Our Cartoon and Comic Arts degree is a unique course that will help you to develop and refine your skills in visual and narrative communication.We will prepare you for an exciting career in a diverse range of areas such as comics, newspapers, graphic novels, editorial design and storyboarding, character design, visual storytelling or storyboarding and advertising and film.You will have the opportunity to visit, network and sell your work at comic cons in London and Leeds, as well as travel abroad. We have developed a close link with the Cartoon Museum in London and we display work at their institute and hold joint events nationally.The University also hosts a Staffordshire’s biggest TV, film, comic and memorabilia convention, Stoke Con Trent, which is attended by over 1500 people including industry professionals. The event is forming a link with Erlangen in Germany, which holds its own comic festival, Comic Salon.Taking place in a lively studio space, you’ll follow an industry focused programme of creative visual thinking and a diverse approach to working across a variety of platforms. This will help you to develop a host of skills and techniques to confidently tackle industry live briefs and progress your practice.Visiting industry practitioners will support, guide and work with you in our studio, offering advice, tips and technical knowledge drawn from their vast experience. Recent visits have included Mike Collins (Doctor Who and IDW Comics), David Lloyd (V for Vendetta and Aces Weekly), Simon Donald (Viz Comics), Jon Haward (Marvel UK and Eagle Comic), Graham Humphries (Evil Dead, Nightmare on Elm St.), Frazer Irving (Marvel, DC, 2000AD), and Kevin Gunstone (Marvel, Image, Dark Horse). Our trips have included international conventions in New York, Germany and Japan.We place emphasis on real life experience, so you will be given opportunities to publish and sell your work in the market place. Completing this course will equip you with all of the skills necessary for the industry.CareersSuccessful students leave our course with highly developed portfolios, exhibition experience and industry contacts. Past graduates have become professional comic artists, selling their work in various specialist shops around the country, such as Orbital Comics, Gosh Comics, Forbidden Planet, Page 45, Dave’s Comics, and Travelling Man. Graduates also leave prepared for a broader range of illustrative work, able to sell work to publications like The Guardian, The Independent, and The Big Issue, and various online sites.