MA Character Animation at Central Saint Martins
The MA Character Animation course at Central Saint Martins provides students with theoretical, practical and culturally aware animation skills.
Course details
School: Central Saint Martins
Course: MA Character Animation
Type: Postgraduate
Location: London, UK
Course dates: September 2027, with a duration of two years (60 weeks), extended full-time
Application deadline: 17 February 2027
Course overview
MA Character Animation is a practical course that encourages research and contextual thinking. We will teach you how to make your characters do much more than move – we will teach you to make them perform.
You will learn timing, software, storytelling, character design, film language and take life drawing lessons. Alongside this, you will also explore historical and critical approaches to animation.
Increasingly, animation gives voice to disparate and often overlooked cultural experiences and social contexts and thereby empowers communication. There is also an expanding range of media and platforms that are opening up fresh areas of ethical challenge for animators who need to engage with cultural and critical thinking.
Reflecting multi-cultural visual and storytelling traditions, the course attracts applicants from a wide range of practices and cultural backgrounds. You will be encouraged to investigate, experiment and apply a range of different visual and performance approaches to your own work.
The course fosters universal techniques and adaptable, practice-based knowledge. You will learn skills which can be applied to different software packages, technical processes, creative approaches and distribution technologies in the future. It is committed to ensuring it remains commercially and artistically relevant in a fluctuating field.
What will I learn during this course?
MA Character Animation at Central Saint Martins is a practical course that also encourages research and contextual thinking. It teach you how to make your characters do much more than move – we will teach you to make them perform.
You will learn:
- timing
- software
- storytelling
- character design
- film language
You will also take life drawing lessons. Alongside this, you will also explore historical and critical approaches to animation.
What are the requirements?
An honours degree in a relevant design subject area (or an equivalent EU/international qualification), for example:
- product design
- architecture
- textiles
- fashion
- science communication
- building sciences
- environmental science
- ecology
- 3D
- media studies
- graphic communication
- gaming
- data visualisation
- robotics
This is ideally with at least one year of professional experience.
English language requirements: IELTS level 6.5 or above, with at least 5.5 in reading, writing, listening and speaking (please check the main English language requirements webpage).
What facilities and resources are available?
Students have term-time access to a range of technical facilities, including:
- loan store
- digital fabrication bureau
- digital labs
- digital print
- paint/surface
- photography studios
- 3D capture lab
- casting
This course also has term-time access to specialist facilities, including:
- digital make
- 3D make (model making)
- physical computing lab
- media studios (video and sound, and animation)
- grow lab
- surface design lab
- print and dye
What career prospects can I expect upon graduating?
Graduates of MA Character Animation develop the creative, technical and collaborative skills needed for careers across:
- animation
- film
- games
- visual effects
- wider creative industries
Alumni have progressed into roles, including:
- character animator
- animation director
- assistant animator
- art director
- gameplay animator
- visualisation artist
- concept artist
- illustrator
- film and immersive producer
- roduction assistant
- VFX production coordinator
- clean-up artist
- filmmaker
- designer
- company director
- animation lecturer
Graduates have also gone on to work with leading studios and organisations, including:
- Aardman
- Framestore
- DreamWorks
- Cartoon Network
- Blue Zoo
- Cartoon Saloon
- Rare
- Passion Pictures
This reflects the breadth of opportunities available across commercial, independent and artistic practice.
Who teaches this course?
Shaun Clark, course leader.
