Animation
Kickstart your animation career at USW – Wales’s top-ranked course for Animation and Games (Guardian University Guide 2025). With dual ScreenSkills accreditation, BAFTA-winning lecturers and industry connections, and 30+ years’ expertise, you will join graduates behind Oscar-winning films, hit TV shows and award-winning games worldwide.
How to apply Apply through UCAS Book an Open Day Chat to Us/prod01/channel_2/media/university-of-south-wales/site-assets/images/03-courses/animation-and-games/BA-Computer-Animation-800X800.jpeg)
Key Course Details
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UCAS Code
WW27
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Start Date
September
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Location
Cardiff
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Campus Code
B
Fees
Home students
£9,790*
International students
£16,800*
- Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.
Build your skills and portfolio through core projects, collaborations, live briefs with industry clients and studio visits to leading animation companies.
Designed for:
Ambitious artists and storytellers aiming to turn creativity into a career. You will explore pathways, including character animation, concept design, storyboarding, producing and directing, while mastering 3D technical skills. Graduate with a specialist portfolio showcasing creativity and expertise, ready for the global creative industries.
Career paths:
- 3D Artist
- Animator
- Character/Concept Artist
- Producer/Director
- Storyboard/Pre-viz Artist
Skills taught:
- CG Pipeline
- Character Acting
- Collaboration and Networking
- Industry Tools
- Storytelling and Design
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Course Highlights
Module Overview
Our modules prepare you for a career in animation for film, television, games, VFX and the rapidly expanding world of digital and social media content. Guided by industry experienced staff, you will graduate with a diverse, professional portfolio that showcases your creative voice and career-ready skills.
Year One
- Introduction To Animation and 3D CG Art Techniques
- Bodymechanics and the Human Form (3D CG)
- Narrative Strategies
- Characters and Scenes (3D CG)
- Drawing and Visual Language
- Contextual Studies: Animation
Year Two
- Character Creation, Animation & Implementation for Games
- Creature Creation, Animation & Implementation for Film/TV/VFX
- Business and Employability
- Critical Studies
- Animation Pipeline
Year Three
- Final Major Project Pre-Production (3D CG)
- Minor Project (3D CG)
- Industry and Employability
- Final Major Project Production (3D CG)
- Critical Research: Animation
You will explore character design, movement and visual language, while mastering industry-standard tools and workflows. Working in a collaborative studio environment, you will complete a series of animated projects, laying the creative and technical foundations you will build on throughout the course.
Introduction To Animation and 3D CG Art Techniques
Master animation foundations by creating convincing motion with simple shapes, while learning modelling, texturing and lighting your own character design.
Bodymechanics and the Human Form (3D CG)
Analyse and translate real-world motion into sequences that demonstrate essential skills, including capturing weight, timing and personality, while learning rigging, skinning and animating.
Narrative Strategies
Explore the art of storytelling through semiotics, film language and visual narrative design. Translate your ideas into dynamic visuals through an industry-standard storyboard and animatic with sound.
Characters and Scenes (3D CG)
Design and develop an original character, refining personality and style, then bring it to life with acting, facial animation, and lip sync to create expressive, believable performances.
Drawing and Visual Language
Sharpen your observational skills through life drawing, anatomy studies and quick sketches. Transform these insights into dynamic characters, expressive movement and compelling animated scenes for your portfolio.
Contextual Studies: Animation
Explore animation as an art form and storytelling medium by studying historical and contemporary practitioners, understanding how ideas are communicated and applying these insights to your own creative work.
In your second year, you will refine specialised animation skills through creative and production-focused workflows, collaborative crew projects and self-initiated ideas, while working on live client briefs. This builds professional expertise, confidence and creative momentum in preparation for your third year.
Character Creation, Animation & Implementation for Games
Create 3D CG art or animation assets for games, integration with games engines and pipelines.
Creature Creation, Animation & Implementation for Film/TV/VFX
Create 3D CG art or animation assets for VFX, integration with post-production techniques and pipelines.
Business and Employability
Explore animation historically, contemporarily and personally, shaping career paths and professional attitudes, while developing industry-ready skills and creating a CV, portfolio, showreel and website under expert guidance.
Critical Studies
Study animation’s history and evolution, linking past techniques to today’s industry practices, then research, analyse and apply your findings to create a guiding proposal for final-year projects.
Animation Pipeline
Experience the full production process individually and in groups, developing teamwork and skills through live client briefs, preparing you for the creative challenges of your critical third year.
In your critical final year, you will fully realise the creative and professional ambitions developed in your second year, producing a body of work that highlights your specialism and talent, preparing you for industry opportunities, independent creative work, or both.
Final Major Project Pre-Production (3D CG)
Whether focusing on a short film, showreel, trailer or specialised portfolio, this module lays the foundation for your final-year project, balancing creative vision with practical execution.
Minor Project (3D CG)
This module supports your third-year specialisation, whether individual or team-based, and includes industry projects and placements, providing tailored training and hands-on crew experience.
Business and Employability
This module connects you with the industry through festivals, networking, specialist workshops and expert guidance, all preparing you to showcase your work at the Animation Graduation Showcase.
Final Major Project Production (3D CG)
Bring your final project to life with full academic and technical support, presenting it at the USW Animation Graduation Showcase in our state-of-the-art spaces for industry guests.
Critical Research: Animation
Develop research and critical thinking skills through in-depth study of a chosen topic, evaluating animation practices, trends and history to inform your creative work and professional approach.
Course Highlights
How you’ll learn
Our learning strategy combines in-person lectures with practical, collaborative projects and workshops. This hands-on, industry-focused approach develops your technical skills, creative problem-solving and professional confidence, with ongoing support and feedback to refine work, grow your portfoli, and prepare for a career in animation for film, TV, games and VFX. Each year includes studio visits and collaborations with companies such as Painting Practice, Bad Wolf, Wales Interactive and Cloth Cat, plus a two-day London trip offering behind-the-scenes access to world-leading animation and VFX studios.
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Teaching staff
Our teaching team combines industry professionals and technical experts, delivering experience from animation, film, games, motion graphics, TV and VFX industries into the classroom. From the start, you will receive personalised mentorship and hands-on guidance to develop your unique creative voice and professional skills. Through in-person lectures, workshops and studio-based projects, you will confidently build your learning. This immersive experience ensures you build industry-ready skills, a strong portfolio and the confidence to succeed in a competitive creative career.
Course Leader:
- Jonathan Edwards
Lecturers:
- Dr Brian Fagence
- Dr Leonie Sharrock
- Graham Griffiths
- Matthew Gravelle-Eagles
- Nick Hood
Technical Instructors:
- Charles Rawlins
- James Kimm
- Gustavo Arteaga
- Stan Evens
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Placements and work experience
In your second and third years you will work on live briefs set by industry partners and, where available, apply for competitive work placements with full support from your lecturers and USW Careers. Previous students have gained experience at prestigious studios, including Cinesite and The Mill, and worked on live briefs set by partners such as Blue Zoo, Industrial Light & Magic and MPCVFX. These opportunities give you hands-on experience, professional networking and real insight into industry workflows.
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Facilities
You will study on a dedicated animation floor at our Cardiff campus, equipped with everything you need to create professional-quality work from day one. You will have access to spacious 2D, CG and Stop Motion studios, life drawing spaces and filming rooms, all kitted out with high-spec PCs, ultra-wide monitors, Wacom Cintiqs and industry-standard software, including Autodesk Maya, ZBrush and Adobe Creative Cloud.
Specialist fabrication suites support puppet-making, armatures, sets and props, with 3D printing, laser cutting and model-making facilities, giving you hands-on experience few UK courses can match. You will also collaborate with students in Games, VFX and Motion Graphics using shared resources such as our Green Screen studio, Motion Capture suite, VR Zone and post-production labs, mirroring the pipelines of professional studios.
All equipment and software are available at no extra cost through our Media Loans store and UniApps platform, so you can create anywhere, anytime. With Technical Instructors and IT officers always on hand, you will be supported to focus on producing industry-ready animation that prepares you for studio life.
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Adiee Romans
Animation student
Hayden Powell
Animation student
Chloe Kacperski
Animation student
Ida Mirzaee
Animation graduate
Luke
Computer Games Design student
Siddharth Ravindran
Game Art student
In partnership with
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ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
UCAS points: 96 (or above)
Typical qualification requirements:
- A Level: CCC to include a relevant art and design subject
- Welsh BACC: Advanced Skills Baccalaureate Wales Grade C and CC at A Level with a relevant art and design subject
- BTEC: BTEC Extended Diploma Merit Merit Merit in a relevant art and design subject
- Access to HE: Pass the Access to HE Diploma in a relevant art and design subject with a minimum of 96 UCAS tariff points
- T Level: Pass (C and above) in a relevant art and design subject
Additional requirements include:
The University normally requires a minimum 5 GCSEs including Mathematics/Numeracy and English at Grade C or Grade 4 or above, or their equivalent, but consideration is given to individual circumstances
International applications welcomed:
We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence, please view our dedicated country pages.
English language requirements
International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 4 overall and a minimum of 4 in each component or equivalent.
Equivalents can be located on our English Language pages.
If you have previously studied through the medium of English, IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.
If you do not meet the English entry criteria, please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages.
Contextual offers
We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended, for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer, and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions.
USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.
We're here to help
Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch, and we'd love to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.
Fees and Funding
£9,790
per year*£16,800
per year*Additional Costs
As a USW student, you will have full access to essential resources included in your tuition, from animation textbooks and journals to online databases, industry-standard software, studios and specialist equipment. Optional additional costs, such as puppet-making materials or travel to festivals, are entirely your choice. We provide guidance on alternatives and ways to minimise expenses, helping you plan effectively and make the most of your studies with no hidden surprises.
* Obligatory
Cost: £20 – £50
We will normally cover costs of local trips. We may ask students to cover costs of transport for optional trips further afield.
Cost: £0 - £50 per year
Media Loans
Access industry-standard cameras, lighting, sound and recording gear, supported by free Media Loans and experienced technicians. Everything is there to help you experiment, refine and bring your work to life with confidence.
University Quality Assurance
At USW, we regularly review our courses in response to changing patterns of employment and skills demand to ensure we offer learning designed to reflect today’s student needs and tomorrow’s employer demands.
If during a review process course content is significantly changed, we’ll write to inform you and talk you through the changes for the coming year. But whatever the outcome, we aim to equip our students with the skillset and the mindset to succeed whatever tomorrow may bring. Your future, future-proofed.
Top in UK
Animation and Game Design at USW is top for Teaching Quality and Assessment in the UK (Guardian University Guide 2025).
Top in Wales
Computer Games and Animation is rated top in Wales for overall student satisfaction (NSS 2023)
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Success for Film and Animation Students at RTS Cymru Awards
USW students and graduates have secured eight prestigious accolades at the Royal Television Society (RTS) Cymru Awards, celebrating creativity, innovation and storytelling at the heart of Welsh television. Their award-winning projects spanned entertainment, drama, comedy, and factual storytelling, underscoring the university's commitment to nurturing creative talent.
How to apply
All applications for full-time undergraduate courses or foundation degrees should be made via UCAS. Take the next step: Apply through UCAS. You can apply to us directly for all part-time undergraduate courses, if you’re seeking advanced entry or you’re an international student. To apply directly, please choose the application form below for your preferred start date and mode of study (full-time or part-time).
Advanced entry
If you already have a relevant qualification or experience related to the course you're applying for, you may be eligible to start at a later stage of the course. For example, students from partner colleges can ‘top up’ their qualifications to a degree by joining us in Year Two or Year Three of a course. This process is known as ‘advanced entry’, you can apply directly to the University for 'advanced entry' using the application forms provided above.
Applicants accepted through advanced entry may study a different combination of modules to those advertised, as they will be joining a course already in progress. You will be contacted and advised about these modules once your application has been processed and an offer made.
International admissions
International applicants can apply to us directly. If the University has an in-country team in your region, your application will be assigned to them for assistance.
Life at USW
Halls are a big part of your student experience and there’s accommodation at all three of our locations. If you don’t want to live near the campus, there are great transport links to keep you connected.