Why study animation?

Animation is a huge, and increasingly central, part of the screen industries. In fact, it’s booming.

In the UK alone, the animation sector is worth £1.7 billion (2024). Animation is a big global export, with our iconic characters and titles a beloved part of British heritage. And with the scope of animation extending into video games, VFX, and more – and demand for skilled animators on the rise – this is a great time to become an animator in the UK.

Your career and beyond

Animation is a wonderful path for creative individuals. As a career, there is a broad range of opportunities in the industry. As an artist, it allows you to tell stories, design characters, and create worlds.

Practically, studying animation involves mastering technical skills that are transferrable to roles within the wider screen industries, as well as advertising, graphic design, illustration, and even non-artistic fields like medicine and engineering.

Whatever journey your animation degree takes you on, it’s safe to say that it equips you with skills that will carry you through your life. The discipline, patience, attention to detail, problem-solving, communication skills, and resilience you’ll develop will benefit your personal growth as well as your professional development.

As someone who is creative by nature, studying animation allows you to harness your ideas and learn how to express them to their full potential. Being immersed in an environment where your everyday reality is turning your ideas into art, surrounded by like-minded creatives, working with industry professionals, handling amazing technology, is an experience you’ll cherish for life.

Meaningful impact

Animated films and games touch hearts, change minds, and can even inspire social change.

Animation is a powerful tool for cross-cultural understanding. Like live-action filmmaking, as a creative you have the opportunity to showcase a diverse range of cultures and experiences. Your work can encourage empathy and bring people together, both reflecting and influencing cultural norms and expectations, and address social issues that you’re passionate about.

Films like Studio Ghibli’s Grave of the Fireflies confront the realities of war, while independent animations, such as Persepolis, spotlight cultural and political struggles through the eyes of relatable characters. In the mainstream, Pixar movies like Turning Red and Inside Out have had a profound impact on young people’s understanding of their bodies and emotions in a way that resonates long after the film has ended.

Industry connections and collaboration

According to a recent study, almost a quarter of young people in the UK lack confidence that they can secure a job in the screen industries without connections. While this isn’t strictly true (your portfolio, showreel, and determination to succeed are the most important tools at your disposal), having industry connections does help you get your foot in the door. And unless you have family or friends in the industry already, the main way of finding those connections yourself is through university.

Studying animation at university vastly broadens the range of industry connections you can make before you even graduate. At university, you’re learning alongside other creatives taking the same path as you; many of your peers will become valuable contacts that can help you land jobs and grow your career. It’s not just about your peers, though.

When you’re choosing the university at which you plan to study animation, it’s important to look at who your lecturers are, and the frequency and range of masterclasses on offer. Are the lecturers experienced industry veterans? If so, they have the connections put you in touch with the right people. Masterclasses are even more valuable, putting you in the room with big names from whom you’ll gain insider knowledge, and – most importantly – the chance to speak with them one on one, building your network and discovering hidden opportunities that can make all the difference.

Threats and opportunities

Whether we like it or not, AI isn’t going away, but human creativity and nuanced storytelling are irreplaceable. AI should be seen as a useful tool for animators, handling repetitive routine tasks while leaving innovative storytelling, character development, and conceptual originality to the human professionals who do it best.

Throughout history, animation has continually adapted to technological developments and emerged stronger for it. CGI and motion capture are now part of the everyday workflow and have facilitated the development of some truly breath-taking productions.

Worries around job displacement by technology have been commonplace for centuries. We can look back to the birth of photography and see how artists were up in arms, considering the camera to be a harbinger of the death of art. Later, Photoshop was likewise demonised by designers, only to evolve into an indispensable tool that designers and artists use every day.

Contrary to these concerns, figures on the UK animation industry actually reveal a significant skills shortage. Studios are crying out for animators with the technical, creative, and soft skills the industry needs. Businesses report that recruiting for storyboard artists and 2D and 3D animators is becoming increasingly difficult. The industry doesn’t just need animators – it needs ones who have been trained to an industry standard, something that is near impossible to achieve without higher education study in the discipline.

Freedom to create

Whether you plan to become a career animator or simply want to study animation at university as part of your personal creative development, the freedom and joy of studying this deeply creative discipline cannot be underestimated.

Animation isn’t constrained by physical realities; the worlds you can create are limitless. And, more to the point, it’s fun! From building and drawing and experimenting in hands-on workshop sessions to the satisfaction of mastering cutting-edge software and seeing your ideas come to life on screen, there are few degree courses more fulfilling than animation.

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