BA Illustration - where's best?

fakeplasticsmee

The campus is rank yeah, but the illustration and graphic design students are based in the city centre in a gorgeous really modern building, they're rarely at the main Art/Des campus (which is getting a £10m facelift over the next few years.)

Aha, I stand corrected then. To someone with no artistic ability, the course sounded quite impressive.

Reply 21

fakeplasticsmee

8

^Yeh but you're so right about the main campus. Ew.

Reply 22

peeps

OP

fakeplasticsmee

The campus is rank yeah, but the illustration and graphic design students are based in the city centre in a gorgeous really modern building, they're rarely at the main Art/Des campus (which is getting a £10m facelift over the next few years.)

ah see this is exactly the kind of info I was looking for - from the website, I wasn't particularly drawn to the uwe illustration degree because the campus did look pretty bad, they give you no indication on the site thay you wouldnt actually be working on the main art and design campus!

has anyone been to see/have thoughts on Bath spa or gloucestershire? my boyfriends going to be graduating just before I start my degree and will be working in computing, and with all the major companies on the m4 corridor I reckon I'm going to be looking at bath/bristol/gloucester area.. I still have my heart totally set on brighton or falmouth though!

Reply 23

NeilB

ArchiBoi

Dundee's art college, the Duncan of Jordan stone rocks, its really well respected, and they are really pushing rich, conceptual work at the moment, that combines with free-thinking staff and student, I think we might just be about to explode into a firework of the the imaginative, th e interesting and the creative.

I agree with this. I applied last year for the illustration course there but was unsuccesful which is a shame because I think it would have been great fun!

I did speak with a recent graduate and he told me that the illustration department has gone downhill recently and advised to apply south of the border for the best courses.

I'm at Northumbria University specialising in illustration and it's good but I believe there's better courses out there.

Reply 24

mtallen2008

Hey,
I am at westminster doing illustration hoping to go into Camberwell for a 2nd year, just wondering if anyone that goes to Camberwell could tell me what it is like, atmosphere tutors, people and the work?

Reply 25

camberwell_grad

i am a camberwell graduate from illustration,

so i guess have had plenty of opportunity to work out the best places to study illustration. camberwell offers a great course but so dose falmouth although its in cornwall the work i see produced there is very impressive. Brighton has some fantastic work as well as kingston. also worth mentioning cheltenham that produce some great work. when you hear any of these institutes and recent graduates bells seem to start ringing where as other places such as Edinburgh or Glasgow school of arts i do not hear much at all. camberwell has its faults as i am sure any other courses do but they have fantastic print making facilities which include etching lithography and screen printing and letter press. all accessible as long as you attend tutorials in your first year. there are fun projects so you get on with people on your course tutors include artists like luke best in second year ( laura carlin luke bests gf came in for a project which was awesome ), jim stoten who did first year and 3rd year. sister arrow who dose second year. our head is darrel clifford who did his m.a in royal academy of arts which is like the harvard of arts. can be a little unorganised at times and hard to keep up but if you go into the course with enthusiasm and no fear of making mistakes stop worrying about how every one else draws and figuring out what you enjoy drawing and what you want to communicate, you will have the confidence to set yourself into the creative world. it is more of a traditional illustration course in the sense they dont teach digital stuff that much although there is lazer cutter there is ceramics they will probably in time have a 3d printer in camberwell. while in ual i had friends in central saint martins doing the illustration classes there. i crashed there lectures and lessons that my friends told me about that study on that course. its deffinitly worth taking advantage of oppertunities every where you go. you can access all the liberies in the ual campuses (books and refferences really do matter). what i loved about csm was the verity of international students. i loved the diversity. they have a pretty looking building as im sure you have all seen in kingscross but think about whos graduating and becoming something and where are they coming from. im not saying csm or some of the biggest names would be the worst choices but they are certainly not the best. although the course isnt as renowned there is one teacher who is worth taking the time to mention in csm. his name is douglas who teaches book binding. even if you do not go to csm and you are in ual. you should seek him out as he dose workshops free of charge u dont need materials he will be in the graphic design studios. approach him and ask if it would be possible to join one of his classes. he is a wonderful kind teacher that i wish i had in camberwell. he has an american accent and how valuable his lessons are words can not describe. good thing about ual is the talks arranged which get some of the best practitioners, illustrators to give talks. as its in london there are alot of illustrators at hand which you probably will not get in other places. had talks from illustration legands to huge up in coming artists all the way to agencies like its nice that.

check out its nice that so you can see where graduates come from and the kind of work they produce. as for my work i really need to get better quality photographs of my work but more then welcome to have a look. i certainly am not one of the best in my class but happy with my work. www.cargocollective.com/raafaye

Reply 26

melissa rees

Anyone got anything to say about illustration at Cambridge School of Art? Or Kingston?

Reply 27

gdiherts

Hi,

I teach on the BA Graphic Design & Illustration course at the University of Hertfordshire, so obviously my opinion is biased but hopefully i can give some general advice about applying for Illustration degrees.

1) Staff. All illustration courses have their own take on the subject. Some are more experimental, some are more fine-art based, some are more into comics, some are more commercial... so make the course you're applying for is right for you. The type of projects you're given will be dictated by the type of teaching staff, so (unless you're interested the more arty-side of things) make sure all the tutors have current industry experience (not 10/20 years ago). This means you're much more likely to finish with a portfolio that's going to get you work. Thoroughly research the credentials of the teaching staff!

2) Facilities. It's an obvious one but access to a wide range of printmaking, digital and printing facilities is vital. Make sure you check not just what kit there is but how often you're allowed access to it.

3) Contact hours. This varies massively between courses. Each institution publishes official figures regarding the amount of contact time each student gets but please double check with current students. Expect the bulk of the week to be dedicated studio time, not just one tutorial a week.

4) Quality. Rather than rely purely on reputation (which can often be out of date) judge a course on how well the current students and recent alumni are doing. If the course doesn't mention how many awards they've won recently, or if you don't recognise any of the work of its alumni - the chances are it's not performing as well as it could be.

Good luck, it's a great time to get into illustration!

Nick

Reply 28

Naomiweeks

I'm thinking of going to Cambridge school of art. That's the Anglia Ruskin one right? I visited the open day because I really liked the sound of the course. The tutors seem really good, the workspace is impressive and I can really picture myself there. I'm just a bit wary because nobody ever really seems to mention it, or give it any high regard...