EKC Group partners with A+C Studios to create brand-new Animation and Illustration course

East Kent Colleges Group (EKC Group) has proudly partnered with A+C Studios in Margate, which is a stop motion animation studio, to develop a brand-new Animation and Illustration course.

The new programme, which has been created as part of the new EKC Broadstairs College, Margate Digital Campus provision, promises to offer those enrolled industry-standard knowledge and access to inspiring state-of-the-art equipment.

The founder of A+C Studios and co-writer of the new Animation and Illustration course, Dan Richards, said: “The new Animation and Illustration course at the new Margate Digital Campus is a really exciting course.

“It’s a course that, when I was 16, I would have loved to have jumped on. It’s a wonderful course that lets you experiment with animation, all different types, and illustration, from designing characters to logos.

“There’s a real opportunity to make something really, really special and learn skills that you probably wouldn’t have been able to learn about before locally here in the area.”

 

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He added that the course allows learners to experiment with different types of animation to discover what they would like to pursue as a career.

He said: “The new Animation and Illustration course is something that me and other people at the studio have been helping to put together and it’s a really exciting course because it shows you a lot of different types of animation and it also has lots of different themes where you can explore each of the types of animation, so you’re not pigeon-boxed into doing lots of different exercises.

“It gives you a chance to go out and make your own films and your own illustrations, but you’re going to get lots of techniques.

“There’s loads of great equipment, really, really high-end stuff that you’re going to get a chance to play with and hopefully make something really, really interesting.”

Advice for students starting the new Animation and Illustration course

While on the course, the team at A+C Studios say it is vital for them to see how an animation studio works so are keen for students to visit them at their sites in The Old Laundry, Margate, and their newer site, Postgate Stage.

Ollie Perrin, who is the Senior Producer at A+C Studios, said seeing the day-to-day activities which take place inside the studios will inspire the next generation of animators and illustrators.

“I think seeing a stop-motion studio in use on the day-to-day, whilst you’re studying, it will just streamline their development an awful lot,” he explained.

“It means that they won’t have to perhaps do internships at larger studios or travel around or waste time in between. They can advance their learning and find a place in the workplace much sooner, which can only be a plus.

“It must be really exciting for the people signing up for the course.

“It provides them with industry-standard facilities and equipment that they can hone their skills on, and they can put their more theoretical parts of the course into practice straight away. But it provides a career pathway for them.

“They can see that if I enjoy the course, I work hard, and I find a part of the craft that I really love, I won’t have to move across the country to London or Bristol or Manchester, the kind of hubs of stop-motion. They can stay in Kent, around their friends, around their family and have a career that could last a lifetime.”

EKC Group is working in partnership with Thanet District Council to develop the new EKC Broadstairs College, Margate Digital Campus, which has been funded by the UK Government.