University of Westminster Illustration and Visual Communication BA Honours students have gained professional publishing experience by taking part in children’s publisher Booktime’s Brief to Publication programme, competing for a paid digital publishing commission.
The six students were selected to respond to a live client brief, each creating original illustrations for a different classic children’s title chosen from a list provided by Booktime. The initiative gave students the opportunity to work to industry standards while building their professional portfolios.
Providing opportunities to gain real life experiences is key to the University’s Zone29 offering, which is Westminster’s new home for careers and enterprise and is a resource available to all students.
Among the participants was Ntasha Charles who chose to illustrate The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. Drawing on her British Indian heritage and interest in Indian deities and symbolism, Ntasha reimagined the science fiction classic through a distinctive visual lens.
Ntasha Charles
She said: “I’m interested in Indian deities and otherworldly ideas and saw a connection with the aliens in The War of the Worlds. Indian gods and sci-fi aliens are interesting ways of imagining powerful beings from outside human experience, and I wanted to explore that visually. I tied the story, which was set in the Victorian era, with my background because I am British Indian myself. I like how identity intertwines, making the storytelling much richer in historical and personal context for me.”
The free Booktime app, an initiative of the Hindawi Foundation charity, provides access to a multilingual library of illustrated books that reaches more than 250,000 readers each month. The Hindawi Foundation commissions original stories and illustrations for its free multilingual children’s books each month.
Booktime Founder Ahmed Hindawi said: “Our platform depends on fresh creative talent to shape its visual identity. Illustration sits at the core of how we tell stories, and bringing emerging illustrators into that process introduces a range of ideas that keeps Booktime vibrant and forward-looking.”
Emma Dodson, Illustration and Visual Communication BA Honours Course Leader at the University of Westminster, added: “Live briefs are incredibly valuable because they give students the opportunity to work with real clients and experience the expectations of industry while they’re still studying. Opportunities like this are so important because they give students something very close to real-world practice. Whether or not they are ultimately selected for commission, they are building professional portfolios and learning how to respond to industry expectations.”
This opportunity directly contributes to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 4: Quality Education and 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth. Since 2019, the University of Westminster has used the SDGs holistically to frame strategic decisions to help students and colleagues fulfil their potential and contribute to a more sustainable, equitable and healthier society.
Find out more about Art, Design and Visual Culture courses at the University of Westminster.
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