DIGITAL GRAPHICS (2D MEDIA) - 2025/6

Module Overview

This module introduces the fundamentals of digital graphics in games, with an emphasis on 2D media. You will learn about 2D graphics, and their use in video game rendering pipelines in a variety of contexts, from pixel-based sprites and animations to textures and user interface designs. Although most students will have some familiarity with image editing, this module will take you back to first principles, exploring the difference between raster images, vector art and why they are useful in different contexts for games. You will explore pixel-art techniques, layering and selection, creating sprites, animations and typography for use in 2D games using industry-standard applications such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. You will also explore techniques for creating digital backgrounds and ways to give illusions of depth using parallax scrolling. 2D assets are also used extensively in 3D games, to provide textures for models or sprite-based particle effect systems. You will learn about different types of 2D textures that are used in games, how these may be developed using photographic reference material, and how these are used in the rendering pipeline to display textured 3D models or particle effects. Digital Graphics (2D Media) connects to other game art and games design modules in your first year as well as to those that follow in later years of study, as you will often need to create and/or utilise 2D digital graphics assets on the game projects you create. It contributes to the acquisition of technical and specialist software skills in this area including the use of essential 2D applications such as Photoshop and Illustrator. As such, this module helps develop essential digital arts skills that students will take forward to more advanced 3D modelling and animation applications in later modules.

Module provider

Music & Media

Module Leader

MOONEY Stephen (Lit & Langs)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 4

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

Indicative content includes:

• Raster and vector images
• Using layers, selections and masks.
• Colour theory and manipulation
• File formats and compression
• Pixel art concepts and techniques
• 2D backgrounds and parallax scrolling
• 2D animation techniques
• Photographic reference imagery and camera fundamentals
• Digital drawing tools
• Use of 2D textures in 3D graphics rendering pipelines
• User interface design fundamentals
• Typography principles and techniques

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate:

• their knowledge and skills of digital graphic and image-making techniques and technologies
• subject knowledge relating to the close analysis of form, meaning and context
• cognitive/analytical skills in critical thinking
• professional/practical skills in communicating ideas in visual form that will feed forward into their future careers in the games and creative industries and beyond
• creative engagement with the opportunities and limitations of particular modes of digital visual representation, skills that will feed forward into their modules in future years of the degree, including their major project in their final year.
• creative engagement with the themes discussed on the module, which may include sustainability and global cultural awareness matters
• an ability to locate their own creative work fruitfully and articulately in relation to existing digital art traditions and the contemporary field of visual production as part of their journey to hone their contextualising skills through their degree
• demonstrate their understanding of, and expertise in, production techniques and compositional skills while also encouraging students to experiment and work continually through the semester (rather than attempting to create work just before deadlines)

 Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

• Weekly Lab Tasks (30%)

This summative assessment is an opportunity for students to present their responses to weekly lab exercises and tasks set for the module. The weekly assignments cover each of the techniques presented in class and build toward the creative project. 

• Creative Project (70%)

This summative assessment is an opportunity for students to present a small project-based portfolio of creative digital graphics work using 2D concepts and techniques. This summative assessment represents a culmination of the module¿s output with students presenting a larger creative project of creative digital visual work. They will also submit a reflective critical commentary on the project (1000 words).  Formative Assessment & Feedback:Continuous formative oral assessment and feedback is given through timetabled group critiques. Immediate oral feedback is given on works-in-progress presented during class. In addition, during the laboratory seminar sessions held prior to submission of assessed works, students are given individualised technical support and immediate feedback on their works in progress.Digital graphics, presentation and critical analysis skills will be developed and honed which will feed forward to the summative assessment at the end of the module and towards building the students¿ resilience and confidence in presenting work publicly.

Module aims

• introduce students to the role of raster and vector images in video games
• provide students with an understanding of the fundamentals of 2D image generation and the opportunity to explore a range of image-making techniques
• introduce students to image editing software and vector drawing software
• encourage familiarity and skill with file formats and compression
• explore ideas concerning process and critical thinking necessary for creative endeavour and to foster a process of student centred reflection upon personal studio-based activities
• enable students to understand how 2D art can be integrating into 3D game engines in a variety of contexts

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

• develop technical skills in ways that facilitate creative independence and an ability to continue learning processes outside the classroom through the use of online tutorials, books, etc., providing an overview of digital and media arts production techniques and pipelines
• facilitate students
• productive reflection on their creative work and connect this to critical approaches encountered on the module
• hone and develop students
• writing skills in academic writing by developing an awareness of the application of their creative practice in informing their critical thinking, and vice versa, and in further developing workshopping and editing skills through in-class discussion and sharing of experience alongside study of critical and source materials
• equip students with a basic grounding in resourcefulness and resilience as new or developing digital artists by giving them the freedom to experiment with form and style in response to form-based exercises, and by providing them with the supportive and encouraging safe space of the laboratory seminar within which they can develop further their skills in receiving and giving constructive critical and creative responses to their own work and those of other students and to develop a more developed awareness of their creative process in relation to the technology, digital graphics and game design
• help students develop further the sorts of visual communication skills so valuable in the games industries and related creative industries (and beyond) through the editing and feedback process engendered though the exercises and the workshopping process in tandem with an emphasis on seeing alongside designing as a critical tool in developing artistic skills

The learning and teaching methods include:

• Lectures and demonstrations
• Laboratory seminars and open-ended tasks
• Group critique

These lectures, laboratory seminars and group critiques are organised into 3 sections (still photo, image manipulation and vector artwork creation) to:

• introduce techniques
• give students in-class experience with the techniques
• attempt the techniques independently
• provide techique-specific technical feedback. Sessions are taught in small groups in bespoke labs. Cameras are supplied by the university; lab computers are equipped with suitable editing software. Students may also use their own equipment as desired.

Sessions are taught in small groups in bespoke labs. The required computers and software tools and technologies will be supplied by the university. Students may also use their own equipment as desired. Students will also engage with preparatory reading. This is designed to help students reflect on and apply their learning to creative and critical outputs, the laboratory seminar environment acts as a safe space for developing and exchanging ideas, support and observational and digital graphic skills.Varied learning materials such as texts, visual materials, videos, sounds, and games will be used to increase student accessibility and will present them with a range of interpretive materials and approaches with which to work and develop their own thinking and creative responses.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: DMA1019

Other information

School of Arts, Humanities & Creative Industries is committed to developing graduates with strengths in Employability, Digital Capabilities, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Sustainability, and Resourcefulness and Resilience. This module is designed to allow students to develop knowledge, skills, and capabilities in the following areas:

Employability: this 1st year module explores digital graphics and visual art not just in relation to games and the games industries, but beyond to a whole host of industries and fields that utilise these skills, techniques and technologies, such as film, tv, interactive art, music and many other industries by providing up-to-the-minute knowledge and understanding of tools and techniques used every day in these fields at professional level. In focussing on, and growing, key digital graphics skills and knowledge, such as file formats, compression, pixel art concepts, still image editing, 2D mechanics and game feel and design, in this module you will develop the sorts of proficiencies and abilities that will facilitate your practice as a professional digital visual arts practitioner. The skills and aptitudes developed in this module will feed forward to the visual arts and design modules throughout your degree, such as 3D modelling, character design, animation and virtual production.

Equally important for employability within these areas (and often overlooked) is the development of ‘personability’: so that employers, collaborators, funders and commissioners want to work with you.

Digital Capabilities: this module, and the programme as a whole, is built on the very latest digital techniques and technologies developed and employed by not just the games industries, but the wider creative industries and beyond, thus ‘digital capabilities’ is at the heart of your learning in Digital Graphics (2D Media). Students are exposed to 2D visualization and design practices, 2D modelling skills and tools, 2D specific mechanics for games, and more, gaining proficiency in these important industry facing skills. In addition, the opportunities and challenges posed by generative AI will form part of the skills development of students. Appropriate use of digital media and communication platforms is increasingly important for visual arts and creative industry professionals and students will gain and develop those invaluable skills as part of this module.

As part of the module laboratory seminars, you will also be encouraged to communicate with one another and to work on some exercises using SurreyLearn, Microsoft Teams, and other digital and file and output sharing platforms, skills will be carried forward to other modules across your degree and beyond.

Global and Cultural Capabilities: Visual arts and digital graphics and are fields that reach out to all parts of the human experience and all parts of our global cultures. Digital graphics and visual art also play a very important recording and preservation role in articulating and keeping alive and vibrant different cultures and experiences, especially those that might otherwise be silenced or endangered. The weekly laboratory seminar sessions give students the opportunity to present your own visual work and to experience and respond to those of others in a friendly, constructive and open forum. Games Design students will be exposed, throughout their degree, to a wide range of approaches, textuality and visuality from all over the world and students are encouraged to bring this knowledge into their digital graphics, visual arts and design practice right from the beginning of their study of image creation.

Resourcefulness and Resilience: this module, through the shared experience that comes about from sharing work with other students will help equip you for the real world setting of your current and future digital visual art practice. You will benefit from the experience of your peers (a really important group, as you will be the digital visual artists of the future), from your tutors who are all have professional digital visual arts skills and from periodic guest speakers attached to the Games Design programme as you progress through your degree.

This module provides students with a number of challenges which reflect the current state of the art. Students need to respond to these with inventiveness and flexibility and are often required to research and develop their own solutions to given problems. This module also helps set the stage for more detailed discussions in later visual arts and design modules on your degree about your practice as an artist, the practicalities of building a portfolio of work and a profile as an artist in the games industries and beyond.

Sustainability: Students are made aware of sustainable production practices around the production and presentation of digital graphics and visual art. Furthermore, from a content viewpoint, students may choose to produce creative work that directly addresses environmental and sustainability issues as part of their subject matter. Teachers across the School also work closely with the University of Surrey’s Institute for Sustainability to explore and promote the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2025/6 academic year.