Illustration at Cumbria
Thank you for your application!
Alongside your UCAS form, we’d love to see some examples of your work. Don’t worry—this isn’t a test. We’re not looking for hyper‑realistic drawings or expert‑level Photoshop wizardry. We simply love illustration and all forms of image‑making, and we know you’ve been developing skills, experimenting, and creating work you’re proud of.
We want to see it. And you deserve to show it off. A perfect match.
Getting your work to us is easy. Below, you’ll find a guide to what to include in your portfolio and how to share it with us.
Alongside your UCAS form, we’d love to see some examples of your work. Don’t worry—this isn’t a test. We’re not looking for hyper‑realistic drawings or expert‑level Photoshop wizardry. We simply love illustration and all forms of image‑making, and we know you’ve been developing skills, experimenting, and creating work you’re proud of.
We want to see it. And you deserve to show it off. A perfect match.
Getting your work to us is easy. Below, you’ll find a guide to what to include in your portfolio and how to share it with us.
Portfolio Guide 1
We don’t just want to see the polished pieces — we want to see how you think. Rough sketches, experiments, notes, tests, and false starts tell us far more about your creativity than one perfect final. Sketchbooks are brilliant for this: they’re like a peek into your brain and personality (we LOVE sketchbooks).
So don’t tidy everything away… show us the messy, exciting bits too.
So don’t tidy everything away… show us the messy, exciting bits too.
An example of both a final illustration and the thumbnail sketch that proceeded it by Lily Alexander (Yr2).
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Here's a wonderful example of visual thinking by Scarlett Lucie Mabel (yr3) at the start of illustrating a 'Marine Encyclopdedia'.
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These 'roughs' and development work were created by Charlie Fairbrother (Yr1) and inform her final illustration for Rumer Godden's 'Black Narcissus'.
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Portfolio Guide 2
You don’t need to prove you’re already an illustrator - you’re applying to become one. So don’t try to show us a single, perfected style. We don’t expect it, and honestly, that's limiting at this stage. What matters is creative curiosity: trying lots of different approaches, materials, and ideas.
A note on trends: be cautious of only following whatever’s trending online. Trends can be fun, but they don't last and they’re not the real measure of your creativity. We’d much rather see you explore widely.
A note on trends: be cautious of only following whatever’s trending online. Trends can be fun, but they don't last and they’re not the real measure of your creativity. We’d much rather see you explore widely.
Will Smallwood (Yr2) is currently exploring illustration through model making - a development that came about because he shared some fantastic models that he created, for himself, at home.
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Whilst Violet O'Hara (Yr2) is developing a digital approach that is augmented by analogue marks and textures.
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Portfolio Guide 3
If you love working digitally, fantastic - please include some. But you don’t need to impress us with software skills. Digital illustration isn’t a separate specialism at this stage, and it isn’t more important than traditional media.
And if digital isn’t your thing, that’s completely fine. We don’t expect you to be fluent in with software. What matters most is your thinking, observing, experimenting, and making - not the tools you used to get there.
Pencil, paint, collage, clay, Procreate, pen - it’s all valid. Use whatever helps you create, and show us that.
And if digital isn’t your thing, that’s completely fine. We don’t expect you to be fluent in with software. What matters most is your thinking, observing, experimenting, and making - not the tools you used to get there.
Pencil, paint, collage, clay, Procreate, pen - it’s all valid. Use whatever helps you create, and show us that.
Abbie Hodges spent her time on the course developing a language that is 100% digital (Using an ancient iPad)...
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Whilst Iwan Lloyd Roberts spent his time exploring paint.
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