Level 3 Animation & Game Art

Course content & format

Outstanding Value Added and 100% achievement is a consistent accolade for the course.

State of the art equipment including our art studios, professional development PCs, industry-standard software, graphics tablets and Cintiq.

The two year course covers units that explore knowledge, skills and understanding in the areas of observational drawing, ideas and concepts, communication and contextual influences, concept art, 2D digital artwork, 3D Modelling, 2D and 3D animation, 2D and 3D game design, production pipeline and story development for computer games.

Following successful completion of this 2 year course you will receive a Level 3 qualification in Animation & Game Art, up to 168 UCAS points and the equivalent of 3 A Levels. The course is also recognised by employers and apprenticeship schemes.

Your learning experience

If you would like to learn, develop and use a broad range of industry standard skills and techniques to boost your higher education and career prospects, within the Animation & Game Art field then this is the course for you.

For many years this course has supported progression routes to highly prestigious universities within the animation and game art sector.

The connections that build these relationships begin when you start your course and develop strongly throughout. Exciting portfolio led projects and lessons delivered by highly skilled professionals support this extremely well established qualification.

This Animation and Game Art course offers a professional learning environment, industry experienced teachers and award winning provision with a proven track record in industry and higher education. A studio based active learning environment means that our learners receive highly valuable feedback along the way.

On the course you will learn the fundamental knowledge and specialist skills for Animation and Game Art such as concept art, character design, 3D modelling, 2D and 3D Animation, traditional art techniques (drawing, mark making and texture design), software skills (Unreal Engine, Adobe After Effects and Photoshop, Substance Painter, Autodesk Maya and Mudbox).

You will develop your skills through undertaking a broad range of projects which will include game art and character animation. You will be working with high specification resources and will have access to industry standard equipment in our fully equipped PC suite with Wacom screen tablets for every PC.

You will be involved in the department’s Creative Jam, here you will work on projects in collaboration with learners from different subject areas.

This experience will help you to develop as a well-equipped creative individual, with a cross section of skills to give you strengths in the wider area of the Creative, Digital & Performing Arts.

The college has regularly offered exciting trips to enrich learning and project work. You will have opportunities to go on a variety of planned trips through the college.

Entry qualifications

• You are required to have 4 GCSEs grade 9 to 4 including Maths and/or English.

• A demonstrable interest in Animation or Game Art or a GCSE in a creative subject.

• A successful interview with an Animation and Game Art tutor (bring a portfolio of your Animation or Game Art work).

• Good verbal and written communication skills.

• Good drawing ability, design skills and confident computer skills are a bonus.

How is this course assessed?

100% Coursework.
On this course you will receive project briefs that will introduce you to a scenario, question or creative challenge to solve. This setting will take you on a journey that could require you to produce sketchbooks, digital portfolios, Blogs, design sheets, 3D or 2D outcomes, artists/designer analysis, experiments, maquettes, presentations and many more. All of these requirements will be supported through specialist workshops, tutorials, advice and guidance, feedback and discussion.

Staff in this area pride themselves on their ability to work with each individual learner to realise their creative potential.

What can I do next?

• After completing this course, students may go on to higher education within Animation & Game Art.

• Some of our learners choose different routes and progress into employment, higher level apprenticeships or become self-employed within this specific field.

• Our Graduates have gone on to work at some of the highest profile animation, games and special effects studios in the UK and have won BAFTA, BFX and D&AD awards for their work.

• Ultimately employment within the creative industry may be; Concept Artist, Computer Games Developer, Computer games tester, Software developer, Animator, Illustrator, Spatial designer, 3D Games Designer, Designer/Developer, Animator, plus many more.