While developing a unique visual style, you’ll also focus on the core foundations: studying the world around you, refining your drawing skills and learning to tell stories through moving images.

You’ll go on group reportage drawing trips, with opportunities to visit museums, galleries and animation festivals in the UK and overseas. You’ll find lots of visual inspiration in Cambridge – from the Botanic Gardens to the art collection in the Fitzwilliam Museum, to the city’s architectural beauty and vibrant cultural and student life.

On campus, you’ll have access to our dedicated animation production suites, which feature high-end 3D CGI and camera, lighting and sound recording equipment. They're full of the tools you need for traditional hand-drawn and stop-motion animation, experimental and industry-focused digital animation. As well as this, all our Illustration and Animation students have access to printmaking facilities and life drawing studios.

As a student at ARU you’ll receive ongoing support to find placements and work experience and you can also take an optional placement year. You'll develop a professional showreel, present your work at festivals and fairs, as well as on our Instagram page, and attend guest lectures from some of the top animation studios in London, such as Passion Pictures, The Mill, FrameStore and Studio Aka. You can also take advantage of our relationships with animators, illustrators and production studios such as Curveball Media and Allia Future Business Centre, to build a strong body of work ready for a professional career in the creative industry.