Wednesday 31 October 2018

What's in Our Level 7 Integrated MArt?

Level 7 MArt: collaboration and creativity
What's in the final year of our integrated Masters degree?

Our undergraduate students graduate after 3 years with a BA, and many of them will go on to study for an extra, final year, at the end of which they get an Master of Arts degree in their subject.

It is called an "integrated masters" degree, because the masters' year builds on the first three years of undergraduate study.

In their fourth year of study, masters' students will collaborate to fulfill their own ideas and projects, working together in teams to create original content.

Tuesday 30 October 2018

RADiCAL offers Escape Studios students FREE Account Upgrade for RADiCAL's MOCAP Smartphone App

Escape Studios have teamed up with RADiCAL, a new provider of smartphone driven motion capture, to give our students free Producer accounts.

You can find RADiCAL at https://getrad.co, where they offer users a new AI driven bipedal motion capture system that our students can now run from their Smartphones.

Monday 29 October 2018

Dinosaurs: The Making of Jurassic World

Jurassic World
One of the highlights of last week's VIEW conference in Turin, Italy, was Glen McIntosh's presentation on  the making of Jurassic World, and Fallen Kingdom.

Glen was the animation supervisor on both projects. His talk was essentially a masterclass in creature animation, demonstrating how much careful research goes into the creation and animation of the dinosaurs.

McIntosh introduced himself as a man "obsessed with dinosaurs, obsessed with "how they looked, and how they moved."

He described the Jurassic Park series of movies as a "balance between science and entertainment", as the film-makers try to keep both audiences and paleontologists happy. 

Monday 22 October 2018

Escape Studios October 2018 Animation Reel



We're proud to present our October 2018 Escape Studios Animation Reel. Drawing on work from our talented undergraduate and short course animators, this latest reel was cut by our newest animation tutor, Amedeo Beretta, and features the work of many of our students. Many congratulations to Maria Robertson, Emily Lim-Sarrias, Chan Sagoo, Amanda Costa, Elena Scala, Daniel Amor, Sebastian Kuder, Katerina Zacharakis, Chiara Lurgo, Francesco Nevi, Harry Pearson and Aaron Hopwood on their excellent work.

Wednesday 17 October 2018

Animation Short Course Starts 25th Feb 2019

Animation 12 week course starts 25 February 2019
Our next animation short course - three months of intensive training in 3D animation - starts on 25th February 2019.

The course is aimed at anyone who wants to learn the art and craft of 3D Animation in Maya.

Tuesday 16 October 2018

Mend the Gap! at Escape Studios

Mend the Gapan evening of discussion and debate around the current animation training and employment landscape.

Currently up to 30% (or more) of the team at British animation studios are artists sourced from overseas, often from schools in Europe.

But with Brexit looming, and the likely loss of free movement of labour, the future of UK animation could be under threat.

UK universities produce over 600 students with degrees in animation every year - so why are many UK animation graduates not ready for work when they leave university? On 1st November our panel event, organised by Film London and hosted at Escape Studios,  will debate what can be done to Mend the Gap.

Monday 15 October 2018

Escape Studios at Animation Week

Escape Studios was featured at Animation Week yesterday, in the form of an online interview.

Animation Week was interested in the kind of students who study at Escape Studios, and why they study with us. Of course, the answer is - it's all about industry, and learning practical real-world skills. To see the full story, follow this link

Friday 12 October 2018

Tax Breaks Bring Boost for UK Animation

The British Film Institute recently released some new data showing the big impact that UK Govt tax relief has had on animation production here in the UK over the last few years.

Tax relief has been a big success, and has led to a big increase in animation production. As a result, despite the tax cuts, the Treasury is collecting more tax, not less, thanks to the increase in overall business.

Thursday 11 October 2018

BA/MArt in Animation Starts Sept 2019

Rocket, animated at MPC in London
Here at Escape Studios we are now taking applications for our four-year BA/MArt in computer animation, now recruiting for September 2019.

So, what's in the course, and what do potential students need to know in order to make a successful application?

Wednesday 10 October 2018

Dave Novis Animator at Outpost VFX

Many congratulations to Escapee Dave Novis for starting a new position as Animator at Outpost VFX.

Dave started his career in animation by taking our animation course back in 2016, and then worked as a studio assistant at Escape Studios, helping to train our growing cohort of animators. After that he joined Lipsync Post as a junior animator, working on the movie "Show Dogs".

Tuesday 9 October 2018

MA Animation Starts 25 February 2019

Get your masters degree in 3D Animation
The Spring 2019 intake of our new MA (Master of Arts) in 3D Animation starts on 25 February 2019.

The course will be taught at our mid-town campus in central London, and we look forward to welcoming our new cohort of students.

If you're looking for an animation course that teaches you how to animate, and also leads to a formal qualification in the field, then this could be the right course for you. 

Monday 8 October 2018

Drawing Club is Back!

Drawing Club at Escape Studios
Drawing Club is returning to Escape Studios, and all students and all skill levels are welcome. Even if you're just a beginner, and can barely draw a stick figure - come along and get stuck in.

Our Studio Assistants will be on hand to lead the class, presenting drawing challenges such as quick gesture drawings to capture a fast pose.

Drawing club will be taking place on Tuesdays in the basement at 190 High Holborn: Morning session at 11:30-12:30 and afternoon session at 4:30-5:30.

Thursday 4 October 2018

Character Design is Back - 2 September 2019

Josh O'Brien
Save the date! Our Character Design class is returning to Escape Studios next September, taught by leading character designer Josh O'Brien.

Josh will be teaching our full-time intensive four week character design class, starting on Monday 2nd September and running until Friday 27th September.

Josh is an experienced visual development artist and character designer, currently working at Blue Zoo animation in London. Past clients include Ash Gaming, Oxford University Press, Capstone publishing, Melwood Pictures and Zondervan Publishing.

Wednesday 3 October 2018

Thief and the Cobbler at BFI 25th November

A Moment in Time
Richard Williams' unfinished masterpiece The Thief and the Cobbler - A Moment in Time - is to be screened at the BFI on Sunday 25th November, with a Q&A afterwards.

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

Tuesday 2 October 2018

Meet Our Studio Assistants

Studio assistants - the undergraduate team
Our Studio Assistants are the backbone of Escape Studios - we couldn't manage without them.  Studio Assistants help keep our classes running smoothly and keep an eye out for all the students in the class - to help make sure that everyone gets the most out of their studies.

Our team has grown of late - so here's a group photo to match some names to faces. Our studio assistants are there to help all our students - so if you get stuck, don't be shy to ask Michael, Ash, Mael, Amanda, Federico, Pol, Matt, Lorenzo, Thierry, Thomas, Mitch, Fabrizio or Harry for help.

Monday 1 October 2018

Daniel Baidoo Animator on "Hurricane"

Many congratulations to 3rd year animation undergraduate Daniel Baidoo, who recently finished work as a junior animator on the WW2 movie "Hurricane", currently in theatres in the UK.

Daniel did the work this summer with Lipsync Post in London.

Daniel started his animation career by interning at King Bee animation while he was still a first year undergraduate. Later he joined Lipsync and worked as a Junior animator on Showdogs.

We asked him how he got the position on "Hurricane", and what advice he might have for other students at Escape Studios looking to find internships and summer jobs.