At the WdKA Illustration department, you will be trained as a visual specialist who interacts with an audience in an artistic, innovative and clear way.
The contemporary illustration practice is dynamic and constantly crossing the borders of several other disciplines.
At the WdKA Illustration department, you will be trained as a visual specialist who interacts with an audience in an artistic, innovative and clear way. You will work in flexible partnerships which experts, amateurs and audiences all participate in the same creative process. All this results in illustrative works that can be found in a wide variety of forms and in many different contexts. Examples include publications, animations and games, but also product designs, exhibitions and events.
The contemporary illustration practice is dynamic and constantly moving beyond the limits of several other disciplines. This is precisely why illustration offers an excellent opportunity for critically questioning and discussing art, design and the illustration’s position in relation to these fields. Nowadays, an illustrator is not so much someone who needs to possess specific technical-craft skills; much more, it is a concept developer and critical visual storyteller who explores possible artistic solutions coming from a strong conceptual grounding.
In our projects, we highlight different aspects of contemporary practice: telling and sharing stories, the balance between artistic and commercial illustration activities, the impact of illustration on people and society and future opportunities in illustration.
WdKA Illustration alumni work as freelancers, but also within collectives, for commercial or institutional employers such as Artbox, Elle Magzine, Funky-E, IJsfontein and Guerilla Games. Our network of external partners includes Amnesty International, Metropolis Festival Rotterdam, Villa Zebra, TENT Rotterdam and the Dutch Organization for Designers BNO.
Opportunities for exchange with partner institutes in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
Cover project: Box by Reinier Landwehr (photo Gert-Jan Pos).
Knowledge & skills
- Narrative, informative and authorial illustration
- Relevant research
- Entrepreneurship
- Ability to work independently and in collaboration
- Software
- ...and more
Career opportunities
- Illustrator
- Interdisciplinary image maker
- Comic artist
- Image maker for game industry
- ...and more
Next to 13 majors and three Practices WdKA offers its students high-tech meeting interdisciplinary spaces - Stations. Stations are the place for creating prototypes, experimenting, remixing and improving your ideas. All of the Willem de Kooning Academy’s students and staff members are welcome to work in our Stations, regardless of their major specialisation, minor, elective module or study year. The Stations are where you can explore the viability of your ideas and find out how to turn them into fully-functioning creations.
Double Degree programme
Do you have an artistic or a musical talent, as well as a hunger for academic knowledge? You can now mix arts and academia in metropolitan Rotterdam. Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR), Willem de Kooning Academy (WdKA) and Codarts offer you the possibility to combine theory and practice in a five-year Double Degree programme.
