Animation & Games
Animation and games are disciplines that bring visual storytelling, interactive design, and technical craft together, asking how movement, character, and narrative can be created through drawn, modelled, and coded means. Animation has a history stretching from early hand-drawn films through stop-motion and cel animation to the fully digital production of contemporary feature films and streaming content. Games design and development is a younger but extraordinarily dynamic field, encompassing everything from small independent games exploring personal and experimental themes to vast multiplayer environments with millions of players.
Both disciplines require creative imagination, technical skill, and the ability to work collaboratively across complex production processes.
At Arts University Plymouth this three-year full-time programme includes a sandwich year and a work placement, giving you professional industry experience during your studies. You will develop projects through storytelling, prototyping, and problem-solving, learning to lead in interdisciplinary contexts and to work effectively whether in a large organisation or a small studio. The programme develops knowledge of entertainment design, integrated studies, and the humanities and arts alongside the technical skills of animation and game production, building a comprehensive and sustainable creative approach that prepares you for a fast-changing industry.
A professional portfolio of work built throughout the programme demonstrates your capabilities to prospective employers in a sector where practical ability is assessed directly.
Graduates in animation and games find careers across the entertainment and creative industries. 3D animation, character design, visual development, game design, narrative design, level design, environment art, and technical art are among the most common specialisations. Animation studios, games developers of all sizes, visual effects companies, and digital media agencies recruit graduates with strong portfolios.
The sandwich year experience is a significant advantage in competitive entry-level roles. Many graduates also develop independent creative practices or continue to postgraduate study in animation, games, or related fields.