Program Overview

BA (Hons) Comic & Concept Art

Overview

The BA (Hons) Comic & Concept Art degree course at UCA Farnham is designed to give students the tools and network to pursue a career in the world of games and comics. Students will learn techniques and modes of presentation used in the industry, as well as fundamental art skills and storytelling abilities.

Course Entry Options

• BA (Hons) Comic & Concept Art
• BA (Hons) Comic & Concept Art with Integrated Foundation Year
• BA (Hons) Comic & Concept Art with Professional Practice Year
• BA (Hons) Comic & Concept Art with Integrated Foundation Year and Professional Practice Year

Course Details

BA (Hons) Comic & Concept Art

• Institution code: C93
• UCAS code: W223
• Campus: Farnham
• Start date(s): September 2025, September 2026
• Duration: 3 years full-time
• Entry requirements:
  • 112 UCAS points
  • International equivalent qualifications

BA (Hons) Comic & Concept Art with Integrated Foundation Year

• Institution code: C93
• UCAS code: W22A
• Campus: Farnham
• Start date(s): September 2025, September 2026
• Duration: 4 years full-time
• Entry requirements:
  • 32 UCAS points
  • International / EU: 12 years of schooling (with good grades)

BA (Hons) Comic & Concept Art with Professional Practice Year

• Institution code: C93
• UCAS code: W224
• Campus: Farnham
• Start date(s): September 2025, September 2026
• Duration: 4 years full-time
• Entry requirements:
  • 112 UCAS points
  • International equivalent qualifications

BA (Hons) Comic & Concept Art with Integrated Foundation Year and Professional Practice Year

• Institution code: C93
• UCAS code: W22B
• Campus: Farnham
• Start date(s): September 2025, September 2026
• Duration: 5 years full-time
• Entry requirements:
  • 32 UCAS points
  • International / EU: 12 years of schooling (with good grades)

What You'll Study

Integrated Foundation Year (if undertaken)

• UCA's Integrated Foundation Year is designed to give students the skills they need to start their degree in the best possible way.
• Students will explore a range of creative techniques and develop their portfolio, with their chosen subject in mind.

Year One

• Launch: The Launch week may be comprised of a range of activities, which will comprise of an interdisciplinary Industry Guest Speakers' Series offered to all students across the School of Games and Creative Technologies.
• Visual Design Fundamentals: Students will be given the fundamentals of art production using a range of traditional and digital techniques.
• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: This unit aims to develop an awareness and understanding of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), and promote progressive values and attitudes in creative practice.
• Design Sprint 1: In this unit, students will be asked to use the skills and knowledge they've gained to create an Art Bible (Art and Design Document) for an entertainment design project.
• Opportunity: A range of activities will be available to students during this week, to broaden their engagement and subject knowledge, such as Games Jams and Design Sprints.
• Narrative Development for Concept and Sequential Art: Via static imagery and sequential art, students will learn about narrative and storytelling methods.
• Client Brief: In this unit, students will be asked to use design skills and knowledge combined with critical contextual studies disciplines to produce work aligned to a client facing brief - working individually or in teams (depending on the brief).
• Design Sprint 2: In this unit, students will be asked to use the fundamental art skills and the knowledge of narrative they have acquired to create a short story sequence pitch in the form of storyboards or animatics.
• ATOM Activities: ATOM activities are small pieces of individual learning that facilitate interdisciplinary exposure across UCA, and offer a flexible, impactful learning experience.
• PLE Digital Outcomes: The PLE Digital Outcome is a purposefully edited, self-directed record of students' constructive engagement with and presence on digital media platforms across the year.

Year Two

• Launch: The Launch week may be comprised of a range of activities, which will comprise of an interdisciplinary Industry Guest Speakers' Series offered to all students across the School of Games and Creative Technologies.
• Advanced Workflow and Techniques: Students will build on the art and design skills and critical and contextual knowledge they gained in year 1, once again using a range of traditional and digital techniques to produce a more advanced body of work.
• The Conscious Practitioner: This unit aims to promote progressive values and attitudes to diversity and inclusion in creative practice.
• Opportunity: A range of activities will be available to students during this week, to broaden their engagement and subject knowledge, such as Games Jams and Design Sprints.
• Character and World Building: The critical and contextual elements of this unit will continue to produce connections between students' practical work and relevant scholarly debates, theories, and concepts with a focus on characters and world-building.
• Industry Brief: Students will use design skills and workflows to produce work for an industry brief, to be interpreted and aligned to their discipline pathway.
• ATOM Activities: ATOM activities are small pieces of individual learning that facilitate interdisciplinary exposure across UCA, and offer a flexible, impactful learning experience.
• PLE Digital Outcomes: The PLE Digital Outcome is a purposefully edited, self-directed record of students' constructive engagement with and presence on digital media platforms across the year.
• Elective units: Students will also be able to choose from two of the following elective units through the course of the year:
  • Conceptual Interdisciplinary
  • Immersive Media
  • Digital Storytelling
  • Hardware Projects using Arduino
  • Life Drawing
  • Concept Story Design
  • Virtual Production Studio
  • Pervasive Game Studio
  • Creature Animation
  • Motion Capture Technologies
  • Environmental Storytelling

Professional Practice Year (if undertaken)

• If students opt to complete a professional practice year, this will take place in year three.
• Students will undertake a placement within the creative industries to further develop their skills and CV.

Year Three

• Launch: The Launch week may be comprised of a range of activities, which will comprise of an interdisciplinary Industry Guest Speakers' Series offered to all students across the School of Games and Creative Technologies.
• Final Major Project – Pre-Production: This extended period of study, starting with the Pre-Production unit running alongside the Critical and Conceptual Influences unit, allows students to develop a significant body of work that demonstrates their chosen pathway discipline, ideation skills, genre interests and their aspiration for their future role within the Games and entertainment industries.
• Final Major Project: Critical & Conceptual Influences: The Critical and Conceptual Influences unit enables students to engage with a range of research skills, to develop an appropriate methodological approach appropriate to their chosen subject area that forms their Final Major Project.
• Professional Practice: Students will identify, explore and develop professional promotional resources which highlight their strengths and their body of work.
• Opportunity: A range of activities will be available to students during this week, to broaden their engagement and subject knowledge, such as Games Jams and Design Sprints.
• Final Major Project: Production: The culmination of students' studies, the Final Major Project allows students to develop a significant body of work, that will represent their graduating portfolio to industry, either individually, or in a group, or in an interdisciplinary group collaboration (from disciplines outside of Games), that demonstrates their skills, interests, and their aspiration for their future role within the games or aligned creative industries.

Study Abroad (optional)

• This course is designed to offer students (if eligible) the opportunity to study part of their degree aboard at a UCA partner university, while still earning credits towards their UCA degree.

Fees & Funding

Tuition Fees - 2025/26

• UK: £9,535
• EU: £9,535 (see fee discount information)
• International: £16,950

UCA Scholarships and Fee Discounts

• At UCA, we have a number of scholarships and fee discounts available to assist students with the cost of their studies.

Financial Support

• There are lots of ways students can access additional financial support to help them fund their studies - both from UCA and from external sources.

Additional Course Costs

• In addition to the tuition fees, there may be other costs for the course.
• The things that students are likely to need to budget for to get the most out of a creative arts education will include books, printing costs, occasional or optional study trips and/or project materials.

Facilities & Equipment

• Studios feature individual workstations, light boxes, Wacom tablets, line testers and batch scanners.
• Macs have the full Adobe Creative Suite as well as Toon Boom and Maya CG software.
• Students can also access sound and editing suites, a stop-motion studio with Dragonframe capture software, Canon DSLRs and professional camera stands, and stages pre-rigged with grips, stands and lights.

Career Opportunities

• Whether our graduates become self-employed artists and establish a freelance career, there are a wide range of specific roles within the industry to explore.
• These include:
  • 2D and 3D art designers
  • Character concept developer and artist
  • Concept artist
  • Animation and games artist
  • Comic print artist
  • Comic book illustrator
  • Cartoonist
  • After Effects compositor and motion designer.

Entry Requirements

• The standard entry requirements for this course is one of the following:
  • 112 UCAS tariff points
  • Pass at Foundation Diploma in Art & Design (Level 3 or 4)
  • Distinction, Merit, Merit at BTEC Extended Diploma / BTEC National Extended Diploma
  • Merit at UAL Extended Diploma
  • 112 UCAS tariff points from an accredited Access to Higher Education Diploma in appropriate subject
  • 27-30 total points in the International Baccalaureate Diploma with at least 15 IB points at Higher level
  • Four GCSE passes at grade 9-4/A*-C including English (or Functional Skills English/Key Skills Communication Level 2).

Portfolio Requirements

• We'll need to see students' portfolios for this course:
  • UK applicants: We will invite students to attend an Applicant Day so they can have their portfolio review in person.
  • International applicants: We will ask students to submit an online portfolio.

English Language Requirements

• For undergraduate applicants who have completed Grade 12 Canadian High School/Secondary School qualifications, we require grade B or 75% in a grade 12 English module.
• For postgraduate applicants, if students are a Canadian national, we will be able to accept their degree level qualification to meet our English Language requirement.

International Requirements

• Please select students' country to find the equivalent requirements.

Undergraduate Requirements

• For our Bachelor's courses, we usually require that students have one of the following:
  • Argentinian Trayecto Técnico Profesional, Título de Técnico Superior or Técnico Universitario grade 6
  • A transcript showing successful completion of two years of study on a Bachelor's degree (Título/Grado de Licenciado) at a recognised Argentinian university grade 6

Foundation Year Requirements

• For our International Foundation in Creative Practices and our Integrated Foundation courses, we usually require that students have an Argentinian Título de Bachiller with an average grade 6 or better.

English Language Requirements

• Please see the English Language Requirements section for more information.

Additional Information

• Please note that the fees listed on this webpage are correct for the stated academic year only, for details of previous years please see the full fee schedules.
• The University will provide students with further advice and guidance about the Professional Practice Year as they approach it.