Fine Art and Illustration BA (Hons)

" Fine Art and Illustration BA (Hons)

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This course runs in 2016/17.

By combining fine art, a vehicle for personal creative investigation, and illustration, traditionally a commercial art, you can develop new visual languages as an illustrator-artist.

WHY CHOOSE THIS COURSE?

This course aims to provide you with the practical and critical skills necessary to become a successful illustrator-artist. You are provided with a strong grounding in material processes such as drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography and video and digital media, with an emphasis on individual creativity.

If you choose this course you will benefit from:

• An emphasis on studio practice and you will have a dedicated studio space throughout your course as well as having talks and presentations from professionals in the field;
• you will be encouraged to develop a personal visual language, which may entail using more than one medium in order that you develop a connection between fine art and illustration;
• the opportunity to exhibit at the end of your three years at exhibitions such as the ‘Free Range’ series in London which showcase the very best of degree show work across the UK;
• the opportunity to go on trips to a number of historical and contemporary museums and galleries which in the past have included Tate Modern and the Saatchi Gallery;
• training in Adobe Creative Cloud software such as Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Muse and Acrobat alongside the teaching of traditional disciplines;
• guidance in business and marketing and other transferable skills in order that you can become an independent learner thus graduating with the intellectual and creative flexibility to function in the professional arena;
• the opportunity to apply for a work placement or study abroad between years two and three which will give you the opportunity to gain practical experience.

WHAT WILL I LEARN?

The thematic content of the course will vary each year, in line with current trends in fine art and illustration. You will be encouraged to develop your own particular subject matter but the first year will always concentrate on developing your drawing, painting, sculpting and idea generation skills with some brief-driven work.

In your second year you will be introduced to industry inspired briefs as well as “real client” briefs which could take the form of commissions, exhibitions or competition briefs.

In your final year you will focus on creating a professional body of work, aimed towards your chosen career path, by working with subject specialists to create bespoke projects best suited to your needs. You will also receive essential business and marketing workshops catered to help you succeed in today’s art and design market.

HOW WILL THIS COURSE BE TAUGHT?

Your course will be primarily based on the development of your studio practice but you will also have lectures, seminars and workshops.

HOW WILL I BE ASSESSED?

You will be assessed on the evidence of practical work throughout your course. You will accrue marks on each module in relation to clearly defined learning outcomes. You will receive verbal and written feedback in each case. You will be assessed by subject specialists who will be on hand to give feedback once you have received your grade.

You will be guided on how to deal with written assignments and how to reference your work using the Harvard system. Practical coursework will be assessed by how well it fulfils the module assessment requirements.

An estimated percentage breakdown of how your final grade is assessed is as follows: practical coursework 70%; essays/reports 20%; presentations 10%.

A compulsory Add+vantage module must also be completed: please see the page on the Add+vantage scheme for more details.

TEACHING CONTACT HOURS

In a typical teaching week you will have up to 16 contact hours of teaching and this will break down as:

Personal tutorial/small group teaching: 1 hour of small group or individually guided work and up to 12 allocated hours of studio time each week

Medium group teaching: 2 hour of seminars each week

Large group teaching: 1 hours of lectures each week

Personal study: You will be expected to work on your coursework assignments as self-directed study for a further 20 hours

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