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Illustration and Animation

Hereford College of Arts

UCAS Code: W892 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)

Entry requirements


UCAS Tariff

80

We would normally expect applicants to have achieved 80 UCAS Tariff Points at entry but whilst qualifications are important, our offers are not solely based on academic results and we may make offers based on other evidence of talent and suitability for the course. Portfolio submission (where applicable) and successful interview or audition are required.

You may also need to…

Attend an interview

Present a portfolio

About this course


Course option

3years

Full-time | 2024

Subjects

Illustration

Animation

The huge growth in our consumption of media on small-screen mobile devices is changing the landscape for visual content creators. Programme makers and advertisers are hungry for imaginative, entertaining work, especially moving-image and animation. This course responds to this demand and embraces the natural link between illustration and animation.

Our students engage with traditional and experimental illustration and animation processes that offer alternatives to a pervasive digital aesthetic. This includes illustration that moves, animation that isn’t led by drawing, and short, sharp, witty film-making that doesn’t require lengthy and expensive production. You will share a studio space with the specialist illustration students, and work closely as a group to discuss ideas and support each other. You will become adept in the creative cycle of research, planning, developing, shaping, making and finishing, for a wide range of outcomes. The final year allows you to experiment with more ambitious projects in either illustration, animation, or both, defining your own specialism and preparing a distinctive portfolio and showreel.

**Industry Links**

A range of expert visiting practitioners contribute significantly to the course. These have included award-winning Illustrators: Clive Hicks-Jenkins, Jonny Hannah, Alice Pattullo, Geoffrey Grandfield, Mark Hearld, Martin Ursell and Rebecca Gibbon and Animators: BAFTA winning director Jonathan Hodgson and Sandra Salter of Salty’s Animation. Our students have taken part in seminars at Hay Festival with Quentin Blake, Oliver Jeffers and teamed up with HCA honorary fellow Nick Sharrat. You will meet professional practitioners on inspiring local, national and international visits. In the past students have met Creative Director Barbara Ryan in Amsterdam, and Animation Oscar-nominated Javier Mariscal in Barcelona.

**After this Course**

You will be able to use your showreel to begin your career as a freelance illustrator-animator, or to work in-house for related media and design houses or multi-media production companies. Graduates are also equipped for a broad range of roles in the creative industries as technicians, demonstrators and teachers, or may progress to further study as part of an MA programme.

**Highlights**

1. Boost your employability with flexible skills across illustration and animation.
2. Explore expressive, innovative, creative animation.
3. Small group teaching in a friendly studio environment with exceptional access to tutorial and technical support.
4. Inspiring invited practitioners and visits.
5. Develop your own visual language and evolve a unique style

Modules

From your first day at HCA you will work as a creative, developing your skills and your own voice through a series of projects. You will develop your creative practice, practical skills alongside your critical awareness and theoretical knowledge. You will study a range of modules that build your knowledge and confidence and total 120 credits each year.

YEAR ONE: Practice in Context 1 (20 Credits), Practice 1 (30), Practice 2 (30), Foundations for Learning (20). Skills 1 (20)

YEAR TWO: Practice in Context 2 (20), Practice 3 (30), Practice 4 (30), Professional Practice 1 (20), Skills 2 (20)

YEAR THREE: Practice in Context 3 (20), Practice 5 (30), Practice 6 (60), Professional Practice 2 (10)

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

Channel Islands
£9,000
per year
England
£9,000
per year
International
£13,475
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,000
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,000
per year
Scotland
£9,000
per year
Wales
£9,000
per year

The Uni


Course location:

Hereford College of Arts

Department:

Media Arts

Read full university profile

What students say


We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

47%
Illustration

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Design studies

Teaching and learning

71%
Staff make the subject interesting
74%
Staff are good at explaining things
71%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
85%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

70%
Library resources
88%
IT resources
79%
Course specific equipment and facilities
29%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Animation

Sorry, no information to show

This is usually because there were too few respondents in the data we receive to be able to provide results about the subject at this university.

After graduation


We don't have more detailed stats to show you in relation to this subject area at this university but read about typical employment outcomes and prospects for graduates of this subject below.

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Design studies

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£13k

£13k

£17k

£17k

£18k

£18k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

Sorry, no information to show

This is usually because there were too few respondents in the data we receive to be able to provide results about the subject at this university.

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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

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Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

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