Animation MA
- Creative arts
- Games and digital media
- Postgraduate
This Kingston School of Art MA in Animation will give you interdisciplinary skills and knowledge to thrive in rapidly changing cultural, technological and professional environments. On this Kingston University course, you’ll explore and experiment with a range of interlinked and adaptable technologies, methods and media.
Create moving images that move people
Get to grips with a wide range of media, from 2D and 3D animation to virtual reality and augmented reality.
Studying our Animation MA will open exciting doors to opportunities in the global animation industry. Graduates have gone on to direct films, start their own studios and work in high-profile VFX houses across the world.
During the course, you’ll use animation to turn knowledge, stories, ideas and data into visual or experiential outputs, communicating complexity with empathy. Our expert teachers will support you to develop an individual practice informed by a culture of research and collaboration.
Guided by a multidisciplinary approach, you’ll have the creative freedom to develop your own critical approach to advanced animation practice. There will also be the opportunity to complete an extended research project, usually a film.
Through a blend of tutorials, lectures, seminars, workshops and research projects, you’ll gain the critical tools, knowledge and confidence needed to stand out in the job market.
Why choose this course
While you study, you’ll benefit from top quality teaching at Kingston University. We are ranked Gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework, and our facilities are second to none.
Here’s what you’ll have access to as an MA Animation student:
The Art School Experience
As part of Kingston School of Art, students benefit from joining a creative community where we encourage collaborative working and critical practice.
Our workshops and labs are open to all disciplines, enabling students and staff to work together, share ideas and explore multi-disciplinary making.
Course content
Through tutorials, field trips, lectures, seminars, workshops and research projects, you will gain the technical skills, critical tools, knowledge and confidence to contribute to the development of the subject and its practice. You will examine your own practice and identify existing practice-based research methods. These will then be developed by introducing discipline-specific notions of rigour, originality, ethics, positioning and inclusivity.
Modules have been designed and aligned to ensure you can make intellectual links between practice, critical theory and real-world scenarios. The programme prioritises the development of an individual practitioner and their creative work.
There is an emphasis on independent and self-directed learning. You will be given autonomy to develop a practice that supports your aspirations and ambitions. Skills in critical reflection and analysis give you the tools to make decisions about your practice and learning trajectory. You will have the opportunity to initiate, propose, and realise an Extended Research Project (Capstone Project), typically a film, that is ambitious in scale and scope.
Studio modules include development of animation skills, concepts and practice through project work and use the studio as a site for making.
Reading modules focus on critical and contextual theory or issues and positioning practice critically.
Presentation modules orientate you within a professional landscape and include preparation for employment through development of Future Skills and career planning.
The three Studio modules are specific to MA Animation and the Reading and Presenting modules are shared with MA Illustration and MA Graphic Design programmes.
Please note that this is an indicative list of modules and is not intended as a definitive list. Those listed here may also be a mixture of core and optional modules.
Year 1
Core modules
Optional placement year
Many postgraduate courses at Kingston University allow students to do a 12-month work placement as part of their course. The responsibility for finding the work placement is with the student; we cannot guarantee the work placement, just the opportunity to undertake it. As the work placement is an assessed part of the course, it is covered by a student's Student Route visa.
Find out more about the postgraduate work placement scheme.
Module
Career opportunities
You’ll complete this course with a refined set of animation knowledge and skills – ready to achieve big things in the global animation industry.
Our graduates have gone on to direct animation, motion graphics, adverts, pop promos and instructional educational films. Some have even become directors and showrunners on shows for Netflix and Cartoon Network, Aardman, Nexus, Buck in New York and LA.
Others graduates have started their own collectives and animation studios, such as Moth and Blink/BlinkInk, Catfish Collective or Arc, or gone on to work in VFX houses like Framestore and Moving Picture Company.
This course also gives you the interrelated skills you need to work as an art director, designer or storyboard artist for the live-action film industry. You could even go on to teach and lead higher education initiatives that harness the power of moving image to create global and societal change across the world.
Teaching and assessment
You'll benefit from a variety of different learning and teaching approaches, including brief-led project work, workshops and individual critical reflection. We take a dialogic and discursive approach to learning and teaching, through peer-led learning, collaborative approach to animation production and discussion groups and seminars. There are also opportunities to co-construct the curriculum. An elective range of assessment strategies and methods allows students to take responsibility for their own learning.
Kingston School of Art has an established an ethos of Thinking Through Making, underpinned by a policy that supports equal access for all students to the 2D and 3D workshops. Students are encouraged to explore new and unfamiliar processes and techniques, and use these to experiment and innovate within their own disciplines and individual creative practices
Fees and funding
Fees for future course years
Part time
If you start your second year straight after Year 1, you will pay the same fee for both years.
If you take a break before starting your second year, or if you repeat modules from Year 1 in Year 2, the fee for your second year may increase.
Additional course costs
Some courses may require additional costs beyond tuition fees. When planning your studies, you’ll want to consider tuition fees, living costs, and any extra costs that might relate to your area of study.
Your tuition fees include costs for teaching, assessment and university facilities. So your access to libraries, shared IT resources and various student support services are all covered. Accommodation and general living expenses are not covered by these fees.
Where applicable, additional expenses for your course may include:
Funding support for postgraduate students
If you are a UK student living in England and under 60, you can apply for a loan to study for a postgraduate degree. Find out more through the government's website.
Scholarships and bursaries
Interested in studying an MA in Animation at Kingston? The following funding support is available:
How to apply
Before you apply
Please read the entry criteria carefully to make sure you meet all requirements before applying.
How to apply online
Use the course selector drop-down at the top of this page to choose your preferred course, start date and mode, then click 'Apply now'. You will be taken to our Online Student Information System (OSIS) where you will complete your application.
If you’re starting a new application, you’ll need to select ‘new user’ and set up a username and password. This will allow you to save and return to your application.
Application deadlines
We encourage you to apply as soon as possible. Applications will close when the course is full.
After you apply
If the admission tutor wants to see your portfolio, we will email asking you to upload your zipped portfolio to the OSIS portal within three weeks. If we need more information or want to invite you for an interview, we will be in touch directly. After that you will then hear whether your application has been successful.
Course changes and regulations
The information on this page reflects the currently intended course structure and module details. To improve your student experience and the quality of your degree, we may review and change the material information of this course. Find out more about course changes
Programme Specifications for the course are published ahead of each academic year.
Regulations governing this course can be found on our website.
