Sequential Design/Illustration

Image: Margarida Botelho, figurines for stop-motion movie 'Eva'.*

• The course is based on the students’ work and their individual practical projects.
• Our Sequential Design/Illustration MA is conceived and designed primarily to support these individual projects and to develop an informed, critical and imaginative attitude to the professional practice.
  
• Throughout the course you will explore the serial devices and techniques that determine the way a viewer can best experience a succession of designed images.
  
• You will also be encouraged to appreciate the wider cultural influences associated with the subject. For example, the ordering and structuring of the consecutive pages in a textbook, picture book, story book or magazine; the planning of an animated sequence; the making of films; the navigation for a CD Rom or website; the designing of a journey through a building, exhibition or the successive sets for a theatrical event are all creative activities which require the same principles and deploy the skills of designers, illustrators and makers.

* Image:  Margarida Botelho, ‘EVA’, a children’s book and a stop-motion movie about how Africa and Europe meet through two children called Eva.  The book is from the collection Encounters where the design allows two characters from different worlds to meet in the middle of the book.  While on the MA course Margarida received a UNESCO grant to develop and undertake a major community narrative project in Africa to help generate sustainable social development through storytelling.

Image: Mark Pembrey, 'Extracts from The Harrow and Wealdstone Rail Crash'*

Our MA Sequential Design/ Illustration at the University divides into two 'stages': 

Stage one

• Sequential Projects(s)
• Visual Narrative
• Research and Investigation

Stage two

• Major Sequential Project(s)
• Project Report

As the course develops, there is an increasing opportunity for independent and self-directed work. Each student is allocated a personal tutor who oversees the planning and content of individual projects.

In the Visual Narrative unit, which will include lectures, themed group events and small practical activities such as the Surprise Project, where you will be asked to deliver a surprise though a sequence of six images or objects with the unit group as your target audience. From this experience, you will learn the nature and importance of surprise in basic storytelling and developing a vocabulary for narrative. In scheduled theme day events, such as Modern Cautionary Tales, students work in groups to challenge their quick-thinking skills in the invention, planning and presentation of a story.

While students accepted on the course should come with the technical skills necessary to fulfil their projects, access to the diverse workshops facilities will be made available as appropriate to your project. These may include bookbinding, letterpress, printmaking and photography. There is also a substantial specialist library and a full range of computer facilities.

Besides practice-based work, the course also includes a written element in which you will be asked to reflect critically on the research and development of your project.

In order to bring together a variety of students and approaches, this course coexists with the MA Arts and Design by Independent Project. Both are based at our Grand Parade site.

You can study on a part-time or full-time basis:

• Part-time, for two years, is designed to fit in with your professional life and allows more time for reflection. Part-time students work on the course for two days a week; one day on site and one day working independently.
• Full-time, for one year, is an intensive year of study. You work four days a week: two days with the course and two days working independently.
• During vacations you will be engaged in independent study.

Lectures, seminars, reviews and assessments are held at fixed times on Wednesdays. Other patterns of attendance vary according to individual circumstances.

Your work will be predominantly project based, which may comprise of one or more parts, focusing on a central theme or idea. A single project or investigation will in most cases sustain a student throughout the entire duration of the course, though at stage assessment, in consultation with tutors, it may naturally evolve into a new or related area of study.

The nature of the subject demands the continual interaction between research, analysis, and ‘practical’ realisation, and requires an extended period of development for ideas to become fully meaningful. Throughout this investigation you will receive support and guidance from the course tutors.

Image: Mark Pembury, 'Extracts from The Harrow and Wealdstone Rail Crash' from the project ' Cut and Cut Again:  Minimal language and typography as illustration', a body of work exploring ways of illustrating poems and short stories using minimal or 'stripped down' language and typography.  Areas of research include Imagist Poetry, Concrete Poetry, Flash Fiction, and the Oulipo.

Image: Vicky Ilott, 'The Unintentional Archivist:  The Confiscated Papers Of Patient H. A.' An archival display of items, including collaged documents and ephemera, supposedly amassed by a patient at an anonymous institution. (image 1 of 12)

Because of the diversity of our students and the projects they create, their professional achievements are equally wide-ranging:

•  Books designed on the course have been published.
•  Designers and illustrators have established highly successful freelance careers.
•  Collaborative design groups have been formed.
•  University lecturers and secondary teachers have received promotions.
•  Research degrees have been undertaken at Brighton and other institutions.
•  Public grants and awards have been won.
•  Established practitioners have enhanced or expanded their practice.
•  Work has been exhibited in major galleries and institutions.
•  Graduates have participated in international festivals and conferences.

Images: from project 'Helping Children Cope with Fearful Thoughts' original drawing and pages from book 'The House Rabbit' by Lesley White, chosen as Highly Commended for the Macmillan Prize 2010.

Project Proposal Guidelines

You are required to write a 600 word project proposal to accompany your application form. The following headings should assist you.

• Title (or working title) and any sub-title of the project.
• The form the project might take; book, comic/graphic novel, digital, film, interactive, etc.
• The editorial limits of the project (number of pages, running time etc).
• Who is the project designed for and what are its intended objectives?
• A description of what the project will involve.
• How you would start to work on the project?
• Possible technical requirements.
•  In what way do you feel the project is designed to be sequential?
• Any information you think is relevant.

This proposal represents a project that you would choose to do. It is useful as an example of your thinking. However, many students change their projects by agreement either after interview or upon joining the course. In some cases students may prefer to do more than one project on a theme. If this is the case, write a brief summary about this.

Some Portfolio Criteria

Many applicants for the course are aiming to change their personal/ professional position either within a subject/discipline in which they have already been trained (for example, illustration, multimedia, graphic design, typography or animation), or by moving to a new subject/discipline (for example, painting to illustration, textiles to animation). Other applicants are aiming to deepen their understanding of their chosen subject/discipline.

You do not need to start the project you have proposed or have work in your portfolio that relates directly to it. We feel able to assess an applicant’s potential by looking at the work you choose to present at interview.

Your portfolio, together with the project proposal, will enable us to assess your abilities to carry out your chosen project. It should demonstrate evidence of:

• completed projects. It is essential that at least one of these projects should be accompanied by all its development work. You will also be required to explain the nature of the tasks or briefs in relation to these finished pieces;
• an ability to use maps, plans, diagrams and rough sketches to discuss large projects before you start work on them;
• scrapbooks, sketchbooks, notebooks that demonstrate your ability to visually research any subject;
• independence (projects and work other than those required by academic or client demands);
• interests outside your particular subject/discipline.