About Fine Art And Illustration BA (hons) in Coventry University

Based firmly on studio experimentation and practice, this exciting degree exploits the synergy and crossover potential of the disciplines of fine art and illustration within a historical, professional, cultural and contemporary context, successfully blending traditional personal creative investigation with modern day commercial art.

We will encourage you to be imaginative, ambitious and resourceful, aiming to prepare you for the challenges of an unpredictable, demanding and globally-competitive world. You will have the opportunity to graduate as an illustrator-artist with the creative, critical, reflective and technical skills to develop innovative, idiosyncratic and imaginative forms of visual communication.

For over 150 years, our creative community has played a major role in shaping cultural, political and social lives all over the world. Our graduates have won animation Oscars, Turner Prizes in portraiture, Academy Award nominations, Penguin book cover prizes, D&AD and Sky Arts awards. You will be taught by practising illustrators, artists, art historians and writers, who have produced commissions for The Guardian, Virgin, Marmite, Ted Baker, Mixmag and Channel 4. They have exhibited at the Prague Biennale, the Royal Academy of Arts, Kwangju Biennale in South Korea and the Conflux Festival in New York and their work can be found in collections such as the Arts Council of Great Britain, Tate Britain, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Museum Beelden aan Zee in the Netherlands.

Why Coventry University?

An award-winning university, we are committed to providing our students with the best possible experience. We continue to invest in both our facilities and our innovative approach to education. Our students benefit from industry-relevant teaching, and resources and support designed to help them succeed. These range from our modern library and computing facilities to dedicated careers advice and our impressive Students’ Union activities.

Course information

Designed with the modern-day artist in mind, this course will let you experience and gain essential skills and knowledge in two distinct art disciplines, while exploring new and exciting ways of combining techniques from both to create a body of work that is truly distinctive.

We focus on providing you with the support to find your unique creative voice, so that you can develop an amazing body of work to demonstrate your subject matter and individual identity to greatest effect. We will also provide you with opportunities to learn about what to do with that work in order to pursue a successful career in the arts via a series of business and marketing workshops in your final year.

Contemporary fine art practice incorporates a range of approaches, modern and traditional, autobiographical and personal, issues or research-driven. You will consider these throughout your studies, as well as the wider social, political and cultural debates that inform and enrich art, your own and that of others.

Career prospects

Throughout the course, you will have the opportunity to produce professional outputs which can be exhibited in public and used to target publishers, agents, media organisations, competitions and potential employers.

There are a vast number of career paths that can emerge from a degree in Fine Art and Illustration, for example, our students increasingly adopt a portfolio approach to their careers, working on a freelance or commissioned basis. They have gone on to work as practising artists, freelance illustrators, gallery curators, designers and teachers. Patrick Simkins, now a freelance artist himself, went on to work as an official ‘BT Storyteller’ artist for the London Olympics and Paralympic Games very soon after graduating.

We aim to teach you the skills to develop independent thought, innovation, imagination, critical reflection and confidence in your practice, as well as transferrable skills suitable for employment across the full breadth of the creative industries. Whether your career goals include publishing or exhibiting, working for clients or as a self-sufficient artist or all of them – you should be able to apply your skills in a variety of contexts and do so with confidence.

Where our graduates work

Some of our graduates have progressed to postgraduate study here on our suite of MA courses, while others have attended a range of institutions including the Royal College of Art, Chelsea College of Arts, Central Saint Martins, Warwick University and the Slade School of Fine Art to name just a few.

Our International Student Hub offers information on entry requirements for your country, as well as contact details for agents and representatives should you need more advice.

English as a Foreign Language This course requires an IELTS of 6.0 overall. Pre-sessional English is available if required.

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