Portfolio Guidance

BA Video Game Digital Art

The content of your digital portfolio and the skills it demonstrates should be the same as if you were creating a physical portfolio. The only difference is that you will need to submit your portfolio through your applicant portal rather than physically bring it in for us to see.

We recommend that you start by watching our video guidance on creating a digital portfolio, and then take a look at the course-specific guidance below.

Content

1. Please open your portfolio with a short statement introducing yourself and your interests, feel free to highlight any areas of your portfolio that you would like us to focus on.
2. We always like to see a variety of ideas and concepts, try to include at least one project from start to finish – showing your process for research, concept and ability.
3. It’s a good idea to include any work you have done for industry.
4. Take some time to organise your portfolio so it tells a story, either chronological development or project by project, skill by skill.
5. If you are including work on a collaborative project, be sure to declare which work and elements you produced.

Skills we would like to see

1. Evidence of creative and critical thinking.
2. Use of a creative process for idea generation – research, concept, whitebox, paint overs.
3. Problem solving abilities.
4. Willingness to engage with all elements of digital art – 2D work, 3D work, classical skills (life drawing, anatomy, still life, sketch books).
5. Evidence that you are passionate about the subject.

Format

1. Submit your digital portfolio as one PDF file.
2. Your digital portfolio should be no more than 10MB. Please compress your file if it exceeds the limit.
3. Add any links to videos, animations, and moving image work in your PDF. Please check these links work before you submit your portfolio and that they can be easily accessed. We will not be able to view links that require a password.

BA Digital Animation

The content of your digital portfolio and the skills it demonstrates should be the same as if you were creating a physical portfolio. The only difference is that you will need to submit your portfolio through your applicant portal rather than physically bring it in for us to see.

We recommend that you start by watching our video guidance on creating a digital portfolio, and then take a look at the course-specific guidance below.

Format

Submit a digital portfolio in a A4 (landscape or portrait) PDF file that is no longer than 20 pages in length. A suggested number of images per page is 1 - 4.

Max size is 10MB. Tip - reduce the resolution of your images to match the page size and it is always good to use compressed jpegs (this keeps the file size down).

You can add links to the PDF file, such as videos, animations or any moving image work, but please make sure the source files are not password protected as we will not be able to view. We cannot view work that is password protected.

Content

Start your portfolio with a short statement introducing yourself and your interests, feel free to create a contents page, but this is not essential.

We are looking for evidence that you are passionate about your work.

Ideally, include some examples of the following.

1. Traditional art skills, such as life drawing, anatomy and gesture drawing, perspective, still life, observational studies in a sketchbook.
2. Examples of animation or film work.
3. Storyboards, that demonstrate shot choice and progression.
4. Digital art skills - such as illustrations, concept art, character design (Procreate, Critter, Sketchbook, Photoshop, etc.).
5. Digital 3D skills - models and assets (Blender, Maya, Cinema 3ds Max, etc.).

It is not essential to supply examples of all of the above. The course team are always delighted to see traditional art within sketchbooks and particularly life drawing and studies from life. If your portfolio just shows this, we will be delighted. Everything else is a bonus.

Important - if you are including work on a collaborative project, be sure to declare which work and elements you produced.