BA in Video Game Digital Art

The BA Video Game Art undergraduate degree course responds to the growing demand for skilled, team-orientated, reflexive graduate professionals ready to succeed.

Interactive entertainment and video game development are key sectors for contemporary culture, economic growth and employment locally in the Midlands, nationally and globally.

This accelerated two-year course offers a studio simulation in our on-campus lab, which will take place over the summer term of the course. The workplace simulation approach of our School of Games, Film and Animation has been championed by the influential 2009 Livingstone Next Gen Report, which cited us as a national best practice example for developing new talent for the games industry.

What's covered in this course?

The course covers both core and technical art skills. It starts with helping you develop your art production skills, so expect to be using a variety of software packages from Blender to Photoshop. Once we’ve covered the fundamentals we’ll move on to supporting you develop your technical and digital art skills. You will focus on 2D and 3D graphics covering, texturing, user interface design, environment art, character art, and art pipelines for interactive products.

Your first position in the video game industry

Building upon your core and technical art skills, in the first year you will be tasked with a specific role within our simulated game development studio over the summer term. This experience gives you the opportunity to apply the knowledge and professional practices you’ve learnt on the course in a safe and supportive environment. Typically for these projects, you’ll be using industry-standard game development tools such as Unity and Unreal. These summer projects have in the past been mentored and supported by external partners such as Rare, Rockstar, Playground Games and Codemasters. The work you’ll produce during these summer modules can act as excellent portfolio pieces, demonstrating your ability as both a professional artist and an effective team member.

Putting you in control of your final project

Throughout the two years of your course, you will be provided with a structured programme of learning, which will encourage you to choose your specialism that will steer your career in the Video Game Industry. The course culminates with a project you define yourself which targets your chosen specialism, such as character art, vehicle art, environment art or user interface (among others). You will be encouraged to collaborate or propose your own solo project to create another video game project for your portfolio.

Teaching takes place in a modern campus based in Birmingham City Centre where you’ll be provided with studio space to complete projects and access to the software you’ll need for the duration of the course.

You will be taught by staff with significant experience in the video game development industry, having worked with game developers including, Free Radical Design, Codemasters, Freestyle Games, Sega and EA Games.

Real experience

So, by the time you graduate, a whole year before most students, you’ll have two years of tangible, games development studio experience under your belt and have acquired the foundations to begin your career in the video game industry.

Why choose us?

This fast-track programme provides a rare opportunity to secure a BA (Hons) degree in only two years. Teaching is delivered by our team of industry practitioners, who collectively have over 100 years of video game industry experience, having worked on franchises such as EA’s ‘Battlefield’, Codemaster’s ‘Formula 1’ and Sega’s ‘Sonic’. They have also taught, trained and mentored students, graduates and practitioners, who are now successful industry developers, working at studios and publishers which include Ubisoft, Microsoft and Rockstar North. During the two-year course, you’ll work on numerous projects with periodic input from industry partners. Previous partners and mentors have included Codemasters, Pixel Toys, Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe, Microsoft’s Rare Studio and Rockstar North. On the course, you’ll learn a range of new skills and art disciplines relevant and appropriate for careers in the field of video game development, such as concept, environment, character, GUI and animation. This course will develop you to be able to move into employment, or further study, for example on our Industry-recognised Master’s Course, Gamer Camp, which is a finishing school for game developers (coders, artists, designers and producers) based in Birmingham City University. Top 5 for Animation and Game Design (Guardian League Tables 2023).

With around 29,000 students from 100 countries, (HESA Student Record 2020/21 © Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited) Birmingham City University is a large and diverse place to study. We put students at the heart of everything we do, giving them the best opportunities for future success.

The University for Birmingham

We put £270 million into the regional economy and support thousands of jobs in the area. We're investing £340 million in our estate, including a major expansion of our city-centre campus at Eastside, providing students with an enviable range of facilities.

Social responsibility

At Birmingham City University we are committed to transforming students’ lives and enhancing opportunity through education and advancement. We play a key role in supporting the economy and public sector in Birmingham and the West Midlands, as the University for the city of Birmingham.

Whether developing research to enable people to lead healthier lives, decrease bullying in schools or help talented children in South Africa reach their musical potential, Birmingham City University undertakes a wide variety of work to ensure that we operate as a socially responsible University.

On Monday 17 September 2018, we announced that staff had voted for Acorn’s Children’s Hospice and Birmingham and Solihull Women’s Aid to be the University’s Chosen Charities.