Thursday 29 December 2016

Animation Taster Day at Escape Studios on January 13 and 25

Learn to animate a bird in flight
We have seats available for our next two Animation Taster Days at Escape Studios. The dates are Friday 13 January and Wednesday 25 January - so come and learn about character and creature animation.  And sign up soon - our taster days almost always sell out quickly.

We're running this animation taster day to give future animators an idea of what it's like to work in the  industry, and find out if this is a career that's right for them.

You will work with Autodesk Maya and the Adobe Creative Suite, and you’ll get a hands-on introduction to 3D Animation techniques, all for just £25!  By the end of the day you'll have your own piece of animation uploaded to your YouTube channel.  So, how do you sign up?

Tuesday 27 December 2016

What will you do in 2017?



2016 is almost done. Now is a good time to reflect on the past twelve months, and make plans for the future. After all, it's just about the only time of year when everything stops. No emails, few phone calls - time to think and reflect. And time also to look forward to 2017, and wonder how best to use the coming year.  If you want to start a career in animation, games or visual effects, now is the time to make the changes.

Thursday 22 December 2016

Framestore on Fantastic Beasts at the 2017 VFX Festival

We're delighted to announce that London's heavyweight VFX HouseFramestore will be hosting an exclusive talk on Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them  at next year's VFX Festival.

Creative Director Christian Manz was VFX Supervisor on the film, and he will be showing us how key creatures from the film were brought to life.

The talk will happen on Day 2 of The VFX Festival 2017, which is being run at the arts and cultural hub Rich Mix in Shoreditch, from 7th - 9th February 2017.

To buy your tickets now (they do tend to sell out early) and ensure you don't miss this chance to hear about how these magical creatures were created for the big screen.

Wednesday 21 December 2016

Student Showcase - Ronnie Kaye

One of the early briefs we introduce to our first year undergraduates here at Escape Studios is to re-imagine a classic fairy tale with a modern twist.

The final project includes a classroom pitch, complete with supporting material such as artwork, character design, and a pitch of the underlying premise.

As with all good pitches, the idea is to throw out a hook and get your audience interested in the idea.  If they like it, they will want to know more. And who knows? They might invest in your project!

Tuesday 20 December 2016

Blue Zoo To Mentor Our 2017 Animation Short Course!

QPootle5, by Blue Zoo
We're excited to announce that London animation powerhouse Blue Zoo have agreed to mentor the students participating in our next Animation Short Course, starting in February 2017.

Here at Escape Studios we want to nurture a new generation of animators - and there isn't anyone better than Blue Zoo to help us guide our fresh talent.  Blue Zoo founders Tom Box and Adam Shaw went from being university graduates to owning and running the biggest TV animation co in the UK.

Monday 19 December 2016

Kubo and the Two Strings Q&A with Director Travis Knight and Producer Arianne Sutner

Screening of Kubo at the Curzon Mayfair
SIGGRAPH's London chapter recently hosted a local screening of Laika's latest stop motion triumph - the Annie-nominated “Kubo and the Two Strings”.

After the movie I was honoured to host a Q&A with Director Travis Knight and Producer Arianne Sutner who talked about the making of the film, and revealed some amazing insights into the work flow of LAIKA studio.

Events like this are a great way for our students to meet leading film-makers in person, and find out what makes the industry tick.

Friday 16 December 2016

Star Wars Rogue One Screening Today!

Our Star Wars Student Event is happening today! We're hosting a screening of Star Wars Rogue One at 3pm at the Rich Mix cinema in Shoreditch, at 35-47 Bethnal Green Rd, London E1 6LA.

All our students, short course, post-graduate and undergraduate, are invited,  and our staff will be there too. Best of all, John Galloway, VFX Supervisor at ILM (who did the FX on the movie) will be doing a Q&A after the show.

We're excited to welcome our students to this event - not just a great opportunity to see the latest VFX blockbuster, but also a chance for our students to find out about how the movie got put together.

Thursday 15 December 2016

Register Now For BVExpo! 28 February 2017

Time to Register for BVExpo! BVExpo is an annual event that describes itself as "the UK's leading entertainment and media tech event".

The Expo takes place from 28 February until 2nd March at the ExCeL London and - best of all - it's completely free. As ever, we recommend that our students attend events like this - it's a great way to keep up with the latest trends in our industry and find out where future opportunities lie.  It's especially interesting for animators interested in broadcast graphics.

Wednesday 14 December 2016

Escape Studios Mannequin Challenge!


Check out the Escape Studios Mannequin Challenge! One of our talented studio assistants - Dustin Henning - directed this cool video of some of the staff and students at Escape Studios on a slower-than-usual afternoon. Nice work Dustin!

Tuesday 13 December 2016

Time To Enter The Monthly Character Design Challenge!

Character Design Challenge!
Why not polish your design skills by entering the monthly Character Design Challenge?

It's a bit like the Eleven Second Club, but for character designers. The group started up in January 2015 and it already has over twenty five thousand members.

This month's design challenge is .....Harry Potter! So what are you waiting for? Let's get designing!

Monday 12 December 2016

Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them? At Framestore, Of Course



Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them? is arguably the must-see VFX movie of the year (that and the new Star Wars, of course!).  And who did the animation on these fantastic beasts? Step up London's very own VFX champion heavyweight - Framestore. The Soho VFX house created a spectacular array of magical creatures, pushing the boundaries of what is possible in digital animation. Framestore's team was led by Christian Manz, VFX Supervisor, and Animation Director Pablo Grillo. Between them these artists led a talented team to create amazing beasts including the Niffler, Erumpent and Bowtruckle, and gangster goblin Gnarlak.

Friday 9 December 2016

Animation Short Course Starts 27 February 2017

We're taking applicants for our next animation short course - three months of intensive training in 3D animation - starting in February 2017.  This course is aimed at anyone who wants to learn the art and craft of 3D Animation in Maya. You might be a 2D animator wanting to break into 3D, or a graduate who didn’t get the right skills at university – or someone with no experience of animation who wants to make a career change. We teach all our students from scratch, and our goal is to make you job-ready by the end of the course.

Thursday 8 December 2016

UK Games Forum - Today at Escape Studios!

Continuing our programme of industry engagement, Escape Studios are today hosting the UK Games Forum 2016, alongside SideFX, the developers behind Houdini - one of the leading software packages for 3D animation.

Wednesday 7 December 2016

Boring But Important - Printing & Scanning


Xerox copier, printer & scanner
The Xerox printer/photocopiers at our 190 High Holborn campus are best accessed through Mobile Printing, available to all our students. Fortunately, it's pretty easy. To print a document, first email your file(s) as an attachment to mobileprint.emea@pearson.com. You will then receive an email with a six digit code.

To print it out, go to any networked printer and select Mobile Printing from the display panel. Enter your six digit code, and select Print.

Suicide Squad Flamethrower Effect - Escape Studios Free Tutorial


Did you know that Escape Studios offers tons of free tutorials at our YouTube Channel?  Tutorials like this one above are a great way to learn new skills, and also find out what it's like to work in the animation and VFX industry.  Above is a tutorial by one of our talented studio assistants, Tom Hall, who has perfected a technique for producing a flamethrower effect in Autodesk Maya, using fluid simulation.  Tutorials like this one are highly recommended - it's a great way to improve your knowledge base and raise your game. To find our YouTube channel, follow this link.

Tuesday 6 December 2016

Escape Studios Hosts an Evening With...VFX Producer Richard Lloyd on Thursday 8 December

Escape Studios is hosting another "Evening With..." coming up on Thursday 8 December at our Shepherd's Bush studio, with VFX Producer, Richard Lloyd.

Richard has over 20 years experience in the film and post production industry.  He has worked on films including The Last Emperor, Under the Skin, Collide, The Double and Control.

During the evening Richard will be talking about his work producing visual effects, and will be taking questions about the industry.

And, of course, there will be free pizza and beer for everyone attending!

Monday 5 December 2016

How to Record Voice Overs - An Animator's Guide

Frank Gladstone directs actors in a sound booth in Soho
Most animators eventually find themselves recording a voice for a film project.  Whether it’s a short film, a personal project, or a piece of animation for a client, you will eventually need your characters to speak.

And for this, unless someone else does it for you, you will need to direct actors. So how does an animator or director go about recording voices? And how do you get a decent performance?

Friday 2 December 2016

UK Govt Loans Now Available for Master's Study

Government help is available
The new student loan system for postgraduate master's degrees has now been launched. Low interest loans will now provide students in the UK with access to postgraduate university courses.

This is very good news indeed for students who would like to do one of our master's degrees in VFX production and Game art, and VFX (compositing) - excellent degrees which are producing superb work.

Thursday 1 December 2016

Animated Women UK Launch ‘The Achieve Programme’ Supporting Women in VFX & Animation

This week, Animated Women UK launch "The Achieve Programme" - their first ever programme focused on helping women in animation and VFX to achieve their full potential.

Here at Escape Studios we're one of the official sponsors of programme, which aims to help women break into the animation and vfx business.

Wednesday 30 November 2016

SIGGRAPH Screening of LAIKA’s “Kubo and the Two Strings” on Tuesday December 6

SIGGRAPH's London chapter is hosting a local screening of Laika's latest stop motion triumph - the Annie-nominated “Kubo and the Two Strings”.

After the movie I'll be hosting a Q&A with Director Travis Knight and Producer Arianne Sutner who will talk about the making of the film.

Events like this are a great way for our students to meet leading film-makers in person, and find out what makes the industry tick.

Tuesday 29 November 2016

Animation Taster Day - Wednesday 14 December

Learn to animate a bird in flight
We still have a few seats left for our next Animation Taster Day at Escape Studios on Wednesday 14 December - so come and learn about character and creature animation.

We're running this animation taster day to give future animators an idea of what it's like to work in the  industry, and find out if this is a career that's right for them.

You will work with Autodesk Maya and the Adobe Creative Suite, and you’ll get a hands-on introduction to 3D Animation techniques, all for just £25!  By the end of the day you'll have your own piece of animation uploaded to your YouTube channel.  So, how do you sign up?

Monday 28 November 2016

Brynley Gibson from Curve Digital on Virtual Reality

At last week's BlueGFX Expo, one of the most interesting presentations was by Brynley Gibson from indie games developer Curve Digital on the subject of Virtual Reality.

Gibson posed a number of questions to the audience about what exactly VR is about, and how digital artists should approach VR projects.

And the first question anyone attempting a VR project should ask is a simple one: why does this need to be VR?

Friday 25 November 2016

Visual Effects Society Host VR Event at Escape Studios Monday 28 November

On Monday 28 November from 6:00PM until 11:30pm we have the privilege of hosting The Visual Effects Society at our mid-town campus at 190 High Holborn for an evening titled "The Business of Virtual Reality".

The evening will include VR related demonstrations and a discussion about the future of Virtual Reality in our industry.

Thursday 24 November 2016

UCAS Deadlines - Time to Apply For Our New Undergraduate Courses

UCAS - time to apply
Thinking of applying to Escape Studios to study the Art of 3D Animation, Games or Visual effects?  UCAS is now open, and we are welcoming applications for the second intake of our new integrated BA/MArt in Animation, Games and VFX - just launched in September of this year.

Below are some good reasons why we believe we are building one of the best animation courses in the country, and how you can get started on your new career as a digital artist. Best of all - you will study in central London, a short walk from the centre of the industry, and learn from industry professionals with extensive experience.

Tuesday 22 November 2016

Escape Labs is Back! Rendering Software Panel on Thursday 24 November

3D Render
There are just a few places left at our Escape Labs Software session on Thursday, to be held at our brand new campus at 190 High Holborn.

Come along on thursday 24th November at 6pm and hear from Fluid Pictures, Jordi Bares from Glassworks, and Amaan Akram from The Mill as they share their knowledge of rendering software and discuss what are the best solutions for visual effects artists.

The event is free, and we'll even throw in free drinks and nibbles!

Monday 21 November 2016

Escape Studios Head of 3D Mark Spevick Joins Board of VES

Mark Spevick
We're congratulating our Head of 3D Mark Spevick, who has just joined the board of the the Visual Effects Society (VES), the global organisation that "represents the full breadth of VFX practitioners with over 3,000 professional members in 33 countries worldwide".

VES supports our industry with, among other things, the VES Awards, the deadline for which is fast approaching. If you're a student and you have a great VFX shot you'd like to submit, this could be a great chance to get noticed and start your career. The winner gets a paid flight to Beverly Hills and receives a VES statue.

Friday 18 November 2016

Meet Panel Forge - New Storyboard Wizard

One of the highlights of yesterday’s Blue GFX Expo was Blue Zoo’s Tom Box introducing Panel Forge Pro (the first public demonstration of the software), a new storyboard and pipeline tool which has now been extensively road tested at Blue Zoo on the Miffy the Rabbit and Digby Dragon TV Series.

Panel Forge uses 3D Layouts – much like its rival Redboard (also developed here in London) – to save time in Storyboarding.  Panel Forge allows board artists to use low resolution 3D assets to help set up camera angles and layouts, and has been used on “10,000 shots” to date.  So, what is Panel Forge all about, and why should our students be interested?

Thursday 17 November 2016

How The Simpsons Predicted President Trump



Why read the news when you can watch animation? Specifically, The Simpsons, back in 2000, when in a now infamous episode titled “Bart to the Future,” the long-running animated TV series predicted that Donald Trump would one day become president of the United States of America.  Simpsons writer Dan Greaney recently told The Hollywood Reporter that the thought of a Trump presidency "just seemed like the logical last stop before hitting bottom. It was pitched because it was consistent with the vision of America going insane".

Wednesday 16 November 2016

Blue GFX Expo Tomorrow! Last Chance to Register!

Today is the last chance to register for Blue GFX Expo - taking place in London tomorrow, 17th November.

This year speakers include Tom Box from Blue Zoo, one of the UK's biggest TV animation companies, Framestore on Dr Strange, as well as the folks from Autodesk showing the latest tools in Maya 2017. The event is free and we highly recommend that all our students attend the full day.

ASIFA-Hollywood Helps Rescue Thief and The Cobbler Artwork

Some good news at last for Richard Williams' lost masterpiece - The Thief and The Cobbler.  LA animation chapter ASIFA-Hollywood has donated the not-insignificant sum of $20,000 to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences to assist with the curation and documentation of a big chunk of the movie's original production artwork.

Tuesday 15 November 2016

Escapees Lewis Young and Alastair Cross To Visit Escape Studios on Wednesday November 16th

Escape Studios is hosting an "Evening With" talk on Wednesday November 16th at our new mid-town campus at 190 High Holborn.

We will be welcoming Escapees Lewis Young, animation director at Polar Media, and Alastair Cross, a visual effects artist who has worked on many vfx hits including The Martian, Pan and the forthcoming must-see movie of the year: Fantastic Beasts - And Where to Find Them.

Come along to this free event and find out about these amazing movies from two of the people who helped put them together.

The event starts at 6.30pm and lasts until 8pm.

Friday 11 November 2016

John Lewis Christmas Ad 2016 - by MPC


The John Lewis Christmas Ad is back, featuring some stunning CG creature work on Buster the Boxer by our good friends at MPC Advertising, based in London's Soho - just a short walk from our new MidTown Campus on High Holborn.  Ads like this show how far CG animation has come in recent years, pushing the boundaries of realism and making it hard for even seasoned experts to know what is real and what is digital. That's why our animation course focuses strongly not just on character animation but also on animal and creature work - helping our students to find work in the expanding world of animation in a visual effects environment.


Thursday 10 November 2016

A Chuck Jones Animation Tutorial



In this excellent 13 minute animation tutorial, actor and director Ron Howard introduces the work of animation legend Chuck Jones, the creative master behing the Road Runner and Bugs Bunny. There are other great voices here too - such as Disney animation stars Glen Keane and Eric Goldberg (the latter the author of the excellent "Character Animation Crash Course" - one of the books on our student reading list).  The video is a great introduction to the basic principles of animation, such as anticipation, squash and stretch, secondary action and overlapping action. We're recommending it to all our students.

Wednesday 9 November 2016

"Bring Your Own Animation" Monday November 21st

The Lukin - BYOA!
"Bring Your Own Animation" (BYOA) is an animation event that takes place every month in London.

This month it is being held on Monday 21st November at 6.30pm at the Lukin pub, 4 Conway Street in central London W1T 6BB.

Anyone can bring their animation or just come along for drinks.  If you are a student, or a professional who's working on a shot or a reel, bring your work and get feedback from Professional Animators.

Tuesday 8 November 2016

Escape Studios at Design Your Future in Manchester on 22nd 23 November

Manchester Central Convention Complex
Escape Studios will be at the Design Your Future event organised by UCAS in Manchester on 22nd 23 November.

We'll be showing off some cool animation tools and explaining how we can help students become professional animators and visual effects artists.

Got questions about our BA/MArt in 3D Animation, Games or VFX? Come and meet us at the Pearson College/Escape Studios stand.

Friday 4 November 2016

"Creating Open Worlds" by Ubisoft at BAFTA on Wednesday 9 November

BAFTA is a superb resource for all our students studying in central London. The BAFTA clubhouse is at 195 Piccadilly - a short walk from our MidTown campus on High Holborn. Increasingly BAFTA is supporting not just film and TV but the games industry as well.

On Wednesday 9 November, BAFTA is hosting a games event titled "Creating Open Worlds", hosted by games titan Ubisoft.

This will be an amazing chance for our games students to meet the creative team behind Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Watch Dogs 2 and Steep. Tickets aren't free, but at £7.50 it's cheaper than a movie, and far more rewarding.

Tuesday 1 November 2016

An Evening With Sean Danischevsky - Thursday 3 November

This Thursday, 3rd November Escape Studios is hosting an evening with Sean Danischevsky, a visual effects supervisor with over 20 years' experience working in film and television. Highlights of his career include Dark Knight, Batman Begins and Harry Potter.  Sean has worked for some of the biggest studios in London including Double Negative, The Mill and Framestore.

Events like this are a great way to find out how big VFX movies actually get made, by the people who made them. The event is free, so come along on thursday and find out the secrets behind some of the biggest VFX hits of recent years.

Plus, there will be free beer and pizza!

Thursday 27 October 2016

Escape Studios at VIEW - Secrets of TV Animation

Dan Sarto, Byron Howard, Simone Giampaulo and Conrad Vernon
Escape Studios is in Italy this week participaing in VIEW, the 17th International VFX & Computer Graphics Conference.

VIEW takes place every year in the beautiful Italian town of Torino (Turin), and yesterday I was there running a one-day workshop in Maya, demonstrating some cool creature animation techniques.

Meanwhile, plenty of big hitters in the animation and VFX industries were giving talks and sitting on panels, including my old DreamWorks colleague Conrad Vernon (Sausage Party) and Byron Howard (Zootopia).

Wednesday 19 October 2016

Games Showcase at BAFTA - Dishonored 2 - Saturday 22 October at 5.30pm

BAFTA is a great resource for all our students studying in central London. The BAFTA clubhouse is at 195 Piccadilly - a short walk from our Holborn campus.

On Saturday 22 October at 5.30pm BAFTA is hosting the creative team behind the game Dishonored 2 - an amazing chance for our games students to meet the creative team behind this blockbuster game, and get to know the talent that put it together. Tickets aren't free, but at £7.50 it's cheaper than a movie.

Tuesday 18 October 2016

Careers Webinar with Framestore Tonight!

Escape Studios is hosting a free Careers Webinar with Framestore Tonight from 6.30pm - 7.30pm. Framestore are a multi-awarding studio, one of London's leading centres for visual effects excellence. They will be joining us tonight for a webinar all about careers in the industry.

Thursday 13 October 2016

Introducing Escape Studios' 72 Hour Film Competition

Here at Escape Studios we are excited to be running our first ever virtual 72-Hour Film Project - #Escape72Hours.

All our students are invited to unleash their creativity and create a VFX-inspired short film, competing to be awarded a series of prizes by our industry-led panel. The competition begins at 12:00 noon on Friday 28th October 2016 and last three days.

Wednesday 12 October 2016

Cartoon Movie: Deadline 25 November 2016

Do you have an idea for an animated feature film project you'd like to get off the ground?  If so, you should submit it to Cartoon Movie!

The Deadline to submit a feature film project to Cartoon Movie is 25 November 2016.  If your project gets selected, you will be able to pitch it to almost 1,000 animation and industry professionals from forty countries.

Present at Cartoon Movie will be around 200 buyers, including 120 distributors & sales agents.

But why should animation students want to pitch their feature film ideas? Because we think all our students should aim high - you could be the next Walt Disney or Jeffrey Katzenberg.  Most of all...you'll never find out if you don't try.

Friday 7 October 2016

Wednesday 5 October 2016

BlueGFX Expo 17 November 2016

Blue GFX Expo is taking place in London on 17th November 2016.

Last year speakers included Tom Box from Blue Zoo, one of the UK's biggest TV animation company, Stuart Penn from Framestore, and the folks from Autodesk showing the latest tools.

Monday 3 October 2016

Escape Studios VFX Festival 7th - 9th February 2017

Save the date! The countdown to our 2017 VFX festival is now officially on.

The VFX Festival is coming back for 2017, and just like last year we'll be showcasing the best of VFX, Animation, Games and Motion Graphics.

There is no better way to find out about the latest trends in our industry and - of most importance for our recent Escapees - who is hiring and for what.

Thursday 29 September 2016

Escape Studios is Going to VIEW!

Escape Studios is going to VIEW, the 17th International VFX & Computer Graphics Conference.  VIEW takes place every year in the beautiful Italian town of Torino (Turin), and we'll be there running a one-day workshop in Maya on 26 October, demonstrating some cool creature animation techniques. The class is aimed at complete beginners and requires no prior experience with Maya.

Wednesday 28 September 2016

Let The Undergraduate Courses Begin!

We're excited to welcome our new undergraduate students to our shiny new premises in central London.

Starting this week, Escape Studios is teaching the art of computer animation, visual effects and games design to a fresh cohort of students, in two new purpose-built floors at 190 Holborn, London EC1.

Monday 26 September 2016

Escape Studios Visits Jellyfish Animation!

Jellyfish Pictures in Brixton
Escape Studios' animation studios were treated to a studio tour of Jellyfish Pictures this past week, getting a unique behind-the-scenes peek into the workings of a major London animation studio.

Jellyfish are a relatively new kid on the London block, but they have grown from modest beginnings to become a major player in visual effects animation and also TV series work - which is currently booming in our home town.

Friday 23 September 2016

Thief and the Cobbler - A Moment in Time - in NYC

Richard Williams' unfinished masterpiece The Thief and the Cobbler - A Moment in Time - is to be screened in NYC tonight and on saturday at MOMA - New York's temple of modern art.

The screening was featured in the New York Times - you can read about it here.

To buy tickets to see this rarely-screened film, follow the link to the Moma website here.

Anyone serious about studying animation should see Williams' film at least once. This event is a rare chance to catch a film made utterly without artistic compromise. And of course a chance to meet Williams' himself, who will appear in a Q&A after the film.

Thursday 15 September 2016

Animation Reference from the BBC Motion Gallery and Getty Images

Here is some great reference for animators, specialising in animal locomotion and behaviour, from the BBC and Getty Images.

The site is easily searchable so, say you need some reference footage of a cheetah running, it's all very easy to find. You can easily download the videos as .mp4 files, and then open them up in QuickTime so you can step through them frame by frame. It's a great resource for animators looking for reference to create accurate, realistic animal motion.

Wednesday 14 September 2016

Open Doors at Three Mills Studios on Wednesday 21 September

Stop-motion animation specialists 3 Mills Studios in East London (the folks who brought you Fantastic Mr Fox) are collaborating with Creative Skillset to open their doors on Wednesday 21st September.

For one evening only, visitors will have the chance to pose questions to the animation talent who have worked on some of the biggest TV and film productions right here in London.

Recent productions on site include many and varied projects (not just animation) such as Masterchef, The Royals, The Sound of Music - Live, Jekyll & Hyde and Legend.

On the night you will be also be able to get the inside scoop on live vacancies - such as production jobs, apprenticeships and  runner positions.

Tuesday 13 September 2016

Double Negative's Chris Keller To Visit Escape

DNeg's Chris Keller is is coming to Escape Studios tomorrow, Wednesday September 14th, to talk about his compositing work on visual effects blockbusters like The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Man of Steel and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.  Best of all for all our students - the evening is completely free.

Monday 12 September 2016

Bring Your Own Animation! - 19th September

The Lukin - BYOA!
"Bring Your Own Animation" (BYOA) is an animation event that takes place every month in London. This month it is being held at the Lukin pub, 4 Conway Street in central London W1T 6BB.

Anyone can bring their animation or just come to share their passion and have a few drinks.  If you are a student, or a professional who's working on a shot or a reel, bring your work and get feedback from Professional Animators. Bring your work in a USB or external hard drive. They probably won't have a good internet connection. Here at Escape Studios we strongly recommend that our students attend events such as this one.

Wednesday 7 September 2016

What Should Go in an Animation Demo Reel? Eamonn Butler Reveals the Secrets

Eamonn Butler
Last night Escape Studios welcomed our latest speaker to our regular “Escape Labs” event – where we investigate the new technology that is driving the animation and visual effects industry.

We were proud to host Cinesite’s head of animation, Eamonn Butler, who came to talk to us at our Strand HQ about Cinesite's expanding animation pipeline - developing and producing their own slate of animated films.

Of particular interest to our student animators was what Eamonn had to say on the subject of animation demo reels: what to do – and what not to do.

Tuesday 6 September 2016

When Should Maya Animators Use File Referencing?

What is referencing, and when should animators use it? File referencing ("referencing", for short) is the process in Autodesk Maya which allows the animator to make changes to an animation rig in the course of production and have the new rig automatically update itself to all your existing animation files. It's pretty much what most studios use to manage their animation pipeline, one way or another, as most production rigs are a work in progress.

The question for animators working and studying from home is, should you import the rig directly into your shot, or should you use referencing? Here are the pros and cons.

Friday 2 September 2016

2017 VES Awards - Student Entries

The 15th Annual VES Awards are fast approaching. Here at Escape Studios we encourage all our students to enter Category 23: Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project. 

The award is sponsored by Autodesk, who make Maya, the leading animation and VFX software, and is a great opportunity for any ambitious student to kick-start their career.

Tuesday 30 August 2016

Tech Talks at BAFTA - Starts Tomorrow!

London SIGGRAPH is organising the second annual TECHTALKS, starting tomorrow August 31st. The event is being held in association with VFX powerhouse Double Negative, and is sponsored by Autodesk, makers of Maya, the animation software that is now the dominant platform in our industry.

TechTalks is a two-day conference which focuses on the technical side of our industry. As always, we strongly recommend that our students attend events of this kind. It's always good to know where the industry is heading, and you never know who you might meet.