Animation, Photography and Visual Effects Portfolio Guidance

When applying to many of our Arts, Design and Media courses, you will be asked to provide a digital portfolio. This is an opportunity to show us who you are, your artistic ability and your potential.

This page provides a detailed insight into how to prepare the best possible portfolio for your course.

Portfolio submission deadlines

You will be asked to submit a digital portfolio to us within 28 days of receiving your invitation to submit a portfolio review. We know that you may be applying to us relatively early in the academic year, while you are still building an updated portfolio, so please note that we are happy for you to submit the following: GCSE work (for undergraduate programmes); work from the previous year; work in progress, such as sketches of ideas; and photos of your work.

Which courses require a portfolio?

You will be asked to submit a digital portfolio if you are applying to the following courses:

BA Digital Animation
BA Photography
BA Visual Effects

Please note: If you are applying for a postgraduate course and you have an undergraduate degree from Birmingham City University in a closely related discipline, you may be exempt from providing a portfolio.

For detailed guidance, select your course from the dropdown below.

Please select the course you are applying for

BA Digital Animation

The content of your digital portfolio and the skills it demonstrates should be the same as if you were creating a physical portfolio. The only difference is that you will need to submit your portfolio through your applicant portal rather than physically bring it in for us to see.

We recommend that you start by watching our video guidance on creating a digital portfolio, and then take a look at the course-specific guidance below.

Format

Submit a digital portfolio in a A4 (landscape or portrait) PDF file that is no longer than 20 pages in length. A suggested number of images per page is 1 - 4.

Max size is 10MB. Tip - reduce the resolution of your images to match the page size and it is always good to use compressed jpegs (this keeps the file size down).

You can add links to the PDF file, such as videos, animations or any moving image work, but please make sure the source files are not password protected as we will not be able to view. We cannot view work that is password protected.

Content

Start your portfolio with a short statement introducing yourself and your interests, feel free to create a contents page, but this is not essential.

We are looking for evidence that you are passionate about your work.

Ideally, include some examples of the following.

Traditional art skills, such as life drawing, anatomy and gesture drawing, perspective, still life, observational studies in a sketchbook.
Examples of animation or film work.
Storyboards, that demonstrate shot choice and progression.
Digital art skills - such as illustrations, concept art, character design (Procreate, Critter, Sketchbook, Photoshop, etc.).
Digital 3D skills - models and assets (Blender, Maya, Cinema 3ds Max, etc.).

It is not essential to supply examples of all of the above. The course team are always delighted to see traditional art within sketchbooks and particularly life drawing and studies from life. If your portfolio just shows this, we will be delighted. Everything else is a bonus.

Important - if you are including work on a collaborative project, be sure to declare which work and elements you produced.

Once we receive your portfolio, we will provide feedback at the earliest possible opportunity. Please note that we may recommend that you study an alternative course with us – for example, foundation year entry, based on the assessment of your portfolio submission.

BA (Hons) Photography

We recommend that you start by watching our video guidance on creating a digital portfolio, and then take a look at the course-specific guidance below.

Content

Work suitable for inclusion includes: photographs (portraiture, landscape, still-life, fashion or documentary etc.), any lens-based images (for example stills from videos), experimental imagery, photographic installations.
It is essential to include scanned versions or photographs of pages from your sketchbooks that support the work presented in your portfolio. This is because they show us the research behind the work, your thought process and how your ideas develop.
You may also include audio compositions and moving image work. Please include a link to where the file is hosted online within your PDF.
3D work can be represented by including a photograph of the work showing a sense of scale.
We’re looking for quality rather than quantity so we request that your portfolio contains no more than 20 images of finished pieces. Try to show a variety of work and select the best work you have produced.
There is no set structure for how your portfolio should be presented. You just need to ensure it is ordered in a way that best expresses your ideas. Remember the order you present it in is the order it will be viewed in.
Work that you have created outside of school or college is always welcome.
To help your reviewer get a better understanding of you and your portfolio please include a small paragraph detailing the reasoning behind each of your pieces of work.

Skills we would like to see

Creativity
Your critical thinking process
Willingness to experiment using a range of media, materials and technologies
Use of a visible design process for idea development.

Format

Submit your digital portfolio as one PDF file.
Your digital portfolio should be no more than around 10MB. Please compress your file if it exceeds the limit.
Ensure your work has a good screen resolution.
Add any links to video, animations, and moving image work in your PDF. Please check that these links work before you submit your portfolio and that they can be easily accessed. We will not be able to view links that require a password.

BA (Hons) Visual Effects

We recommend that you start by watching our video guidance on creating a digital portfolio, and then take a look at the course-specific guidance below.

Format

Submit a digital portfolio in a A4 (landscape or portrait) PDF file.

Max size is 20MB. Tip - reduce the resolution of your images to match the page size and it is always good to use compressed jpegs (this keeps the file size down).

You can add links to the PDF file, such as videos, animations or any moving image work, but please make sure the source files are not password protected as we will not be able to view your work.

Content

Start your portfolio with a short statement introducing yourself and your interests.

We are looking for evidence that you are passionate about your work.

Ideally, include some examples of the following:

Traditional art skills, such as life drawing, perspective, and observational studies.
Examples of photography, animation, games or film work.
Digital art skills - such as illustrations, concept art and character design.
Digital 3D skills - models and assets (Blender, Maya, Cinema 3ds Max, etc.).

It is not essential to supply examples of all of the above. The course team are always delighted to see other examples of how you see the world around you.

Important - if you are including work on a collaborative project, be sure to declare which work and elements you produced.

We welcome applications from all backgrounds. If you are not enrolled in a creative course, think about what visually stimulates you. How do you see the world around you? You can showcase work and examples of your own that might include photography and illustration as an example. We are looking for applicants with a genuine passion for computer visual imagery, so showcase your work to us in a visual form of your choice as your portfolio.