Good places to study Illustration in the UK?

I'm currently doing my A Levels in Northern Ireland, where the only Uni doing Illustration is Ulster University. I'm looking at various other universities across the water, but there are so many options and I'm not sure what to look out for in terms of course quality as none of my teachers are familiar with the course and none of my peers are looking at similar courses.

There are a number of courses that seem appealing, but with the amount of options it's difficult to find a good balance between course quality and local affordability/quality of life.

Reply 1

BCU Student Rep

Official Rep

Original post by Q Prime

I'm currently doing my A Levels in Northern Ireland, where the only Uni doing Illustration is Ulster University. I'm looking at various other universities across the water, but there are so many options and I'm not sure what to look out for in terms of course quality as none of my teachers are familiar with the course and none of my peers are looking at similar courses.
There are a number of courses that seem appealing, but with the amount of options it's difficult to find a good balance between course quality and local affordability/quality of life.

Hi @Q Prime

Illustration is a great choice! There's lots of different styles and exit routes into work and industry post degree, depending on where you're interests lie. My friend who studies Illustration here at BCU is planning on working towards illustrating books and written works - just an example of what you could get up to.

I've added below the link to the BCU Illustration course page. It might help you get a better idea about what to expect from an Illustration course. There's some student work on there too, so have a look and see if anything interests you.
https://www.bcu.ac.uk/courses/illustration-ba-hons-2025-26

I know it can be difficult to narrow down your choices and actually deiced where you like the best. I study BA(Hons) Fashion Design and it was hard to narrow down my options. But, some key factors I used to narrow down my choices were:

•

Course content - was I interested in what each year of study was offering? Did it excite me?

•

Student work - do I resonate with the student work? Do I envision myself creating something of the same standard during my degree? You can always check out course Instagram pages to have a look at what different unis are getting up to.

•

Location - I prioritized course first, and then looked at how far away from home I would be studying. Some people like to move further away or some even like to commute to a more local uni. Either option is valid and doesn't necessarily affect your university experience. Maybe consider how often you'd like to go home and what transport is like to travel back, as this might impact your decision.

There's no wrong decision necessarily, it's about what feels the most appealing to you. If you can, I'd recommend attending some open days for a look around your favourite unis. I appreciate being in Northern Ireland may restrict you from traveling over for open days, but lots of unis also have virtual tours on their website - so definitely have a look if you can.

Hope this helps. 🙂
Emily
Student Rep at BCU

Reply 2

Kingston Eve

Official Rep

Original post by Q Prime

I'm currently doing my A Levels in Northern Ireland, where the only Uni doing Illustration is Ulster University. I'm looking at various other universities across the water, but there are so many options and I'm not sure what to look out for in terms of course quality as none of my teachers are familiar with the course and none of my peers are looking at similar courses.
There are a number of courses that seem appealing, but with the amount of options it's difficult to find a good balance between course quality and local affordability/quality of life.

Hey @Q Prime!

It's great to see another Northern Irish student looking to pursue an art degree! I'm from Belfast myself, so I completely understand that there aren't too many options to choose from within Northern Ireland. I'm currently studying Fine Art and Art History at Kingston University London, which I think was the perfect choice for me - it's nice to be able to access London galleries/the London art scene without the high costs of living in central London.

Kingston offer a course in Illustration Animation, which I've linked here.

If you have any questions about studying outside of Northern Ireland, just let me know. 🙂

Best of luck with your A-Levels (and hopefully CCEA is kind to you this summer)!
Eve (Kingston Rep).

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 3

PS Reviewer

Original post by Q Prime

Do you have any thoughts on the sorts of illustration that you’re interested in?
Anglia Ruskin and Man Met both do an animation and illustration degree.
I would recommend looking at the graduate show work of a range of universities. Some illustration degrees will have a “house style” that they insist all students adopt whereas others will encourage you to develop your own style. Looking at grad shows will help you get a feel for the universities that are best able to support you and your interests and style.

Reply 4

PS Reviewer

https://www.peopleofprint.com/best-of/top-10-universities-for-graphic-design-and-illustration-in-uk/ Might help with building a longlist to look into

Reply 5

ARUStudents

Official Rep

Hey @Q Prime,

Anglia Ruskin has a recognised illustration course and was named University of the Year 2023. The illustration studios are filled with natural light thanks to large windows, and the art school has open-access Mac suites that students can use. Illustration students also have the opportunity to exhibit work alongside other creative courses as part of the final year degree show. You can explore examples of their work in our creative showcase here. The campus is located in Cambridge, a vibrant student town with plenty of events and activities happening.

Here is further information about the illustration course.

Hope this helps!
Elena

Reply 6

Norwich Uni Arts

Official Rep

Original post by Q Prime

I'm currently doing my A Levels in Northern Ireland, where the only Uni doing Illustration is Ulster University. I'm looking at various other universities across the water, but there are so many options and I'm not sure what to look out for in terms of course quality as none of my teachers are familiar with the course and none of my peers are looking at similar courses.
There are a number of courses that seem appealing, but with the amount of options it's difficult to find a good balance between course quality and local affordability/quality of life.

Hi there,
I'm Charlotte, a year 2 GD student at Norwich Uni Arts and I know exactly how overwhelming choosing a university that's right for you can be.

Have you considered us? We have an Illustration Course which you can read about here. Norwich is a really nice city in the East of England, and to help people get an idea of what is on offer here, we have created some blog posts about life in Norwich over on UniBuddy which can be viewed in the 'content' tab here: https://norwichuni.ac.uk/study-at-norwich/ask-a-student/

Good luck in finding a university! I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have at all.
Charlotte, Student Ambassador 🙂

Reply 7

ArtsUniPlymouth

Official Rep

Original post by Q Prime

I'm currently doing my A Levels in Northern Ireland, where the only Uni doing Illustration is Ulster University. I'm looking at various other universities across the water, but there are so many options and I'm not sure what to look out for in terms of course quality as none of my teachers are familiar with the course and none of my peers are looking at similar courses.
There are a number of courses that seem appealing, but with the amount of options it's difficult to find a good balance between course quality and local affordability/quality of life.

Hi @Q Prime

I know this is going to be difficult for you, but its important you find a Uni that feels like a place you'll enjoy learning. There are lots of really good Illustration courses across the UK, and part of discovering which Uni has the right feel for you is going to open days, which is really difficult and expensive when you have to take a ferry or fly. (I'm from one of the UK's smaller Islands).

However, lots of them do online sessions and some of them do 1:1 chats with the tutors. I highly recommend you do as much as you can to discover what potential Unis might feel like.

I hope that helps. Feel free to ask questions that might help your figure out what's right for you.

Andrea. Student Ambassador
Arts University Plymouth Rep
Aup.ac.uk
Talk to our students -
💻 Email us at [email protected]⁠
☎️ Call us on 01752 203402⁠
📱 Whatsapp us at 07722 744184⁠