Foundation Diploma & Bachelor of Arts - Illustration

Through the Foundation Diploma program, students will prepare themselves for their Bachelor’s degree in Art & Design in the best possible way. Our Art & Design Foundation Diploma gives students the unique opportunity to learn the basics of our Art & Design degree programmes in Berlin. After the semester, decide where your strengths lie. At the UE Campus in Berlin educates more than 300 students each year in the following subjects: Film & Motion Design Photography & New Media Illustration Communication Design Game Design UX/UI Design (at UE Innovation Hub) Students will get to know their teachers, fellow students, the campus and UE studios and equipment. After the orientation semester, students choose their focus in the Bachelor’s programme according to their strengths and preferences. The Illustration programme at the University of Europe for Applied Sciences (UE) combines the classic arts such as painting, drawing and graphic art with the fascination of current design with the help of modern, digital techniques. Illustrations visualize complex content in newspapers, magazines, infographics, advertisements, posters, websites, and apps. They tell stories in picture books and comics and create entire films or virtual worlds in storyboards and concept arts. Across six semesters, the illustration curriculum provides students with a broad understanding of the foundations of the illustration industry. From Illustration Basics and Experimental Illustration in the first two semesters, students can choose between a variety of projects ranging from Artistic Visualisation to Drawn Animation. Students who choose to study illustration at UE also have the opportunity to pursue an internship or semester abroad in the fifth semester. In this Illustration programme, students will explore drawing as both a foundational skill and a cultural tool for communication and idea generation. Guided by internationally recognised artists and illustrators, they will master a blend of traditional and digital techniques in painting, drawing, and printmaking. Whether creating narratives for books, films, comics, or storyboards, students will develop their own visual language and experimental approaches. With a focus on practical experience, including internships and a semester abroad, this programme adapts to the evolving demands of digital media while emphasising the enduring importance of drawing as a technical foundation and cultural practice. Illustrators see themselves as artistic partners of editorial offices, advertising agencies, design offices, publishing houses, museums, and game and film productions. They are not only in demand as service providers but also contribute their ideas, experience and creative attitude in an advisory capacity. They usually work as freelancers. The language of images is universal – that’s why the world is open to illustrators. Depending on specialisation and inclination, the range of tasks ranges from children’s book illustrations, from magazine pages to advertising campaigns, infographics to scientific illustration, and from packaging design to concept art for computer games. Especially in comics, graphic novels, animation films and other, artistically freer projects, illustrators appear as independent authors.