit enabling connection and communication with diverse audiences across the multitude of contemporary platforms accessible in our world today.
By the end of the course you will be able to...
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Relate the specialist knowledge and skills that you have chosen to develop on the course to the dynamic possibilities of the commercial and cultural creative landscape.
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Critically evaluate discourses and practices, making informed judgements using an appropriate range of sources from both within and beyond the field of illustration.
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Make coherent visual statements integrating observation, analysis, interpretation, and speculation.
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Develop and refine ways of making and thinking about image through engagement with cultural, social, environmental, theoretical, and historical contexts.
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Apply transferable skills, exercise initiative and personal responsibility with the ambition of building sustainable post degree audience-based practice.
Assessment method
Coursework and practical work
Ways to study this course
Campuses
- Main Site - Arts University Bournemouth
Study options
- BA (Hons) • Full-time • 3 Years
Start dates
- 28/09/2026
Apply by
14 January
This is the equal consideration deadline. You can still apply after this date, but your application may not receive guaranteed consideration.
Application codes
- Course code:
- W220
- Institution code:
- A66
- Campus name:
- Main Site - Arts University Bournemouth
- Campus Code:
- -
- Points of Entry:
- Year 1, 2, 3
Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF)
Arts University Bournemouth has participated in the Teaching Excellence Framework. These ratings were awarded in 2023, for four years.
See why these ratings were awarded
What does this TEF outcome mean?
How to apply
Apply by
14 January
This is the deadline for applications to be completed and sent for this course. If the university or college still has places available you can apply after this date, but your application is not guaranteed to be considered.
Application codes
- Course code:
- W220
- Institution code:
- A66
- Campus name:
- Main Site - Arts University Bournemouth
- Campus Code:
- -
Points of entry
The following entry points are available for this course:
- Year 1
- Year 2
- Year 3
Entry requirements for advanced entry (i.e. into Year 2 and beyond)
Entry requirements
Qualification requirements
UCAS Tariff - 104 - 120 points
A level - BBB - BCC
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016) - DMM
Access to HE Diploma
104-120 Tariff Points. We do not specify a certain number of units to be graded at distinction.
Scottish Higher
104-120 Tariff Points from your SQA Higher or Advanced Highers.
T Level - M
Please see AUB's website for a full list of our entry requirements, including tariff points where applicable.
We are happy to accept a wide range of qualifications, including but not limited to: A Levels, BTEC Extended Diploma, OCR Cambridge Technical Extended Diploma, BTEC Subsidiary Diploma(s), Access to HE courses, Scottish Highers, IB Diploma Programme, Foundation Diploma in Art and Design. We can also accept many EU and International qualifications. See website for details. Email Admissions (admissions@aub.ac.uk) with any queries about entry requirements.
We welcome applicants who are currently studying or who have gained a Foundation Diploma in Art and Design and this qualification meets our level three entry requirements. This is a recommended qualification for many of our courses but it is not a compulsory qualification.
Other relevant and equivalent Level 3 qualifications are considered on an individual basis and we are happy to accept applicants with a combination of Level 3 qualifications. Please check your qualifications using UCAS Tariff calculator and remember we are looking for the equivalent of 3 A levels if you are combining Level 3 qualifications.
AUB tailors its offers to the qualifications an applicant is studying and looks for applicant to be studying a relevant creative subject. AUB makes offers based on up to three A Levels or equivalent Level 3 qualifications with the most UCAS Tariff points attached to them to give applicants the best chance possible at achieving our required tariff (120 UCAS Tariff points in most cases).
Find out more about qualification requirements for this course.
Additional entry requirements
- Portfolio
- Once your application has been reviewed admissions will request a link to a digital portfolio for review by the course team.
English language requirements
| Test | Grade | Additional details |
|---|---|---|
| IELTS (Academic) | 6 | Academic IELTS or UKVI IELTS with 6.0 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in each component (reading, writing, speaking and listening) |
| TOEFL (iBT) | 80 | With 80 overall and a minimum score of 18 in writing, listening, and reading and 19 in speaking. Please note the home version of this test is not accepted. |
| Cambridge English Advanced | C | Minimum grade C |
| PTE Academic | 64 | With 64 overall and a minimum of 59 in each component |
| Cambridge English Proficiency | C | Cambridge C2 Proficiency English exam with a minimum grade of C. |
| Trinity ISE | Pass | Level III or level IV with a pass. |
English language requirements https://aub.ac.uk/international/english-language/english-language-requirements
Contextual admissions
Universities and colleges consider more than grades when assessing applications and may make offers based on a range of criteria. Learn more about contextual offers.
Caution should be given to our grades on entry data, with over half of our undergraduate applicants each year undertaking qualifications that are not included in this data. This includes the Foundation Diploma in Art & Design, which represents a sizeable number of our applicants. We encourage applications from a wide range of educational backgrounds and for more information please view our website: www.aub.ac.uk.
Historical entry grades data BETA
This section shows the range of grades students (with UK A-Levels or Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diplomas) who received offers were previously accepted with (learn more). It is designed to support your research but does not guarantee whether you will or won't get a place. Admissions teams consider various factors, including interviews, subject requirements, and entrance tests. Check all course entry requirements for eligibility.
Not enough data available
We are unable to show previous accepted grades for this course. This could be because the course is new, it's a postgraduate course, there isn't enough historical data, or the provider has opted out of sharing their entry grades data for this course - learn more.
Fees and funding
Tuition fees
| Location | Fee | Year |
|---|---|---|
| England | £9790* | Year 1 |
| Northern Ireland | £9790* | Year 1 |
| Scotland | £9790* | Year 1 |
| Wales | £9790* | Year 1 |
| Channel Islands | £9790* | Year 1 |
| Republic of Ireland | £9790* | Year 1 |
| EU | £19950 | Year 1 |
| International | £19950 | Year 1 |
* This is a provisional fee and subject to change.
Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website.
Additional fee information
Please see our website for more information https://aub.ac.uk/fees/undergraduate.
All undergraduate courses at AUB offer an optional placement year, to be taken between your second and third years of study. If you're unsure about this optional placement, you don't need to decide now. Once you're here and studying with us, the course team will discuss the placement options with you, so when the time comes, you can make a decision that's right for you.
Arts University Bournemouth
Wallisdown
Poole
BH12 5HH
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Course contact details
Admissions
Email:admissions@aub.ac.uk
Phone:01202 363228
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