Course summary

This course offers an expansive understanding of contemporary illustration through an inquisitive and explorative programme of study into authorial storytelling. On this course, you will explore multidisciplinary methods of working which extend the concepts of communication, sequential narrative and visualisation through research, practice and discursive critique. The course allows students a stimulating space for exploring the boundaries of illustration and the graphic novel. It will offer the opportunity to unpick the specialist mechanisms related to both authorial practice, graphic novel construction, as well as other book forms and publishing approaches such as picturebooks, zines, visual diaries and other illustrative story play. You will explore both works of fiction and non-fiction, reportage and graphic journalism as well as stories for adults and children. The course will encourage you to consider co-designed and collaborative methods of narrative practice, as well as autobiographical, autofiction and other approaches derived from the ‘lived experience’. You will be supported by a team with diverse research and practical interests from the fields of illustration, print, graphic novel and its broader visual cultures. Research and dissemination methods will be introduced and developed with the support of visiting industry speakers, workshops, lectures and seminars with opportunity to situate work in relevant professional contexts. The course celebrates analogue approaches to working which complement contemporary and digital practice. You will be encouraged to undertake in-depth examination and experimentation of interdisciplinary practical and theoretical research methods through simple, hands-on and playful approaches.