Gwybodaeth Modiwlau

Module Identifier
AR21820
Module Title
Book Illustration 1
Academic Year
2025/2026
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 2
Exclusive (Any Acad Year)
Reading List
Other Staff

Course Delivery

 

Assessment

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment Portfolio  - A portfolio of equally weighted set projects  100%
Supplementary Assessment Portfolio  - A portfolio of equally weighted set projects, different from above  100%

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

work within a specific brief to a client's guidelines, adapting the style to lend itself to the requirements of the text, the limitations and creative possibilities of the print process, and its appropriateness to a text.

adopt an organised methodology comprising picture research, drawings, photographs, thumb-nail compositional studies, colour studies, finished preparatory drawing, and the finished illustration

consider the importance of typographic design and its relationship to the illustration, and establish criteria for selecting a type face

objectify and articulate the criterion by which texts have been chosen, the appropriateness of the subject matter to the medium, the relationship between the illustration and the text, and the audience to whom the text is directed

Brief description

As well as seizing and maintaining the readers’ imagination, the illustrator’s role is that of communicating ideas through images that both complement and enhance the text. In so doing, the illustrator endeavours to illuminate, inform, entertain, or incite polemic by interpreting visually, the written word. Through a varied and exciting series of set ‘commissions’, students engage with the materials and techniques of illustration: drawing and painting for reproduction, digital imaging, typography, and page layout design. Drawing is central to illustration as it enables the student to express their ideas. It is vitally important in the student’s development of a personal visual language. Keeping a sketchbook helps students to develop and refine their visual awareness and literacy. In sketchbooks, students examine the world through drawing—it is fundamental to seeing, thinking, and reasoning. Illustration students will be encouraged to develop technical fluency, a personal vision, a distinctive style, and a broad overview of contemporary illustration. [For students who wish to specialize in illustration, it is recommended that they sign up for the complementary art history module AH30510 Drawn to Order: British Illustration since 1800.]

Aims

This module aims to provide a technical grounding in the materials used and techniques employed in book illustration. Through prescribed ‘commissions’, students learn to make illustrations with consideration for the intended audience, stylistic interpretation, and method of reproduction. As an exercise in observational drawing from life, students will be encouraged to maintain and make daily contributions to a sketchbook. In consultation with staff during individual tutorials, students devise and sustain a program of self-directed study within a realistic timetable for the completion of projects. The module promotes and encourages creative thinking as well as professional standards, laying the groundwork for a career in a highly competitive market.

Content

Through a series of lectures, workshops, group tutorials and one-to-one tutorials, students will be taught key skills in a wide variety of subjects. These subjects include:

  • Book design
  • Typography
  • Figure Drawing
  • Perspective
  • InDesign
  • Photoshop

Module Skills

Skills Type Skills details
Application of Number Measuring, scaling, calculating pagination, and working to budget.
Communication Oral communication in tutorials and exchange of ideas through peer group discussion or presentation.
Improving own Learning and Performance Developing own practice and research skills, management of time.
Information Technology Digital painting and image manipulation/editing, scanning for reproduction, printing, and online research skills.
Personal Development and Career planning Transferable practice, research and communication skills. Developing professional standards.
Problem solving Creative thinking. Devising imaginative solutions to prescribed illustration briefs. Analysis and interpretation of texts.
Research skills Practice-led research skills in book illustration, page design and typography.
Subject Specific Skills Technical and conceptual grounding in the materials used and techniques employed in the illustration of books.
Team work Peer group discussion.

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 5