Comics and Graphic Novels

Comics and graphic novels constitute a distinctive and increasingly recognised artistic form, one that combines sequential visual narrative with text in ways unique to the medium, creating possibilities for storytelling, satire, documentary, poetry, and experimental art that are available through no other format. Comics have a long cultural history, from newspaper strips and superhero comics to the literary graphic novel and the global diversity of manga and bande dessinee, and they have increasingly been taken seriously as objects of artistic and critical study. Creating comics requires an integrated set of skills: drawing and visual invention, scriptwriting and storytelling, the understanding of how page composition and panel sequencing create rhythm and meaning, and the technical knowledge needed to produce work for print and digital platforms.

At Teesside University, this three-year full-time programme develops the full range of creative and professional skills needed to work in comics and graphic novels. As the current description reflects, you will enhance your teamworking, communication, project management, and negotiation skills through collaborative creative work in response to subject-specific briefs, mirroring the professional reality of comics creation which frequently involves collaboration between writers, artists, colourists, letterers, and editors. You will develop your drawing and visual storytelling abilities alongside scriptwriting, character design, world-building, and the conceptual thinking that distinguishes literary and artistic comics from purely commercial production.

The programme also develops professional practice knowledge, including understanding of the publishing landscape, rights, and the practicalities of producing and presenting work to publishers and editors.

The programme includes a sandwich year and work placement, giving you the opportunity to gain experience in a professional studio, publisher, or design context, building the professional network and portfolio of work that are central to entering the comics and illustration industries.

Graduates from comics and graphic novels programmes pursue careers as comics creators, illustrators, visual storytellers, character designers, concept artists for animation and games, and in a range of adjacent creative roles. Postgraduate study in illustration, comics, or visual narrative supports those wishing to develop specialist expertise.