Angus Ulyett
BA (Hons) Illustration Graduate
My name is Angus Ulyett, and I studied BA Illustration at the University of Plymouth.
I have always been creative. It was sort of a hobby that I never really grew out of. It was always one of my options at school, as it just felt easy and natural. Initially I was studying to do a degree in English Language, but pivoted halfway through my A levels, because I knew it wasn’t what I loved. I didn’t want to take out a loan just for the sake of doing a degree so I felt Illustration as a potential career would be much more fulfilling.
When I came to the university open day, I met the course leader Ashley Potter and felt very inspired. Ashley is quite a pragmatic, straight talker. It didn’t feel like I was being pandered to just to get me through the door. Instead, it was just a breakdown of what he wanted to see from prospective students and what to expect if I were to join the course. I respected that a lot, and with one of my favourite artists at the time, Sam Marsh, being an alumni, I really wanted to apply.
Additionally, I also wanted a change of scenery. Plymouth has some great scenery, being a short drive from both Dartmoor and the beaches of Cornwall. Having grown up quite centrally near Birmingham, this is about as much of a switch up as I could get which was also super appealing.
The course is studio based unlike most degrees, so you’ll be surrounded by likeminded creatives a lot of the time to bounce ideas off and collaborate with. I made friends for life, grew massively as an artist and ultimately ended up where I wanted. I’m not sure I’d be able to say that if I’d have gone anywhere else.
The main benefit for me was the encouragement to explore. In second year, you’re introduced to different disciplines of illustration, and given the option to specialise your studies and your degree. When I first joined the course I planned on specialising in comics, however I ended up specialising in animation. That isn’t something I had seen or have heard offered from other illustration degrees.
For my final major project, I produced an animated adaptation of an educational comic I created as part of an earlier module called ‘Interpreting Information’, where you worked on live briefs from in and around Plymouth. For this brief I had to use illustration to communicate the negative side effects of smoke inhalation in rural communities in Uganda, to be used as educational materials for promoting lung health.
This project was really well received by the commissioner and prompted government funding for a research trip to Uganda for in-person feedback and a subsequent animated adaptation to be produced. This project was so successful both as coursework and in Uganda, that it was shortlisted for a World Illustration Award.
After I graduated, I wanted to use the momentum I’d generated from my final major project to apply for jobs at animation studios in London and potentially move there. However, this was about 6 months before Covid hit, so that never really materialised!
Currently, I am a freelance illustrator and animator, working across lots of different industries. I have worked on projects for Cadbury, Jellycat, Warner Bros and Disney, as well as plenty of local independent businesses, which are the jobs I really love!
If the programme didn’t encourage me to explore digital illustration and animation, I’m not sure where I might have ended up. I only did hand drawn illustration when I first joined the course, which in the long run could have been quite limiting. I think there is merit to being super specialised, and in a lot of cases it can be very lucrative, but being open and willing to try new things and incorporate them into your offering as an artist is guaranteed to open up more opportunities.
The tutorials and feedback are no nonsense and constructive. Some may not like that, but it’s representative of what you would get in real life when presenting projects or briefs. The lecturers were always available in-person at the illustration office and responded promptly to emails outside of study hours. Even to this day I can still pop my head in when I’m in town.
I think if you’re really serious about pursuing illustration as a career and are willing to work hard, explore all avenues and take feedback, this course can be really rewarding. It has an impressive list of alumni across all major disciplines, many of whom you may meet as guest lecturers. Plymouth is a great city, with amazing local history, fantastic outdoor spaces and a bustling food scene so there’s plenty to explore for everyone.
Some examples of Angus' work
