Mode of Study

Full-time

Start Date

26th Aug 2024, 1 year

Location

City Campus

Applications from International Students Welcome

Overview

This course provides a solid foundation of both traditional and digital illustration skills. You will develop a portfolio of work for application to year 2 of a relevant HND programme. Alternatively, this course provides a fast-track opportunity to build a portfolio for application to art school entry in the field of communication design. 

You'll build projects from initial ideas and sketchbook development, through to finished artwork. On completion of the course, you'll have produced a broad and exciting portfolio of illustration work. This will include a fundamental understanding of the creative process and how that relates to your own creative practice.

Entry requirements

Minimum entry requirements

• Higher Art and Design at Grade C or above AND National 5 English at Grade C or above; OR
• National Certificate in Art and Design or related subject; OR
• Other equivalent qualifications or experience.

Submission of Digital Portfolio

Create a single document that contains 5-10 images and save it as a PDF. Include your best work, we would rather see quality over quantity. Under each image, write a short sentence that explains the work. 

We want to see your work, rather than work you have collected by other people. We want to see your ideas rather than designs or characters that you have copied from other people. We want to see drawing, observational and developmental. If you have any life drawing or drawing of people, please include it but this is not essential. 

Submit a portfolio of your own art and design work that contains:

• 2-3 examples of finished art or design work that could include 2D or 3D work 
• 2-3 examples of research for art or design work that might include observational drawing or photography. 
• 2-3 examples of development work for art or design work where you show us sketches, thumbnails, experiments and developments. 

Photograph your work carefully, preferably in natural light. Crop the image so that we can see it clearly. You can include more than one image on each page, especially if it is from the same project. 

Successful candidates will be invited for a course information session.   

Additional selection requirements

• You'll be invited for a group and/or individual interview where you can find out more about the course and tell us why you're interested in this subject area or we'll make an offer based on your application form.
• You'll be asked to provide examples of your art and design work.

ESOL entry requirements

Applicants whose first language is not English should have minimum SQA ESOL National 5 or equivalent for NC/NQ courses and ESOL Higher or equivalent for HNC/D courses.

What you study

You'll study:

• Introduction to Visual Communication.
• Creative Process.
• Mixed Media.
• Illustration Projects.
• Drawing.
• Life Drawing (from the nude model).
• Art & Design Context.
• Digital Imaging.
• Printmaking.
• Graded Unit.

After the course

Careers

The HNC course can lead to self-employment as a junior or freelance Illustrator working with advertising agencies, design consultants, media studios, book, magazine and newspaper publishers, or in your own private practice.

Continuing Study

On completion of the course, you can apply to the second year of either HND Illustration or HND Graphic Design at the college. The course is also an opportunity to build a strong portfolio for application to year one of Art School.

Teaching

How the course is taught

Assessment methods

Additional Information

Materials