Video Game Digital Art with Foundation Year

Course Summary

This three-year BA (Hons) Video Game Digital Art with Foundation Year* responds to the growing demand for skilled, team-orientated, reflexive graduate professionals ready to succeed. Working in a lively and energetic environment, students will be given the freedom to expand their knowledge of practical skills, creative exploration and conceptual development, underpinned by broad critical understanding, academic writing and emerging theoretical principles. There will be a range of opportunities to work on collaborative and individual projects aimed to develop employability partnerships and to identify the role of developing practitioner. BA teaching staff from across all schools within the Birmingham Institute of Creative Arts will work closely with students throughout the course to prepare them for progression. After successful completion of the foundation year, students will have the flexibility to switch (should they wish to change direction) onto a number of related undergraduate degree programmes within the School of Games, Film and Animation, Birmingham School of Art or the School of Visual Communication. Interactive entertainment and video games development are key sectors for contemporary culture, economic growth and employment locally in the Midlands, nationally and globally. What's covered in the course? This course gives you a guaranteed video game development placement in our in-house studio, which will take place over the summer term of the course. The workplace simulation approach of our school (The School of Games, Film & Animation) has been championed by the influential 2009 Livingstone Next Gen Report, which cited us as a national best practice example for developing new talent for the games industry. The course covers both core and technical art skills. It starts with helping you develop your core art skills, so expect to be doing a lot of drawing and studying topics including colour theory, composition, value and tone. Once we’ve covered the fundamentals we’ll move onto supporting you develop your technical and digital art skills. You will focus on 2D and 3D graphics covering, texturing, user interface design, environment art, character art, animation and art pipelines for interactive products. Building upon your core and technical art skills, in the first year after your foundation year you will be tasked with a specific role within our in-house game development studio over the summer term. This work experience gives you the opportunity to apply the knowledge and professional practices you’ve learnt on the course in a safe and supportive environment. Typically for these projects you’ll be using industry-standard game development tools such as Unity and Unreal. These summer projects have in the past been mentored and supported by external partners such as Red Bee Media, FreeStyleGames and Codemasters. The work you’ll produce during these summer placements can act as excellent portfolio pieces, demonstrating your ability as both a professional artist and effective team member. Throughout your degree, you will be provided with a structured programme of learning, in line with your chosen specialism of video game art. The course culminates with a project you define yourself which targets a specific subsector of the games industry, such as character art, concept art, environment art or user experience (among others). You have the choice of either proposing your own individual project or collaborating with other students to create another video game project for your portfolio. *Subject to approval - the content of this course has been refreshed and updated to make sure you graduate with the skills employers need in an ever-changing job market. Our quality control experts are currently reviewing the content and we anticipate receiving formal approval shortly.

Course Details - Modules

Modules are not listed for this Course.

Course Details – Assessment Method

Assessment Methods are not listed for this Course.

Course Details – Professional Bodies

Professional Bodies are not listed for this Course.

How to Apply

26 January This is the deadline for applications to be completed and sent for this course. If the university or college still has places available you can apply after this date, but your application is not guaranteed to be considered.

Application Codes

Course code: 1143

Institution code: B25

Campus Name: Parkside Building Campus

Campus code:

Points of Entry

The following entry points are available for this course:

Foundation

Entry Requirements for Advanced Entry (Year 2 and Beyond)

Entry Requirements for Advanced Entry are not listed for this Course.

International applicants

Standard Qualification Requirements

A maximum of 4 subjects are considered. These can be other A/S Levels (as long in a different subject) A-Levels or Level 3 equivalents.

Achieve a minimum of 80 tariff points achieved in either five Highers or from a combination of two Advanced Highers plus two Highers. Where only Highers have been taken a minimum of grades CDDDD is required. Where a combination of Highers and Advanced Highers have been taken you must achieve grades of DD in two Advanced Highers plus grades of DD in two Highers.