MA Illustration and Visual Media

Course summary:

MA Illustration and Visual Media explores the creation and contextualisation of images at a time of unparalleled possibilities for engagement in visual culture.

Through intensive and experimental practice-led research, you will develop an independent and critical relationship to the contemporary image, with the potential to work across a broad range of specialist visual media.

We invite applications from thoughtful, rigorous and prolific individuals interested in developing an expanded visual practice that reflects the complexities and possibilities for the image in the post analogue world.

Subject expertise:

MA Illustration and Visual Media is taught by internationally active practitioners and thinkers in art, design and image making. We engage with visiting lecturers within our programme and embrace opportunities for an expanded discourse by our involvement in lecture series across the LCC postgraduate provision.

Outward facing experiences:

We regularly work in collaboration with external partners in the creative and cultural industries, recently participating in live projects with V&A Museum, The Museum of London, The Design Council, The Barbican and The Wallace Collection.

Discourse, research and debate around contemporary visual culture:

• LCC's established MA and PhD community offers opportunities for expert academic guidance. Engage in research-oriented workshops and contemplate progression to PhD, as well as interact with a growing number of research hubs at LCC , such as Design Activism Research Hub, Graphic Subcultures, Conscientious Communicators, Typographic Research Unit, and many others across UAL.
• Excellence in resources: LCC's exceptional facilities span both traditional and contemporary processes from screen printing, photography, letterpress, 3D construction and bookbinding to 3D printing, laser-cutting and specialist digital software.

Anyone Interested.

Course details:

The course explores both the theory and practice of contemporary image making. A self-authored, practice-led investigation will drive your programme of study over the four terms of the course. Your enquiries into the expanded nature of the image will be enhanced by specialist workshops, course-led briefs, tutor, peer and expert critique forums, site visits, lectures and talks from leading practitioners and thinkers. This approach provides you with a unique platform from which to produce innovative and exciting work that has a critical and contextual value to the contemporary image world.

Through the development of an extensive portfolio of work, the course places graduates in a position to operate across areas as diverse as freelance visual practice, the gallery and museum sector, art direction, visual communication, the animation and film industries, photography, interactive and new media. The course supports progression to research at MPhil/PhD level as well as to advanced self-directed experimental practice. You will join and participate in a critical studio environment; a defining aspect of your postgraduate study will be an independent, self-directed approach.

Outside the core studio delivery, you will have the opportunity to utilise the range of excellent technical resources available at LCC to extend your experimentation and continue developing your projects. Academic and Language Support sessions are also scheduled to extend and support your developing academic proficiency while on the course.

MA Illustration and Visual Media runs alongside a suite of established and newly developed postgraduate courses at LCC, reflecting the rich and diverse spectrum of current and emergent practices in the fields of interaction design, virtual reality, games design, film, graphic design, documentary, journalism, photography, publishing, sound arts and screenwriting.

This diversity of subject areas encourages a rich academic environment for all LCC postgraduate students.

This course is taught within the Design School.

Fees & Funding:

Home / EU Fee

University of the Arts London (UAL) is Europe’s largest specialist art and design university. Its unique creative community is made up of six renowned Colleges, each with its own world-class reputation: Camberwell College of Arts, Central Saint Martins, Chelsea College of Arts, London College of Communication, London College of Fashion and Wimbledon College of Arts.

UAL is the world’s sixth best University for Art and Design in the QS World University Rankings 2018. Offering an extensive range of courses in art, design, fashion, communication and performing arts, UAL is the main talent pipeline to the UK’s creative industries.

Home to a diverse community of over 18,000 students from 129 countries, UAL has a track record for launching and furthering careers. Our graduates can be found in every part and at every level of the creative and cultural sectors, from heads of global business to self-employed practitioners, and on shortlists for awards ranging from the Turner Prize to the Oscars.

Building on UAL’s association with some of the most original thinkers in the arts, students and staff are inspired to challenge convention, generate new ideas and nurture talent. Home to award-winning staff and students for more than a century, UAL’s Colleges are at the forefront of learning, creativity and practice in their specialist subjects. This close-knit College structure offers opportunities for learning and enquiry for people at all stages of their creative development.