Animation might be the perfect programme for you if: 

• You love drawing of any sort 
• You love working really hard 
• You love telling stories 
• You enjoy communicating and working with others 
• You value the impact of your work upon an audience 
• You enjoy problem solving 
• You are driven by curiosity 
• You love doing things to see what happens 
• You can see patterns in things 
• You are comfortable with the fact that there are no shortcuts

What you don’t need: 

• You don’t need to be a computer genius, but you DO need to be unafraid of them and willing to make them do strange things.

At ECA we will encourage you to challenge your preconceptions of what animation is, and to deepen your understanding of how to use animation to communicate with others. In simple terms, you will be taught how to bring drawings, paintings, objects, models, puppets and text to life, whether they are generated physically, by hand, or virtually, by computer. You won’t just make things move, you will imbue them with heart and soul. Your work will not only engage audiences: it will encourage them to willingly suspend their disbelief.

If you want to create worlds, characters to populate them, and show the events and consequences of living within those worlds in film, then we want to work with you.

Our animators have gone on to work for studios including Aardman, Laika, and Nexus Productions, for directors such as Tim Burton, Wes Anderson and Henry Selick, for video games companies including Rockstar North, and Media Molecule. Some have gone on to set up their own award winning studios such as Wild Child Animation and Ko-Lik, or to work as independent filmmakers winning multiple awards at a local, national and international level.

If you'd like to study on an undergraduate programme at Edinburgh College of Art, you must apply through UCAS. You can find out how to do this on the University of Edinburgh website, where you'll also be able to: 

• See the structure of the programme and what you will study each year
• See detailed entrance requirements for each programme on the Degree Finder
• Get information on what to expect after you apply
• Find out about fees
• Find out where to go for further advice and guidance.

You can find information and guidance about submitting a portfolio for entry in 2025 on our undergraduate portfolio guidance page. 

Undergraduate portfolio guidance | Edinburgh College of Art