Gradwatch 2026: Maddie McCoubrie, Arts University Bournemouth
It was in the run up to Maddie McCoubrie’s final year on the illustration course at Arts University Bournemouth that she discovered the 3D software Blender, which allowed her work to open up into wider illustration and animation techniques and “worlds that felt unique to me”, she explains.
“These often centred around vibrant colours, quirky shape language and perhaps slightly unusual imagery,” she says. “It’s a style I’m constantly developing and finding ways to build upon, and moving into industry, I aim for it to become a distinctive characteristic of my work.”
This development of her work over the undergraduate course was actively encouraged by McCoubrie’s tutors, with the course being focused on innovation from the start. “One of the pinnacles of the course was discovering, or inventing, new areas of the illustration industry,” she continues. “At first this seemed like quite a daunting task, surely every corner has already been unearthed by previous, or current, practitioners?
“But throughout the three-year experience, I found innovation was easy once you had the drive to push and expand your practice to the breaking point. At that point, it felt like I had a niche all to myself, where I was free to play, experiment and create. Tutors and technicians always supported this, in fact they encouraged it more than anything.”
Since discovering moving image, McCoubrie has found it has “taken over my life a little bit”. “I find introducing movement into illustration adds a new element, it brings it to life,” she says. “It catches your eye, and creates a more immersive experience for the viewer. Plus, you can’t argue that everyone loves a silly animation.”
The results of McCoubrie’s experiments can be seen in two of her animations, The Spider and A Trip to Switzerland, which both combine witty storytelling and great sound design to indeed create a fun experience for the viewer. In making them she also found they taught her “not to take my work so seriously”.
“I think us creatives get hung up on the inspiration and meaning behind artwork, but often I find the work created ‘for fun’ is the most successful. The Spider was by far the biggest project I’ve ever undertaken, and starting from scratch six weeks from my final university deadline, it was quite a crunch to get it done. However, after a month and a half of practically solid Blender, it was the most rewarding process, and seeing it come to fruition, as well as everyone’s responses to the short film, was worth nearly frying my laptop (and brain).”
McCoubrie has also had experience of real-world projects, via a collaboration with wine company The Heretics, whose branding and labels are solely black and white, with a neon yellow wax seal offering a pop of colour.
I find introducing movement into illustration adds a new element, it brings it to life. It catches your eye, and creates a more immersive experience for the viewer
“Having to focus purely on the form and composition, without the distraction of colour, was definitely a break away from my usual process of working,” she says of the experience. “With guidance from Jimmy, their creative director, I created an illustration which I think turned out to be one of my favourites I’ve ever made.”
McCoubrie very briefly tried out using Adobe Photoshop’s generative AI but felt the results were “awful” and this combined with learning about the “devastating environmental impact” of generative AI has led her to move away from it completely and encourage others to do the same.
“I think one of the beautiful things about being human is the ability to create,” she says. “Creativity is one of the only universal human experiences and unites everyone, throughout thousands of years of history, regardless of culture or origin. Trying to replace with that an algorithm? I think that’s criminal.”
Post-university, McCoubrie is concerned “like many other creative graduates” about getting a foot in the door and “simply trying to stand out enough to get companies/art directors/industry practitioners/anyone who is willing to listen’s attention”. But despite some feelings of imposter syndrome, she is starting to have more confidence, “as my experience grows and grows.”
“I think I have the basic ambition of every creative: to be desired and employed for my craft,” she says simply. “I love what I do, sometimes a little too much, and I hope to spend the rest of my life building my practice. I’m extremely grateful that I’ve always known what I wanted to do, and now I have the opportunity to do it for a living. I fear I cannot let the luck I’ve been given go to waste! But, before anything else, I need to learn to drive.”