Animation digital portfolio guidance

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Your portfolio plays a key role in determining your suitability to study Animation BA (Hons) at De Montfort University and should be a reflection of the breadth of your capabilities as well as an insight into your evident interest and curiosity for animation.

Your portfolio should demonstrate your passion for the subject with sketches, storyboards, scripts, concepts and test animation. We expect to see personal artwork, coursework and sketchbooks to give us an overview of your artistic abilities. Please include other personal creative activities you may have developed to support your application.

This guidance outlines specific aspects for you to consider whilst preparing your portfolio, as well as specific requirements that we hope to see in your digital portfolio when applying to study Animation BA (Hons) at DMU.

What are we looking for?

Hear from Subject Group Leader Dan Morley and our other creative design academics as they share their top tips for what to include in your portfolio.

We believe that the quality of work in a portfolio is more important than the quantity, so we are keen to see the work that demonstrates your full potential as an artist.

It must include a full range of personal artwork, coursework and sketchbooks, enabling us to fully assess your capabilities. Do not miss out other personal creative activities you have developed that might be important to support your application.

Essential

Any relevant coursework at A Level / BTEC level showing development through to the final artwork.
Sketchbook demonstrating imagination and developmental skill. Both technical and playful submissions are welcomed - we want to see your creative world! This can include; comics, character designs, illustrations, life drawing.
Observational sketches, this can include; life drawing, environmental sketches, still life, paintings.

Desirable

Use of digital software such as Photoshop, Illustrator, ProCreate and any other creative app.
Experimental animation in digital and/or manual. Any work demonstrating an active, foundational interest in animation production.
Concept design of characters and/or props.
Storyboards evidencing composition, a coherent narrative and drawing skill.
Script-writing and short stories.

Demonstrating your imagination and willingness to be involved in creative practice is the main criteria we identify. We encourage you not to include work that is fan art or copies of photographs, film stills and other artists’ work. We want to get a sense of who YOU are as an artist, so show us!

Traditional Drawing

Include examples of observational human figures, still life and both rural and urban landscapes. Please include images of any artistic work you may also have such as paintings, sculptures, etc

This shows us your ability to interpret visual information, and communicate physical form in 2D, a vital skill for Animation.

Digital work

Digital pieces related to character design, comics, environments and concepts are an advised addition to your portfolio. Work should communicate an interest in creative practice, willingness to experiment with different styles and demonstrate developmental skill.

We are looking for enthusiastic artists, so we would recommend that you include examples of your own work in addition to school or college projects. This gives us insight into your motivation and passion - which we love to see. It is recommended that you allow us to see your full capabilities as an illustrator and animator.

Sketchbooks

The sketchbook should be the place and time to explore your own ideas and be playful. We expect to see ideas generation, concepts, rough sketches and a diverse range of creativity. These sketchbooks can support coursework, and also demonstrate a self-directed creative output.

Your application

Once you have made an application for the programme, you will be required to submit an online portfolio of high-quality, scanned work.

The contents of your digital portfolio should reflect your strongest work and contain a full range of personal artwork, and coursework and include sketchbook.
Make sure the work is clear and easy to see with a clear background.
Take high-quality pictures of your work and when inserting them into your presentation make sure that are JPEGS and not larger than 72dpi.
Ensure all work is included within this single file, rather than directing us to your website or Instagram account.
If you are including moving images such as animation or video please use .mp4, .MOV or .AVI format.
Compress or zip your file so that it does not exceed 1GB in size.
The name of your file should be your name, student reference number and the title of the course you have applied for.
We would like to see your own artwork - the use of AI-generated concepts and/or digitally manipulated images of other artist's work are not acceptable.
Submit your file via www.mailbigfile.com/dmuac

Your digital portfolio will then be reviewed by our experienced programme academics, who may contact you for further work if necessary. Upon review of your digital portfolio, a decision will be made about whether you will be accepted onto the course; which could result in a reduced offer.

Questions?

If you have any questions about your digital portfolio, please contact our Applicant Events Team who will be happy to help you.

E: applicantevents@dmu.ac.uk

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