Digital Comics (Taught)

The MA Digital Comics course will enable you to:

explore the design skills needed to visualise engaging characters, worlds, panels and pages
develop your storytelling skills and examine the new possibilities for comics offered by digital display
investigate the commercial practices behind the publication of successful work
write and illustrate comics with a particular focus on digital distribution and consumption
study a modular structure that has produced professionals across the digital comics industry
have the opportunity for unique collaboration with students on other pathways and work with animators, games artists, concept artists and digital comics illustrators.

Why choose this course?

You will complete the course having created a range of comics for different formats, audiences and contexts. You will gain an in-depth understanding of the processes of writing, designing, illustrating, distributing and promoting digital comics as well as organise and manage professional workflows and create digital and traditional comic outcomes to a high standard. You will also learn how to communicate and articulate your practice within a wide range of networks.

The specialist teaching approach will focus on exploiting the unique qualities of digital comics as well as developing a solid set of skills equally applicable to traditional print comic publication. The course will expose you to critical and media theories that you can connect to your emerging practice to grow your repertoire of skills and stand out in the marketplace, by creating new services or lead innovation in digital comic creation.

Talks and guest lectures by professional practitioners from across the creative industries take place regularly on campus. In semester B you will have the opportunity to engage in a live project that may involve working with a real-world client or exploring the application of an “applied comics” approach in a research or commercial setting. Opportunities for self-promotion through competition entry and interactions with comic publishers and collectives will also be explored throughout course.