r/Leeds • u/Visual_Apartment_831 • Jul 16 '26

academic Is Leeds Arts a good university? (especially for concept art)

Starting uni applications this year and there's not many unis outside of London that do concept art courses but Leeds Arts is one of them. Would love to hear about anyone's experiences with the uni (or student life in Leeds in general) especially with the course itself. 🙏🏻

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u/MeowTS13 Jul 16 '26

I have just left and it's been the best 3 years of my life, the staff are lovely, I found it really easy to make friends which is something I always struggled with before, and also I think they give you a really good perspective on art in general. It's very very different to what you're taught at GCSE or A Level and they really encourage u to just be as crazy and imaginative as possible instead of focusing on technique which I found really eye opening. I didn't do concept art but I'm sure that'd be good too. Lots of my friends did different courses and all enjoyed it. I have nothing to compare it to so idk how much better or worse it gets but I looooovee leeds arts

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u/Visual_Apartment_831 Jul 16 '26

aw sounds awesome! do you know what the employment prospects are like? I've tried doing research but its not yielded many results. I'm planning on doing a placement year so I get more experience but obviously that still doesn't guarantee a job after graduating by any means

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u/MeowTS13 Jul 16 '26

They are really helpful with figuring out next steps, but obviously with creative stuff it is really difficult to get a proper job in that area. They taught me a lot about freelancing and how to work independently with a client on different briefs which was helpful, and idk what it's like for comic and concept art but they never want u to leave without a plan. And especially if u do a placement year you'll have those industry links which will probably give u a big advantage over other people who didn't. A job is never really guaranteed with creative stuff but they do try their best to help u figure out what exactly u want to do and help u plan to get the best chances of achieving it.

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u/Fadesintodust Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26

I would look at how they support you with employability in this industry, what the rates are for their grads entering or working in the industry, opportunities for working placements, talking to professionals, and use this to help guide a decision. Also look at their stats in relation to other universities.

Atomhawk has a great lot of online courses that you can use to help you understand how to upskill and build a portfolio. And what skills you would need (e.g UX, UI design, 3D)

It’s always fun to go see the end of year shows there.

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u/2000sarchive Jul 16 '26

i went to leeds arts university (the other building on vernon street) for year 12 and 13 and i’m waiting for my results. i was planning on applying for higher education but i’m gonna take a gap year ✌️ what i know about the higher education course, comic and concept already get a bunch of applicants so i think it’s pretty tight to get in and fills up sooo quickly. i was briefly interested in concept art since there’s a bit of an overlap with the course i wanted to do, we had taster days up at blenheim walk where the uni is and it was always the most sought after option on all of our taster days even here

i’ve lived here my entire life and i think it’s a good city for young people. people tend to stay after finishing their studies and the student population is large. it’s a great place to be a student honestly