Animation - BA (Hons)

UCEN Manchester

Our BA (Hons) Animation degree is designed for creative students who want to develop their passion for 2D animation into a professional career. This flexible and inclusive course supports a wide range of creative approaches, encouraging you find your own ways of working and gain the skills needed to thrive in the industry, whether that be as an animator, storyboard artist, character designer, rigger, layout artist or independent filmmaker or related field. From the beginning, you will work with the tools and used by contemporary studios, such as Toon Boom Harmony, Moho and the Adobe Creative Suite. Modules will allow you to develop confidence in 2D character performance, design principles, digital art, storytelling, and the production processes that underpin professional animation. You will create polished sequences and explore visual styles across multiple stages of animation production. Year 1 focuses on skills. You will learn the fundamentals of animation, motion and storytelling while strengthening your artistic ability and software skills. This lays the foundations that will guide the rest of your development. Year 2 encourages you to expand your abilities and personal practice. You will explore specialist areas such as character design, client work, scene layout and motion design. A self-directed creative project also gives you space to experiment and begin forming a portfolio that reflects your individual style. Year 3, allows you to refine your specialism. For the major project you will produce a substantial body of work that showcases your creativity and skill. You will develop a professional portfolio supported by staff with industry experience. During the course workshops and regular feedback will help you grow as an animator. Industry engagement offers valuable insight, so by graduation, you will have a distinctive portfolio and a clear understanding of industry workflows and the confidence to progress into animation and wider creative roles.