Welcome to your Illustration course

Welcome illustrators. We are very excited to get the new academic year underway and have lots of exciting, creative projects, speakers and workshops to engage with throughout the program of study.  As a course team, we hope you are looking forward to your time here at University of Staffordshire, and we look forward to seeing you in September.

Molly Turton

Award Leader of BA Hons Illustration

Course Delivery

In September you will embark on an exciting, creative journey, where over the 3 years of study, through practical workshops, seminars, lectures, group critiques, tutorials and self-directed study, you will get the opportunity to experience and develop a unique, personal visual language and an emerging portfolio of work.

With an emphasis on drawing and creative thinking, our illustration course reflects the rich and diverse nature of contemporary image-making, and through a range of projects and briefs, all students have the opportunity to explore traditional and digital media in our dedicated studio, workshops and online learning environments. The course helps foster experimentation, imagination, reflection and collaboration across a wide range of visual practice including; printmaking, publishing, experimental formats, narrative & editorial, packaging and promotion, visual storytelling, characterisation, concept art and animation.

Semester one activities

In the first few weeks of the semester, you will be introduced to the course, its team and the wider University community. You will engage in a range of exciting collaborative, creative projects and explore visual themes and drawing tasks. This creative experimentation will help build the foundations for the next 3 years of study, to help hone and develop your personal, illustrative visual language.

Pre-arrival task

Meet the Illustrators...

Over the summer we want you to stay creative, looking for inspiration around you to draw, observe and play in your sketchbooks.

For our welcome week session in September, we would like you to create an image to share with your peers. For this, we would like you to bring a full body portrait/ character illustration of yourself that communicates an aspect of your personality or an interest.

This should be no bigger than A3, can be produced using any medium you like.

Before you start

Reading:

Below is a list of books, journals and sites that are relevant to the course. We don’t suggest that you should purchase all of these publications, but rather, wish to make you aware of them. Many can be found in the University Library. They will help you understand the illustration industry, in an historical and contemporary context, and help develop your passion for the subject.

Books:

Male, A., 2007. Illustration: A Theoretical and Contextual Perspective. AVA Publishing

Doyle S., 2019. History of Illustration. Fairchild Books

Male, A., 2014. Illustration: Meeting the Brief. Bloomsbury.

Zeegan, L., 2012. The Fundamentals of Illustration. AVA Publishing.

Rees, D., 2014 . How to be an Illustrator. Lawrence King Publishing

Brazell, D & Davies, J,. 2017. Becoming a successful Illustrator

Kleon, A., 2012. Steal like an Artist / 2014. Show your work / 2019. Keep Going

Journals:

Creative Review

Eve Magazine

Websites:

The AOI (Association of Illustrators): http://theaoi.com/

Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration: https://www.qbcentre.org.uk/

It’s Nice That: http://www.itsnicethat.com/

Digital Arts Online http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/

Booooooom - www.booooooom.com

Google Arts & Culture – artsandculture.google.com

Equipment and software

Equipment and materials

Equipment and materials can be acquired as you work through the course, they do not necessarily have to be purchased at the start of your course, and what you require will vary in quantity and range depending on the work you carry out.

In the meantime, here are some suggestions…

  • A4 & A3 sketchbooks
  • Layout paper (A3) or Tracing pad (A3)
  • A2 Cartridge Paper
  • Range of pencils (Some hard, some soft, graphite and colour) / Eraser / Sharpener
  • Fine liner pens (various widths)
  • Brush pens (as an alternative to ink pots)
  • Marker pens, black, range of greys, dark medium and light and primary colours.
  • Paints: Acrylics/watercolour or gouache starter kits / Black & coloured Inks
  • Thin and medium artist paintbrushes
  • A3 cutting mat
  • Steel ruler
  • Scalpel and 10A blades
  • Adhesive (PVA & Glue stick)
  • USB memory stick for storing digital work (32 GB minimum)

Always have drawing implements and a sketchbook to-hand to document thoughts and images about the world around you!

For home working it is important to have a space where you can create, however we understand that space can be limited. We can recommend a desktop drawing board, however this is not essential but it is worth considering for an optimal drawing position.

Computers & Software

Please ensure that you have access to Microsoft Teams via a desktop, laptop computer or tablet device, and a good internet connection at home or halls of residence is essential.

As the course progresses it is useful to have your own laptop with access to relevant software, but you will have access to all IT equipment and software over the three years in the studio space and other digital labs throughout the university campus. We instruct you on Apple Mac computers in the use of Adobe Creative Suite. Some students enjoy using a tablet device (i-pad, etc) with drawing Apps such as Adobe Fresco and Procreate.

Download software

Course Trips

In the first year of your course, we hope to have the opportunity to take you on some exciting, creative trips. This will be with students across the Visual Communication cluster of courses (Illustration and Graphic Design), to help build the creative community you are joining.

Throughout the 3 years of study, students will get the opportunity to engage with both national and international trips, that are integrated within the course structure and offer many exciting learning possibilities.


Read about the recent trip to Amsterdam that included café sketching sessions and drawing in The Rijksmuseum below.

Illustration trip to Amsterdam 

Meet the team

Molly Turton

Lecturer

Molly is a Lecturer on BA(Hons) Illustration at Staffordshire University and since graduating has been working as a freelance Illustrator as well as exploring work within education, feeding a passion for teaching

Molly's profile

Matt Buckingham

Senior Lecturer

Matt Buckingham is an internationally published author, illustrator, educator and designer with specialisms in children’s publications and picture books.

Matt's profile

Sarah Rushton

Senior Lecturer

Sarah is a Senior Lecturer in Graphic Design and Illustration

Sarah's profile

Richard Mellor

Senior Lecturer

Richard is a graphic designer and multi-award winning Digital Creative Director with a specialisation in new media. His main area of interest is the application of augmented reality across all aspects of visual communication. 

Richard's profile

Jason Brindley

Lecturer

Jason’s work covers comic books, illustration, and fine art. Using traditional, digital, and CGI techniques, he has produced work for 2000AD and several independent publishers and has exhibited nationally.

Samantha Owen

Senior Lecturer

Sam is a visual communicator with extensive industry-based agency experience working across a range of channels, sectors and communication disciplines including advertising, digital, moving image and print.

Samantha's profile

David Lyttleton

P/T Lecturer (Hrly)-Cartoon & Comic Arts

Stephen Waterhouse

P/T Lecturer (Hrly)-Illustration

What to expect on Welcome Week

We're so excited for you to join us on campus and to welcome you to where you matter. During your welcome week you'll be able to meet our friendly student services teams, connect with new friends, join societies, explore on-campus venues attend club nights and much more.

We look forward to welcoming you to the campus in September.

If you have any questions, please send them to MyNewIllustrationCourse

MyNewIllustrationCourse@staffs.ac.uk

BA ILLUSTRATION Course Team

for Career Prospects

Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2025

for Social Inclusion

The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2026

for First Generation Students

The Mail University Guide 2026

in the UK for Games Education

Rookies Games Design and Development 2023, 2025 & TIGA Best Games Intuition 2024, 2025

of Research is “Internationally Excellent” or “World Leading”

Research Excellence Framework 2021

of Research Impact is ‘Outstanding’ or ‘Very Considerable’

Research Excellence Framework 2021