Mode of Study

Full-time

Start Date

25th Aug 2025, 2 years

Location

City Campus

Applications from International Students Welcome

Overview

This course will help you develop your creative and technical skills to become a commercial illustrator.

You'll build projects from initial ideas and sketchbook drawings, through to illustration artwork ready for presentation to a client. You're encouraged to explore individual responses to project briefs.

This creative course is delivered by highly professional teaching staff, with significant illustration industry experience and a proven track record of bringing out the best in their students.

This course is placed on the Scottish Credit Qualifications Framework at Level 8. 

Entry requirements

Minimum entry requirements

• HNC Illustration OR
• First year of HND Illustration.

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. Include any projects from your course or professional work that shows us your understanding of Design. Include some of your personal work that you have made outside of college or school. 

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.

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

Year one:

• Introduction to visual communication.
• Observational drawing.
• Creative process.
• Mixed media.
• Art and design project.
• Creative industries.
• Digital Imaging.
• Illustration.
• Printmaking and producing print.
• Experimental illustration.
• Life drawing from the nude model.

Year two:

• Design production.
• Creative project.
• Illustration project.
• Digital and bitmap imaging.
• Developmental drawing portfolio.
• Observational drawing portfolio.
• Working in the creative industries.
• Client-initiated design project.
• Advanced Illustration.

After the course

Careers

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

Continuing Study

On successful completion of your HND you may apply to:

• Year two of BA (Hons) Communication Design at Glasgow School of Art.
• Year two or three of BA (Hons) Visual Communication at Dundee University.
• Year three of BA (Hons) Contemporary Art Practice at City of Glasgow College.
• Year three of BA (Hons) Digital Art at the University of the West of Scotland.