Illustration

Illustration as a discipline is concerned with the creation of images that communicate: images that tell stories, explain ideas, provoke responses, and connect with audiences in ways that words alone cannot. It is a field that spans a vast range of applications, from editorial illustration and picture books to packaging, advertising, animation, and the visual language of digital content. The illustrator must be both a skilled visual maker and a precise communicator, understanding not only how to create compelling images but how those images will be read by specific audiences in specific contexts.

At Nottingham Trent University this three-year full-time undergraduate programme is designed to develop your personal visual language and illustrative practice through a combination of creative work, theoretical study, and engagement with the breadth of what illustration can be. You will develop technical range across both traditional and contemporary media, building a working practice that is genuinely your own. The programme encourages experimentation and risk-taking alongside the development of craft, fostering the kind of creative confidence that professional illustration requires.

Theory and practice are combined throughout the degree, developing not only your making skills but your capacity to contextualise your work within the history and contemporary landscape of illustration. You will build a portfolio that represents your creative vision and demonstrates your range, which is the primary currency for entering the profession.

Graduates of illustration programmes work as freelance illustrators across a wide range of sectors including publishing, editorial, children's literature, advertising, animation, games, packaging, and digital media. Some go on to postgraduate study, including Masters programmes in illustration or related creative disciplines, to develop their practice further or move into academic illustration careers.