Animation MA

Develop your creative expertise to influence how audiences see and understand the social, political and cultural animated worlds and experiences you create. Discover the world-class Animation programme at the Royal College of Art, renowned for its artistic excellence, director-led approach and innovative risk-taking. Our students delve into the dynamic realm of animation, exploring the intersections of virtual reality, augmented reality and new media art.

The programme attracts individuals from a notably wide range of disciplines who wish to explore their fields through animation, including, for example, film, architecture, graphic design, literature, communication arts, performance, art history, computing, illustration, pure and applied sciences and maths or fine art, or a combination of these.

Candidates are selected entirely on merit and applications are welcomed from all over the world. The selection process considers creativity, imagination and innovation as demonstrated in your application and portfolio, your technical animation skills and your potential to benefit from the programme and to achieve high MA standards overall.

Freelance animators, animators for film and TV production companies, content creators, festival and gallery artists.

Visit www.rca.ac.uk/scholarships for funding options and advice.

The curriculum revolves around practice-as-research, experimentation, and constructive critique, with a discursive approach emphasising the development of creative time-based content through collaboration, questioning, exchange, and process exploration. Digital tools, deep learning processes, sound, display practices, and film language enhance these traditional media. We engage with various screen-based and related forms, including installations, projection mapping, VR, AR, extra-cinematic animation, theatre environments, sci-tech visualisation tools, and the spatial politics of citizen science games or apps.

The Royal College of Art is the world’s leading university of art and design, placing at Number One in the 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 QS World University Rankings.

Wholly postgraduate and specialising in teaching and research, the RCA offers the degrees of MA, MPhil and PhD across the disciplines of applied art, fine art, design, communications and humanities. There are over 1,750 Master’s and doctoral students and more than 1,000 professionals interacting with them - including scholars, art and design practitioners--along with specialists, advisers and distinguished visitors.

The College is rightly proud of its graduates'​ achievements. Alumni from the RCA form part of an international network of creative individuals who have shaped and continue to shape the culture surrounding all of us – from the landscape of our cities to the furniture and appliances in our homes, and from the clothes we wear and the films we watch to the work we experience in galleries and the cars we drive.