A Level Graphic Design with Animation & Illustration | RuTC
A Level Graphic Design with Animation & Illustration in London: Course Overview
Welcome to the A Level in Graphics with Animation & Illustration course at Richmond upon Thames College - RuTC. This exciting programme offers students a creative head start into the world of visual communication, blending artistic talent with technical skills and industry insight. If you are looking for a course that will allow you to use your art and design skills in your career then you are in the right place.
Whether you’re aiming for university or a studio-based creative career, this A Level provides the perfect foundation as your first step into the design profession. Our courses are ideal for ambitious, creative students interested in careers such as graphic design, illustration, animation, games design, product & packaging design, digital media & publishing. The course includes a strong professional focus, hands-on studio practice, and 100% university acceptance rates for past students and a vibrant, successful alumni network.
What You'll Learn
This is not just a traditional A Level—it’s an immersive design-focused curriculum that introduces students to real-world creative thinking.
- Graphic Design Principles and Branding
- Adobe Creative Suite: Photoshop, InDesign and digital tools
- Drawing, Illustration and Concept Art
- Typography and Letterforms
- Packaging and Promotional Design
- Animation and Moving Image Projects
- Professional Work Experience and Industry Mentorship
You’ll develop a personal portfolio through design briefs, print projects and animation work—essential for university applications and creative careers.
Why Choose RuTC?
This course is developed to professional standards, ensuring direct industry input and current creative practice. You will:
- Learn in a studio-style environment, simulating real design practice
- Work on live briefs and real-world projects:
- Year 1: PROFESSIONAL PRINT GRAPHICS | Create a print-based merchandise product for Kew Gardens
- Year 2:PROFESSIONAL ANIMATION | Create an animation to promote a nature charity
- Attend guest lectures and workshops from working professionals
- Explore your own creative interests and develop a distinctive personal portfolio
RuTC’s A Level in Graphics and Illustration, based in Twickenham, is unique in its blend of practical skills, conceptual thinking, and professional focus.
Is This Course Right for You?
This course is ideal if you:
- Are in Year 10/11 and are interested in illustration, animation, gaming, branding or design
- Enjoy creative problem solving and sketching-out ideas
- Prefer a hands-on, project-based A Level over purely academic study
- Love drawing or want to develop your drawing and visual communication skills
You don’t need to be highly skilled at technical drawing—but you do need to enjoy experimenting with creative ideas and developing your own design process.
University & Career Progression
Graduates from this course typically go on to:
- Study Graphic Design, Illustration, Animation, Game Design, or Visual Communication at university
- Pursue creative studio-based careers such as:
- Graphic & Multimedia Designer: Designing visual concepts and layouts for digital and print media
- Animator: Creating 2D or 3D animation for film, TV, gaming, or advertising
- Illustrator: Producing images for books, magazines, packaging, or digital media
- Game Designer: Developing concept art, graphics, and animation for video games
- Art Director: Overseeing the visual direction of creative projects and campaigns
- Product Designer: Shape and solve problems and design the future products from kitchenware to furniture
Entry Requirements
- Minimum of five GCSEs at grade 5 or above (including English Language and Maths)
- Demonstrable enthusiasm for drawing, design, and creative work
Exam Board: OCR
Apply or Learn More
For full details or to apply, visit the Richmond upon Thames College course page or contact the course lead:
Course Leader – Graphic Communications with Illustration and Animation
✉️ Tim.pond@hruc.ac.uk
🌐 www.timpond.me/graphics
RuTC’s A Level Architecture and Graphic Design courses are specialist programmes empowering young people to transform artistic skills into studio careers. They explore design principles, creative techniques, and industry insights, opening diverse opportunities across architecture, media, and design fields.
Year 1: Kew Merch
Overview: September- April
Students will work collaboratively with the Kew Gardens graphics department to design and create a piece of sustainable, print-based merchandise. The aim is to produce an item that not only helps raise funds for Kew’s important conservation and research work but also educates a target demographic—such as young visitors, tourists, or families—about the value of biodiversity and environmental protection.
Students might explore eco-friendly materials, recycled packaging, or nature-inspired graphic motifs to communicate Kew Gardens’ mission effectively. By blending creative design with purpose, the final product should serve as both an attractive keepsake and a tool for raising awareness about conservation.
Year 2: Conservation Animation
Overview: July – January
In the second year, you’ll be challenged to undertake a larger, more ambitious creative project: producing a one-minute animation to a professional standard that promotes a nature charity of your own creation. This project pushes you to expand your skills in storytelling, animation, character design and motion graphics.
What is the Related Study?
The Related Study is created in the second year as part of the final A level in Architecture. It is both highly personal and professionally executed, presented as a thoughtfully designed magazine that reflects your individual creative journey. It combines critical written analysis with carefully curated visuals to contextualise your practical work, within the field of architecture. This format allows you to explore the movements, practitioners, and ideas that inform your portfolio, while showcasing your ability to communicate as a designer.
Assessment Breakdown
Personal Portfolio including Final Model: 95 marks / 47.5%
Related Study: 25 marks / 12.5%
Exam: 80 marks / 40%
Year 2 Exam: A Level in Graphics
Overview: January - May
At the end of the course, you’ll complete the Externally Set Assignment, which starts with a choice of themes provided by OCR and must be carried out in a separate sketchbook. After several weeks of preparatory work exploring ideas and techniques, you’ll create a final piece during a 15-hour supervised exam. This final project, along with your prep work, is worth 40% of your A-Level grade and shows how you develop, refine, and realise ideas.
Assessment Objectives
A01
Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other
sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.
A02
Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.
A03
Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.
A04
Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.
Year 1: AS Level Graphic Design, Animation & Illustration
Nature Drawing
A graphic designer, illustrator or animator benefits greatly from drawing directly from life—especially natural forms—because nature offers endless inspiration in shape, rhythm, balance and texture that can inform truly original creative work. Observing and sketching nature helps sharpen your eye for detail, builds a deeper sense of proportion and composition, and encourages designs that feel more organic, expressive and human.
Drawing from life, rather than relying on photographs, is a key part of the OCR Art and Design curriculum. It trains your hand and eye to work closely together, developing stronger observational skills and sensitivity to texture, line and form. This practice not only helps you understand how natural structures work visually, but also builds the confidence and fluency to create dynamic concept sketches—turning the ideas you imagine into compelling visuals on paper. As we believe that drawing is at the heart of design and a fantastic tool for thinking and explaining.
Dynamic Drawing
Practising drawing lines, arcs and ellipses is about mastering the physical confidence of the material through skeleton and muscle movement. This repetition trains your hand to move fluidly and decisively, helping you commit to the character of a form with a clear, decisive line.
The Insect Archetype
Understanding an insect’s archetype—its basic body structure including the head, thorax, abdomen, six-jointed legs, antennae, and often wings—helps you break down complex forms into simpler, manageable shapes.
Creating Depth: Linear Perspective
Visualisation skills: See depth in your paper
When we pick up a piece of paper, it is indeed flat, turn the sheet around, and of course, there is nothing behind it. However, one set of
skills the artist should acquire is the ability to create the illusion that this piece of paper is not flat at all but a window through which we can visualise the 3D world. There are a few tricks that we can learn to help us create these illusions from linear perspective, overlapping lines and atmospheric perspective. A good understanding of perspective will inform your broader practice, whether landscape sketching or plants and animals.
What is perspective?
Linear perspective is based on the fact that, while parallel lines never meet, they appear to do so as they move away from the viewer and towards the horizon. Parallel lines, such as those of a book, building or the banks of a canal, will appear to converge at a vanishing point, typically on the eye-level. Things appear smaller the further away they are, and perspective enables artists to calculate the size of objects accurately and consistently. Linear perspective uses lines to create the illusion of space on a 2D surface. Four types use either one, two or three vanishing or multiple points. Placing plants and animals in perspective frames can help us with foreshortening, for example, when a limb is in the line of sight and appears compressed or shorter in length.