Animation

This is a Connected Degree

Portsmouth is the only University in the UK with the flexibility to choose when to do an optional paid placement or self-employed year. Either take a placement in your third year, or finish your studies first and complete a placement in your fourth year. You can decide if and when to take a placement after you've started your course.

Overview

With our Animation degree course, you'll gain the sought-after technical skills, artistic insight, and platform diversity to apply your talent to any form of visual arts, media, or communication. You'll develop advanced abilities in character animation, visual storytelling, compositing and editing, and learn from active industry professionals who’ve directed animations for Disney, Warner Bros., and Cartoon Network, and produced special effects for prominent film franchises like Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and Chronicles of Narnia.

At the end of the course, you’ll be primed for a successful career in 2D or 3D animation across multiple industries.

Course highlights

- Practise the techniques that animators use in the film industry, such as the performance capture process used in the film Avatar

- Learn industry-standard software and production methods and use professional animation equipment including Adobe Creative Cloud, Autodesk Maya, TV Paint, and Wacom Cintiq digital drawing displays

- Meet prospective employers and industry contacts by showcasing your work at our student screening in London

- Gain valuable industry experience and knowledge by taking an optional placement year – either with a company or as self-employed

- Demonstrate your technical proficiency to industry peers by earning Adobe Certified Associate (ACA) accreditation

- Impress the public and potential employers by showcasing your final-year work at our annual Graduate Shows

- Put your artistry and skills to prize-winning test by taking part in our annual University GameJam

Careers and opportunities

The UK’s animation industry creates pioneering content and visual effects worldwide for commercials, websites, games, and interactive technologies. With the rapid development of future technologies such as virtual, mixed, and augmented reality, animation continues to be a growing sector of the global media and entertainment market.

Upon completing our Animation degree course, you can be part of this vital industry that transcends all sectors.

Graduate roles

Our graduates have worked in a wide range of artistic roles, including:

- animators

- concept artists

- directors

- compositors

- creative directors

- art directors

- modellers

- user interface (UI) designers

- post-production technical directors

Graduate destinations

Our graduates have worked at renowned companies such as:

- Climax

- Framestore

- The Mill

- Sony Pictures Animation

- Kuju Games

- Centroid 3d in Pinewood Studios

- Cartoon Network

Graduate productions

Some of our alumni have worked on high-profile feature films and cartoons, including:

- Avatar

- Life of Pi

- Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland

- The Amazing World of Gumball

After you graduate, you can get help, advice and support for up to 5 years from our Careers and Employability service as you advance in your career.