BA (Hons) Cartoon and Comic Arts

Introduction

Your portfolio review will be conducted on our video interviewing platform, Shortlister. You will receive an email from us if you have been selected for interview and then you will hear from Shortlister with your log in information.

Once you have received your invitation for a review, you will be sent a log in to Shortlister. Once logged in, you will find a lobby area with a few tips on how to navigate around the platform, a practise area where you can try out answering a few questions, test sharing your screen if required and to build your confidence.

Please note that this interview will require you to share a portfolio and therefore you will need to access this via a laptop or PC.

Please note that the first question will always ask for a form of ID to be shown to the camera. This must be photo ID (a passport, driving license – full or provisional, or a college ID card).

The Cartoon and Comic Arts Degree at University of Staffordshire is all about storytelling and conveying that story to an audience.

In a portfolio, we would like to see evidence of various forms of narrative. Comic pages with speech balloons would be an example, but you could also include photography and observational drawings.

We are especially interested in your sketchbooks – what you draw outside of College or School.

Drawing from real life is important – places and the people in them; how they sit, stand, go about their business and interact with each other.

For extra information and guidance around preparing a Cartoon and Comic Arts application portfolio, please see HERE. 

The BA (Hons) Cartoon and Comic Arts course is a practical course, so as part of the selection process we would like to see some of the work that you have already made, either during your studies and/or in your own time.

A portfolio of around 10 finished pieces is a good amount, with a couple of personal sketchbooks included. Should you have any, your own comics would be great to see – even if they are rough.

The easiest way to show your work in Shortlister is a PowerPoint saved as a PDF. Collating you work this way will allow you to display your creative journey from research to resolution easily and it is always good to have a digital record of your creativity.

To ensure every candidate has the same opportunity to highlight their key achievements, skills, and experiences we publish our interview questions. The questions are:

1. Please show a form of ID

2. What are your most successful pieces of work? (Sharing)

3. What’s been the best piece of feedback you’ve ever received about your work and why?

4. If you could show your work to an individual or a company from your creative industries subject area – who would it be and why?

5. If you could animate or create a comic of a single moment from your life to share with the world, what would it be and how would you bring it to life on screen? Reflect on personal experiences and consider how animation would translate emotions and memories.

6. Pick an animation or comic, that blew your mind and consider how would you push the boundaries even further if you were part of its creation and had to contribute innovative ideas.