Animation & Games
Entry requirements
UCAS Tariff
Although many of our students do come in with top grades and high UCAS points, these aren’t necessarily essential for entry. We typically ask for a minimum of 112 UCAS points, but we understand that talented artists, designers and makers can have a wide range of relevant strengths and skills beyond formal qualifications. We’re just as interested in exploring your portfolio and discussing your creative experiences as we are in seeing your grades.
You may also need to…
Attend an interview
Present a portfolio
About this course
This course has alternative study modes. Contact the university to find out how the information below might vary.
**Bring your character designs and illustrative concepts to life with our BA (Hons) Animation & Games course, where you will invent new, imaginary worlds using the latest 2D and 3D software and techniques. You’ll develop the technical skills and production experience necessary to thrive in the top animation and gaming creative studios internationally.**
Globally the animation industry is estimated to be worth £170 billion, with the gaming industry predicted to be worth £140 billion by 2021. Whether your interest is in film, television, video games, online content, VFX, motion graphics or VR, we’ll help you enter the market with the knowledge and skills necessary for a leading role in the industry.
In our state-of-the-art multimedia studio environment, you can explore the full range of the drawing, modelling, editing, rendering, and scripting techniques, giving you an unrivalled opportunity to take a multifaceted view of the animation and games world. Working within the creative incubator of our School of Arts + Media, you’ll not only gain knowledge of the latest software used in the creative industry and develop collaborative skills across disciplines, you’ll be encouraged to develop as an emerging artist-designer with your own unique creative voice. You’ll also have the opportunity to work alongside students from our award winning Film & Screen Arts course and Film Studies, as well as collaborating with Animation and Games students in interdisciplinary projects.
Our animation and games studio facilities are fully equipped with industry-standard hardware and software such as Unreal Engine, Substance Painter, Toon Boom, 3D Studio Max, Maya, Marmoset Toolbag, Z-Brush and Adobe Master Suite. You’ll have your own high-spec, cloud-render enabled workstation with drawing monitors, as well as access to VR devices, cintiqs, a stop-motion studio, green screen studio and a state-of-the-art 3D printing and scanning studio.
Some of the core specialisms you’ll study include preproduction concept art for the entertainment industry, 2D and 3D world-building, drawing, environment art, environmental and particle textures, game play, level design, 2D and 3D character design, stop-motion animation, 2D and 3D animation, and special effects.
Our Animation & Games students have gone on to work at leading creative studios such as Creative Assembly, Playstation, Rebellion Studios, and Industrial Light and Magic. Recent contributors to the course include Jim Parkyn from Aardman Studios, Jack Eaves and Frederic Fitzpatrick from Rebellion Studios, Tim Nguyen from Playstation, and Henry South from ILM (Industrial Light and Magic).
Graduates can become:
- UX & UI designers
- Animators
- Filmmakers
- art directors
- Illustrators
- Special effects artists
Modules
In your first year, you’ll explore all aspects of animation through a range of short projects, covering key production skills such as narrative development, storyboarding and character performance.
You will learn technical production skills in 2D, CGI and stop-motion methods of practice, giving you an opportunity to see which way you would like your own work to develop.
Your second year is more focused, with an emphasis on production team working, as you share skills with others while you develop your own specialism. You will be supported in progressing your animation career path through professional development modules.
In your final year, you’ll put your own stamp on a dynamic and professional showreel, which will demonstrate your production skills to the industry and associated sectors that use animation as a creative medium.
You will have focused lectures on marketing and distributing your work either to the independent film sector or to the commercial end of the animation and games industries.
Tuition fees
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Computer games design
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Cinematics and photography
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After graduation
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Creative arts and design
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
£17k
£16k
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