Scenic Painting for Stage and Screen, BA

at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama

Year 1: Workshops and classes
 

• Workshops and classes in colour theory, colour mixing, scaling-up, drawing, scenic art painting techniques, marbling, stained glass, hand painted wallpaper, wood graining, trompe l’oeil and lettering.
• Working with a professional designer to produce samples for a reproduction of an existing texture or fine art painting, and transcription of an image from a 1:25 scale onto a pre-prepared stage flat.
• You will contribute an engaged involvement working as part of a production team on a public production within a scenic art team.
   

Year 2: Developing skills
 

• Developing skills in spray painting, perspective, texture, architectural and figurative painting, trompe l’oeil painting, signwriting and learning and applying advanced painting techniques.
• Painting a cloth and/or gauze for a Central public production, or at a professional theatre.
• You will work in a professional context within the industry and have the opportunity to develop personal projects exploring techniques not covered by production work.
   

Year 3: Focus on professional development
 

• You will work as Head of Department on a full scale realised production in the Embassy Theatre or Webber Douglas Studio, managing other students painting scenery, textured floors and walls, and finishes on furniture or specific props.
• You will undertake a personal project or placement focused on a main area of expertise, as well as working in professional contexts, e.g. painting scenery for a West End show or regional theatre.
• You will participate in a public exhibition presenting your work to invited industry employers and others.

Our standard academic entry requirements range between 120 and 64 UCAS tariff points. You can see how many tariff points your qualifications would gain on the UCAS Tariff Calculator. International qualifications and others not covered within the UCAS tariff can also be accepted. 
 

Please note that we make lower offers (including unconditional) to exceptional candidates and those who have alternative or prior experience to offer. All candidates invited to interview are asked to bring a portfolio. Interview and portfolio are key factors in determining which applicants are accepted on to the course.

English Language Requirements

Applicants for whom English is not their first language are required to prove their English language proficiency by gaining an overall score of 7.0 in an IELTS test. We do accept equivalent English language qualifications. Applicants are advised to gain this certification as early as possible and more information can be found
 

The fees for Scenic Painting for Stage and Screen, BA  may vary from £20,000 to £35,000 annually for tuition fees. The fee's prices may get higher for International Students.

Graduate employment and career pathways include:
 

Scenic Artist, on productions at:

• The Royal Opera House
• Young Vic
• Royal Court Theatre
• Shakespeare’s Globe
• Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre
• Glyndebourne
• Royal Shakespeare Company
• Louis Vuitton worldwide visual merchandising
• Buckingham Palace Garden Party
• Pitlochry Festival Theatre
• The Old Vic
• Watford Palace Theatre
• Pinewood Studios
• Alton Towers
• Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch
• Souvenir Scenic Studios
• Legoland
• Cobalt Studios New York
• Chessington World of Adventures
• Donmar Warehouse
• Unicorn Theatre
• Burning Windmills Pictures (Disney)
• The London Dungeon
• CBBC
• Sky TV
• Channel 4
• Samuelson Productions
• Ealing Studios
• Elle Decoration
• Thorpe Park Scenic Workshops.
• Head of Design Realisation, Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
   

Display Manager, Harvey Nichols.
 

Resident Designer and Scenic Artist, The Mill at Sonning.
 

Founder members of companies

Scene a Theme (designing themed rooms, murals and private fine art commissions)
Barnickle Furniture (hand painted furniture, which has previously been exhibited at the Country Living Fair).