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Welcome to the BA (hons) Illustration website
Above: video by Toby Cameron
An on-line showcase of our 2010 graduate work is available to view at www.cardiffillustration2010.co.uk. View more images from the show here.
Illustration is having a rebirth at present, enlivening the art world with bright, humorous, and thought-provoking images, and stories filled with pathos and originality.
"Illustration speaks to all people on all levels, and even in this desensitised, image-saturated world it can enchant, inform and inspire through its extraordinary discipline"
This unique, intense three-year course is inspired by the vast potential for communication, and taught by enthusiastic and varied practitioners from perspectives of literature, theatre and interaction. Digital and analogue processes sit side-by-side and the importance of teamwork, as well as individual excellence, is recognised.

Above: Image by James Southall
Dedication to your subject, especially drawing, is important to your success as an illustrator. By exploring different methodologies, we ask what drawing is, how it can be used, and what makes ‘good’ drawing? It does not necessarily involve a piece of paper and a pencil. Graduates may choose to follow careers in the illustration and design professions, pursuing opportunities in animation, film, TV and the Web. By developing transferable planning, communication, and critical skills graduates may also find career pathways into other creative roles.
Illustration at Cardiff is a vibrant, innovative course that seeks to explore the future of the discipline without alienating its rich past. Significantly, illustrators work as catalysts, fuelling conversations and collaborations of consequence.
“There's a theory, one I find persuasive, that the quest for knowledge is, at bottom, the search for the answer to the question: Where was I before I was born. In the beginning was what? Perhaps, in the beginning, there was a curious room, a room like this one, crammed with wonders” – Angela Carter
News
Paper Horses: Women, Witchcraft & Sex
Illustration lecturer Amelia Johnstone will be exhibiting her work at the Material Gallery in London between 16th Sept - 16 Oct 2010.
"Paper Pony forms the basis of Amelia’s latest collection of work in which she takes you to the moon, to laugh a little at the folly of our self obsessed human condition and sits with her friends. Talking, thinking and reflecting on the things which seemed to matter before, but now no longer do. "
posted 1st Sept '10
Graduate work hangs in the Welsh Assembly
2010 Illustration graduate Sarah Evans has been selected to have her work included in the offices of the First Minister and the Minister for Heritage at the Welsh Assembly.
Sarah presented her piece called ‘The Golden Rule’; a silkscreen print on paper with foam mounts. She explained: “It comes from a body of work called ‘The Uniqueness of Humans’, a collection of work representing which traits and abilities make our species unique”.
Congratulations Sarah!
posted 21st July '10
Graduate Interview
2010 graduate Adam Travers has been interviewed in Creative Boom, where he talks about what inspires him and about his aspirations for his career, accompanied by a selection of his illustration work.
Read the full article on the Creative Boom website.
Visit Adam's website here.
posted 9th July '10
Illustration graduate show
This summer Cardiff School of Art and Design will present their first ever graduate show of Illustration from the 4 to the 12 June 2010 at 22-24 Morgan Arcade, Cardiff, and from 5 to the 11 June 2010 at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff’s Llandaff Campus.
Visit the 2010 graduate showcase website.
posted 14th May '10
Call for Papers
Shadow Play: Alchemy, Redolence and Enchantment
2nd - 4th November 2010
Proposals are now being accepted for the first international Illustration Symposium in Cardiff, with Cardiff School of Art and Design at the Wales Millennium Centre and Chapter Arts Centre. The symposium wishes to question, delight, inspire and discuss the impact of these disciplines in the shadows and in our time; how storytelling, picture making and imagination can impact, make a difference and make better our too often un-enriched world.
Deadline for submission of abstracts: Monday 28 June 2010. Visit the conference website for more information.
posted 19th Apr '10
Illustration team blog and 'Shadow Play'
Amelia, Chris and Theo have set up a blog, intended as "a playful space where we will post interesting things that we find, and interesting things that we do."
More on the blog here.
A website has also been set up by Amelia for a three day symposium to be held in November called 'Shadow Play: Alchemy, Redolence & Enchantment'.
posted 25th Mar '10
Degree Show Blog
Final year Illustration students have set up a blog in preparation for their degree show this Summer. As the blog says: 'It will be a place to post information and developments of our graduation show in June 2010'.
Part of the Degree Show will be showcased in Morgan Arcade in Cardiff City Centre.
More on the blog here.
posted 17th Mar '10
SCATTER
An exhibition of second year BA Illustration students' work entitled 'Scatter' will take place from March 14th - 20th, 2010, at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Cardiff, CF10 2FC.
For more information, visit the Scatter blog here.
posted 9th Mar '10
SHADOWS
A performance by First Year BA Illustration Students based upon two short stories by Peter Carey:
· Notes on The Shadow Industry
· The Last Days of a Famous Mime
5.30pm on Thursday 10 December 2009 MAP Studio, Howard Gardens Campus. View images from the show on the 'Student work & links' page.
posted Dec 09




