Digital Design Level 3


  • Start Date: 01/09/2025
  • Course is for: School Leaver
  • Course Length: 1 Year
  • Funding Support Funding Support:
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If you have boundless imagination and the desire to explore industry standard digital tools to invent and create exciting visuals, then this course is ideal for you.

Digital Arts offers opportunities to manipulate pixels as well as traditional media to design characters, props and environments for your comics, games and film ideas.

Putting you in good stead to develop a career in the burgeoning digital sector in the North East – one of the fastest growing industries in the country.

Working with experts in the field in our state of the art digital lab, you will hone your craft to be able to design, model, animate, light and render.

You will have access to Adobe Design suite subscription for college and personal use throughout your time with us.

Entertainment Design at Gateshead College offers three pathways:

  • Illustration – develop skills in digital painting for concept art and editorial illustrations.
  • Sequential Art – focuses on developing skills in Book illustration, comics and storyboards.
  • Animation – develop skills in 2D/3D animation, storyboarding, modeling, lighting and rendering for 2D/3D.

The Teaching Team

As a team we are highly motivated and positive and believe that an open mind and a can do attitude is the best way for you to get the most out of your learning.

We work closely with our students and often learn from each other to embrace creativity, share new ideas and celebrate at the end of year with an exhibition of the fantastic work produced.

Throughout this qualification you will build skills, competencies and confidence in the creative process, understanding how to reflect on your practice and unlock your creative potential.

We’ll give you regular feedback, designed to help you be the best you can, be it in practical work, concept development and design or how you creatively problem solve.

You are graded at the end of each year. In year one this is the final major project, a body of work that shows your strengths and personal interests and is based around where you excel.

Reflecting your research, contextual design, presentation and, of course, your practical skills.

Top-up onto the extended diploma in year two and you will advance your skill set and professional qualities building towards the extended final major project, showcasing how far you have come.

Assessed on your professional portfolio of work, you will be ready to progress to university or the other exciting next steps in your creative career.

Live projects are an exciting and important part of the course.

You’ll work on live commissions or receive work placements with external companies.

Our network of employer partnership includes:

  • BALTIC Centre of Contemporary Art
  • Northern Gas Network
  • North East Dyslexia
  • Newcastle Crown Court
  • Kurodragon
  • Surreal and Wild in Art.

This is an amazing opportunity to show you can work to a live brief with your own style of work; perfect to add to your CV.

“We were amazed at the work the students produced.” Newcastle Crown Court

“It was great working with the college on this project to commemorate these iconic structures, which have been a familiar sight in Redheugh for more than a century.” Northern Gas Networks

This course is free to those aged under 19 years old.

Most people aged 19 years and over can qualify for free course fees and there are grants and bursaries you can apply for to help cover the costs of coming to college, depending on your circumstances.

For one to one advice, contact our friendly team who will assess your individual circumstances and give you the right information. You can contact them on 0191 490 2246, [email protected] or via Live Chat. Or pop along to one of our Enrolment Events.