Animation

Animation is a discipline that combines storytelling, visual art, design, and technical skill to create the illusion of movement and bring characters, worlds, and narratives to life. From the hand-drawn traditions of classical animation to the photorealistic computer-generated imagery of contemporary film and games, animation spans an enormous range of styles and techniques, and a degree in the subject develops both creative breadth and technical depth across the full production pipeline.

At Nottingham Trent University you will study this three-year programme as an ambitious storyteller and creative thinker, exploring all aspects of two-dimensional and three-dimensional animation production. You will develop critical and technical skills across the full range of animation disciplines, engaging with character design, storyboarding, rigging, lighting, rendering, and post-production alongside the contextual knowledge of animation history that gives your practice intellectual grounding. The programme takes you through every aspect of animation production, giving you both the conceptual understanding of what makes animation work and the technical skills to execute it.

Graduates of animation work across film and television, games, advertising, interactive media, visual effects, e-learning and education, and the growing world of virtual and augmented reality. Studios range from major visual effects houses and animation production companies to independent studios, games developers, broadcasters, and agencies producing animated content for digital platforms. Roles include character animator, visual development artist, technical director, rigger, motion graphics designer, storyboard artist, and animation director.

Some graduates work as freelancers across multiple clients and platforms, building versatile practices that span commercial and personal work. Postgraduate study in animation, visual effects, games design, or character design is an option for those who wish to develop specialist expertise or move into teaching and research.