Animation BA (Hons) at De Montfort University

Our course combines academic excellence and professional practice, with a focus on producing festival-ready animation, building an online presence and creating an industry- standard showreel to prepare you to work in the industry. 

We encourage you to be innovative, creative and push the boundaries of storytelling and artistic style. You will receive a grounding in the fundamental skills of animation, with the opportunity to develop more specialist skills from the second year of study. 

You will develop your own distinct style and voice, as well as enhancing your technical and creative knowledge by studying modules such as 2D Animation, Critical Studies and Visual Communication. 

Our excellent facilities include dedicated animation, recording and sound studios, graphics studios, computer suites and a suite of Cintiq stations. You will be supported to master professional tools, such as TVPaint, Photoshop, Premiere Pro and After Effects. 

Our supportive and collaborative studio culture creates a nurturing atmosphere that aims to encourage professional development. Teaching is delivered primarily through demonstration and practical workshop sessions, providing hands-on experience in drawing, script writing, idea generation, visual communication, pre-production, audio production and digital 2D animation practice. 

Key features

• Prepare for a rewarding career in the animation industry. Recent graduates are working as animators, VFX technical directors, lead technical runners, compositors, modellers and designers, with companies such as Brown Bag, Studio SOI, Cloth Cat, RJDM, Double Negative and Disney. 

• Access one-to-one support from the  Leicester Media School Drawing Centre  to perfect your drawing skills and meet like-minded artists. 

• Work on a major project tailored to the animation industry, which will give you the chance to enter national and international competitions and festivals. 

• Exhibit your work at the week-long DMU Degree Show, one of Leicester’s biggest art and design shows, where final-year students have the chance to meet talent scouts and win industry prizes. 

• Enjoy developing your skills in a vibrant studio culture and preparing for a future in the animation industry by using our specialist facilities and software. 

• Add an international experience to your CV with our DMU Global programme. Previous trips have seen Animation students draw inspiration from dramatic city skylines and urban environments in New York, Berlin and Hong Kong.