Illustration with Animation

Illustration with animation brings together two closely related image-making disciplines that have converged powerfully in the contemporary creative industries. Illustration is the art of communicating ideas and stories through static images across a huge range of contexts, from editorial and publishing to advertising and concept art. Animation extends those skills into the moving image, adding time, sequence and motion to the illustrator's visual toolkit.

The combination reflects how contemporary visual practitioners increasingly move fluidly between static and moving forms.

At Manchester Metropolitan University the programme takes a research-informed and diverse approach, developing your practice across a range of processes and forms. With a distinctive emphasis on museums, libraries, archives and literature, the curriculum involves co-created projects with cultural institutions in Manchester, connecting your creative development to real audiences and professional contexts from the start. The programme runs over three years full time and includes a sandwich year in industry and work placement opportunities, giving you the professional experience and portfolio that the creative industries expect from graduates.

Graduates work across the full range of contexts in which illustration and animation are used, from children's publishing and editorial illustration to motion graphics, game concept art, film and television production, advertising and digital content creation. Many build plural careers, combining commercial client work with personal creative projects, exhibition and cultural engagement. The programme's connections to cultural institutions also open routes into arts administration, curatorial work and education.

Postgraduate study in illustration, animation, visual communication or fine art is a natural further route for those who wish to develop specialist expertise.