UDILLANI - BA Illustration and Animation

BA (Hons) Illustration and Animation explores the rich heritage and history of hand-crafted illustration and animation while also exploiting the vast possibilities of the new digital age of image making and animation.

Our students are encouraged to engage with the world around them through live briefs, socially and globally engaged studio projects and engagement with commercial practice. Throughout the course, students have frequent opportunities to establish links with the creative industries within and beyond illustration and animation so that they can understand the expectations of the industry and the opportunities available to them. Across the three years of study students have the benefit of talks by prominent freelance Illustrators and animators, commissioners, illustration and animation agencies and studios at all scales. The course has excellent well-established links with cultural institutions and design studios that enable these employment-focused collaborations. Through these learning opportunities, students learn how to recognise differing audiences and identify how to engage and communicate with them through their craft. The ability to do this is essential, whether for self-initiated projects and promoting one’s own work or being able to offer commercial clients the ability to galvanise audiences and connect with a market. In this way, graduates are prepared for demands of their ever-changing creative industry through becoming creative, inquisitive, professional, experimental, critical, resourceful, highly skilled and individually distinctive illustrators and animators.

The course has been designed in consultation with students and employers in order to ensure that it meets the aspirations of our students and the demands of the contemporary employment environment in illustration and animation. It aligns with the University’s Strategic Plan, the Education for Social Justice Framework and Student Partnership Agreement in promoting accessible and inclusive education in an environment that respects and values the identities of our students and accommodates diversity in all its forms. Consideration has been given to the QAA Subject Benchmark Statement for Art and Design (2019), the QAA Higher Education Qualifications Framework, and the University’s Academic Regulations.

Each year of study comprises of four year-long 30-credit modules in the areas of course
specific skills, design development and realisation, professional practice, cultural and
contextual studies. Students work on projects, both individually and in creative teams to reflect industry practice. Projects are rich and varied developing fundamental skills such as research strategies, conceptual thinking and market analysis alongside practical studio and workshop skills such as digital design, screen-printing, letterpress, lino and intaglio printing and stop frame animation. Students are encouraged to explore these beyond standard applications and to expand their use, crossing disciplines and combining digital and analogue processes to generate innovative outcomes. In order to make this possible, students have access to our extensive MakeWork School workshops with their highly skilled specialist staff whose purpose is to help students recognise the potential of the workshops and technical facilities as outstanding facilities for realising their creative potential through designing and making.

The teaching and learning practices within the course promote:

• a professional perspective, including skills of observation, recording and communication based on an informed attitude and capacity for capturing meaning and expressing messages;

• a highly reflective and personal approach to the creation of images and image sequences, nurturing an imaginative strength but also taking risks through socially responsible authorship;

• critically and historically informed practice that prepares students for future employment as active commercial illustrators, animators, motion graphic designers, independent designers or artists or for further study;

• the exploration and interrogation of visual communication, traditional illustrative and animated approaches for the commercial environment through the use of conventional and digital media.

The aims of this course are aligned with the qualification descriptors within the Quality Assurance Agency’s Framework for Higher Education Qualifications.

Graduates of the course will be able to interrogate, analyse, reflect upon the world around them and thereby find problems worth solving through engaging and innovative illustration or animation propositions. They will be independent critical thinkers and confident, explorative makers in both digital and analogue practice. They will be ethically aware, socially responsible and actively help to work towards a sustainable future. Graduates will be conceptually able, technically proficient and versatile, individual designers. They will be effective communicators aware of the professional requirements of their discipline.

The course’s students will:

employ idea-generated risk-taking, exploratory and innovative strategies for illustration and animation controlling their function and effect;

conduct evidence-based primary research and analysis, developing a rigorous and professional approach to the practice and challenges of the illustration and animation professions;

ensure responsible ethical practice in relation to cultural, environmental, material and social circumstances and the needs of peoples and communities;

understand the working practices, roles and regulatory environment of the sector;

understand the cultural, psychological, emotional, political, technological and economic factors related to the design, production, and impact of illustration and animation;

develop curiosity, a habit of independent enquiry and the capacity to reason, critique and reflect upon their own practice;

through working in both traditional and digital processes and platforms, develop employment-ready design and realisation skills aligned with sector requirements;

develop confident and persuasive presentational and communication skills utilising multidisciplinary approaches and production techniques;

be able to work independently, manage their own time and tasks and those of others, reflect objectively on their own performance, understanding the opportunities for their talents and interests, and plan effectively for the future, including self-development for career advancement.

On completion of this course, students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding:

1. recognise and describe the relationship existing between illustration and animation, culture, environment and society, and commerce and the economy (both historic and current) and the relevance of these relationships to the practice of illustration and animation;
2. analyse and understand a range of illustration and animation precedents and relevant contextual theories and utilise that understanding in their design process;
3. apply ethical and regulatory principles and standards that are required for the proper conduct of professional practice;

Cognitive Intellectual Abilities:

4. apply critical intellectual skills to interrogate creative problems; utilising direct observation and primary and secondary research to enable independent critical analysis, reasoned and evidenced argument, and persuasive proposals;
5. make reasoned and considered judgements and decisions in situations where uncertainty, ambiguity and conflicting interests render simple solutions inappropriate and unviable, considering and balancing the needs of all parties and users as fairly as possible;

Transferable Skills:

6. independently and collaboratively communicate illustration and animation proposals to colleagues, industry professionals, clients, invested communities and the general public, through the effective use of a range appropriate visualisation techniques;
7. as part of the design process, communicate ideas and proposals effectively by oral, written and visual means to others with clarity and confidence, using skills of persuasion and negotiation to secure the desired outcome;
8. exercise independent project management skills, including time and task management, team leadership and collaboration, self-evaluation and critical reflection;

Subject-Specific Practical Skills:

9. generate complex and detailed design concepts and proposals suitable for illustration, animation and multidisciplinary design projects, through analogue and digital designing and visualisation techniques;
10. develop confident entrepreneurial and self-promotional skills to maximise employment and career opportunities;
11. understand the roles and associated expertise of the extended team members in the illustration and animation sectors and work effectively in that context;

Professionalism and Values:

12. demonstrate confidence, resilience, ambition and creativity and act as inclusive, collaborative and socially responsible practitioners and professionals in their discipline;
13. ensure that social, cultural, ethical, and environmental contexts are engaged in the design process alongside economic and business factors.

QAA Subject Benchmark Statement; Art and Design (2019)

The assessment strategy for the course has been designed holistically, to ensure fairness, accessibility and inclusivity as well as manageable timing, workloads and clarity of expectations for students, and to avoid duplication of assessment of learning outcomes. Where appropriate, students are engaged as partners in the design of their assessments.

The assessment regimes for the modules and tasks are designed together with the briefs, prior to the start of the year, considering student, external examiner, professional collaborator and colleague feedback from previous instances. The requirements of briefs and their components, the assessment criteria, grading scheme and descriptors are published and explained to students at the start of the year and are designed to be used as consistently as possible, to avoid unnecessary complication.

In every case, there is required formative assessment and feedback prior to summative assessment at set points. This is recorded so that it can be used by both students and staff to track further progress and engage support where it is required. Feedback follows good pedagogic practice in that it is constructed as ‘feed-forward’, with a focus on specific actions and strategies as to how to improve, not only on what requires improvement.

Students are informed of the procedures for first, second and parity marking, and external examiner scrutiny of the assessment process and marks, to ensure that they understand and have confidence in the probity of the process and security of the final marks. Additionally, the course engages in Subject and School parity exercises to ensure that assessment standards are consistent.

Work-based learning is embedded in the course through live projects, industry visits, visiting professional speakers and participation in public events. The course also offers the potential opportunity for work-placements where applicable.

The majority of tutors and lecturers contributing to the course are practitioners who share their knowledge and experience with students throughout their course of study. The flexible practice-led model of delivery for the course means that evolving opportunities for work-related learning through collaboration with external companies, agencies, institutions, competitions and professionals are taken up as they arise.

Students’ understanding of professional standards and expectations builds as they progress from level to level. During their first year students are introduced to professional practice concepts and principles and in the second and third years, students work towards the goal of the completion of an interview and work ready professional portfolio of project work and/ or showreel, website and CV. Students also have the opportunity to exhibit at the annual summer show, the Christmas market and other associated events.

Part-time Structure

Year 1: DN4024 Skills and Principles, DN4025 Message and Meaning

Year 2: CP4021 Critical & Contextual Studies 1 (Visual Communication), DN4023 Work Ready Level 4

Year 3: DN5027 Skills and Enquiry, DN5028 Voice and Vision

Year 4: CP5021 Critical & Contextual Studies 2 (Visual Communication), DN5026 Work Ready Level 5

Year 5: DN6046 Skills and Innovation, DN6048 Major Project: Illustration and Animation

Year 6: CP6019 Critical and Contextual Studies 3:Dissertation (Visual Communication), DN6045 Work Ready Level 6

All modules on the course are core and compulsory, interim awards are therefore defined by the course structure. The part time route is prescribed (section 23).

The course’s principle of guiding learning through a practice-led curriculum promotes ongoing reflection and personal development. This is supported by regular formative feedback on work in progress that enables students to understand their progress and find opportunities for multiple and individualised routes to successful outcomes. Modules are year-long, with interim points of review, which ensures that students, together with their tutors, can devise study strategies appropriate to individual learning styles, while ensuring monitoring of engagement and progress. There are regular peer-to-peer presentations and feedback points which enables students to become increasingly more confident and develop interpersonal professional skills. Students are asked to reflect on the work they are looking at as well as the work that they do as part of their course work.
The course’s engagement with external partners and employers ensures that personal development for career planning is effectively contextualised and suitable for the contemporary workplace.

Students are prepared for employment through the course’s ‘Work Ready’ modules that run across all three years. These modules prepare students for work with industry guests, live projects, potential work placements and the preparation of professional standard portfolios of project work and/ or showreel, website and CV. Roles within the illustration and animation industries are wide-ranging and our course seeks to enable students to develop specific and transferable skills for industry. Students develop skills that can prepare them for roles such as: editorial illustrator, storyboard artist, art director, freelance illustrator, freelance animator, animation director, prop maker, concept artist, various roles within animation production companies and for entry onto illustration or animation courses at MA level.

Additionally, both curricular and extracurricular opportunities are provided by Accelerator, London Met’s Student Enterprise programme which supports current London Met students and graduates for five years after graduation. Students also have access to the London Met Careers and Employability team.

Upon successful completion of the degree, you’ll be equipped with the skills and attributes required to succeed in the complex and diverse world of illustration in the design and visual communication industries. Possible career destinations include publishing, editorial, graphic design, advertising, web-design, authorship and self-publication, concept design, film and theatre and freelance/commission-based illustration.

In addition to the University's standard entry requirements, you should have:

• a minimum of grades BBC, one of which should come from a relevant subject area in the arts, humanities or social sciences (or a minimum of 112 UCAS points from an equivalent Level 3 qualification in a relevant art and design subject)
• a portfolio ready for review (see below for more information)
• GCSE English at grade C/grade 4 or above

If you don't have traditional qualifications or can't meet the entry requirements for this undergraduate degree, you may still be able to gain entry by completing our Illustration and Animation (including foundation year) BA (Hons), Illustration and Animation (with preparatory semester) BA (Hons) or Art and Design (including foundation year) BA (Hons).

We encourage applications from international/EU students with equivalent qualifications. We also accept mature students with diverse backgrounds and experiences.

Suitable applicants living in the UK will be invited to a portfolio interview. Applicants living outside the UK will be required to submit a portfolio of work via email.

Portfolios and interviews

Your portfolio should be selective, but have enough work to show a range of your interests and talents. We are interested in seeing how you develop a project from beginning to end, not only finished work.

If you cannot bring certain pieces of your work to your portfolio interview, please take photographs and include them.

Physical portfolio

If you are coming in person to your interview we strongly suggest bringing a physical portfolio of work.

Things to bring:

• Sketchbooks – we love to see your sketchbooks with ideas and notes, even if they are messy.
• Examples of the development of a project from start to finish and the final outcome.
• Some work that you are really proud of and want to talk about.
• Some work that shows you experimenting with different processes.
• Illustration and Animation BA applicants are particularly encouraged to show sketchbooks that have drawing and image making in them.

Digital portfolio

If you are submitting an online application, please follow these guidelines.

Things to include:

• Scans or photographs demonstrating items from the list above.
• Storyboarding for motion-based work.
• Also include scans of sketchbook pages showing development.

Be sure to check the resolution and overall quality of your image to ensure submissions are not pixelated.