You will have opportunities to take part in placements, live projects, seminars with guest speakers and benefit from our connections within the illustration, film, television and animation industry!

Recent guest speakers from our Illustration & Animation department include:

• Atomhawk Design
• Curtis Jobling (designer of Bob the Builder)
• Howard Reed (Little Howard’s Big Question, CBBC)
• Tim Searle(former Head of Animation at Beano Studios)
• RubyETC (illustrator)

Industry Liaison Group
Tim Searle, Animation Director and Producer.
Aardman Academy
Chris Riddell, Cartoonist, Illustrator & Writer
Darren Yeomans, Atomhawk - Concept Art for HETV features & games
Sam Arthur, NoBrow Press
Keith Opie, Paul Windle Studio Designer

Your portfolio is a visual statement it says a lot about an applicant and their practice. The advice below is not meant to be restrictive but rather offers some simple advice to help you prepare for your interview.

What we like to see
Examples of finished design work presented to a good standard. Work-in-progress pieces including developmental drawing, design thinking, alternative ideas, solutions and proposals. The portfolio should indicate an interest in animation and illustration.

Please include work such as:
• Photography
• Drawing
• Illustration
• Painting
• 3D Work (can be photographed)
• Animation
• Short Stories and/or Poetry
• Web Design and Blogging
• Other on-line presence (design and visual arts related)
e.g. Instagram, DeviantArt, Flickr, Behance, etc.

Digital Work
You can also include film/animation/ interactive work. If so, please make sure that you provide correctly formatted files and that the work can be played/showed on Mac computers. Alternatively bring your own laptop or tablet.

Our students benefit from working in a professional space that will allow you to develop and grow your practice properly. Including regular contact time and easy access to our resources. With state of the art technology, studios, print rooms, computer suites and a staff body of working practitioners you will learn the skills needed to start your career in the competitive creative industry properly. Working closely with the Illustration program you will have access to amazing studio spaces and cintiq labs, in spaces reflective of industry standards.

The creative industry contributes a large amount to the countries economy and with industries such as digital design growing at such a fast speed, opportunities are continuously developing. The number of reported jobs in 2019 stood at around 2.1 million in the UK which is a 3.0% increase since 2018. If you want to know more about what you can do with a creative degree, you can find out on our creative careers page.

Our school engages with a wide range of partners working across each creative sub-sector to ensure that teaching and learning are in line with the latest developments in and requirements of industry, including:

Tim Searle
Tim has over 30 years experience of developing, directing and producing award-winning animation. He has written, designed, animated, ‘boarded, edited, produced, directed, and of course made the tea. His animation credits include Mr Bean, Dangermouse, and Dennis & Gnasher Unleashed.
imdb.com

Aardman Animation
Aardman Animation is employee-owned and exists for the benefit of its workforce and the industry they are passionate about. The Aardman Academy is one pillar of Aardman Animation set up to nurture talent and to build sustainable careers They are committed to encouraging talent into the industry by delivering world-class animated-related courses and working with institutions like The School. Working with the Academy gives us access to talented members of the whole Aardman Animation team from animators through haracter developers and story board artists. Film director Mark Hewlis, Head of Aardman Academy, has told us “You can’t create something digitally until you know how it works in the real world.”
academy.aardman.com

Chris Riddell
Chris Riddell, OBE is the popular multi-award winning illustrator and author of children's books and a political cartoonist for the Observer. He has won three Kate Greenaway Medals – an unprecedented achievement in the history of this annual award for the best-illustrated children's book. He held the position of Childrens’ Laureate in 2015/16. He is a long-term friend of The Northern and The Northern Festival of Illustration and was the Valedictory Speaker at our 2017 Graduation Ceremony.

Darren Yeomans
Daren is the Studio Director at Atomhawk Design Ltd. Atomhawk is an international operation, known as a world leading art and design studio. They create concept art, UI/UX design, motion graphics and marketing art for games, film and digital media. They have been involved with some fantastic products including:
- Avengers Age of Ultron, - Guardians of the Galaxy, - THOR II "Dark World" - Mortal Kombat (2009), and many others.
Darren and artists from the studio have worked with the school for several years.
atomhawk.com

Sam Arthur
Sam is the co-founder of the publishing house NoBrow/Flying Eye Books. After 10 years directing music videos, commercials and short films, he set up Nobrow with business partner Alex Spiro. In 2013 they launched Flying Eye Books our dedicated children's book imprint. Sam is CEO of Nobrow Ltd which has offices in London and New York, and Deputy Chair of the Board of Directors of the AOI (Association of Illustrators) as well as Festival Director of ELCAF (East London Comic Arts Festival). Sam has supported The Northern Festival of Illustration.
nobrow.net

Keith Opie Keith is Director and Senior Creative Artist at Paul Windle Design. Apparently he is a “Colour rendering magician and the artist responsible for the sprinkling of our ‘magic fairy dust’ over every piece of work that leaves the studio” Paul Windle Design is a studio of choice for renowned global brands including The Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros, Ravensburger, and TOMY. The studio works on projects as diverse as 3D Design; Branding; Character Creation; Concept art; Game ; Packaging and Product Development
paulwindledesign.co.uk