Framestore's Michelle From to Teach New Animation Evening Class Starting June 18

Michelle From

We're excited to launch a new part-time animation course, starting on Monday June 18 and running for 8 weeks, two evenings a week, until mid August.

Our newest animation tutor is Framestore animator Michelle From, a graduate of the excellent Animation Workshop in Denmark, whose filmography includes Sherlock Gnomes, a soon-to-be-released feature film made right here in London. 

Michelle was also the lead animator on her graduation film ‘Tsunami’, which was included in the official Cinéfondation selection at Festival de Cannes.

Escape Studios Module Descriptors Online

One of the most common questions asked by undergraduate students is "What's in the next module?". Many of our students aren't aware that all the module descriptors for our courses can be found online, giving everyone access to exactly what's in the course, for all three (or four, if you're doing the MArt) years of study at Escape Studios. To find the Module Descriptors, and get familiar with some of the course detail, follow this link:

Pixar's Aaron Hartline Talks Creativity

Aaron Hartline at Escape Studios

Pixar's Aaron Hartline gave a great talk at the VFX Festival earlier this year on the subject of creativity, titled "Turning on Your Creative Light Bulb".

Aaron was here in London to mentor our short course animators, and help us reach Pixar-quality standards in our animation teaching.

Aaron's talk was aimed in particular at animators, who are always looking to come up with inventive and fresh solutions to animation problems.

Animation Course Starts May 29th

The Niffler - animated at Framestore in London

We're currently taking applications for our next animation short course - three months of intensive training in 3D animation - starting on 29 May 2018.

We're excited to welcome Royce Wesley, a Pixar animator who will be visiting us in London to mentor our trainee animators. 

Escape Studios on France TV

France 2

Back in December 2017 Escape Studios welcomed a camera crew from French TV Channel France 2, who were filming a feature for the news on ‘Why London & the UK are the world leaders in VFX’. The segment aired last night in France and you can view it here.

The bit about London VFX starts at 27 minutes into the half hour news program, and is just over 3 minutes long. Our cinematography expert Clement is interviewed, and a number of shots are shown, done by students at Escape Studios, including one of a giant fireball destroying St Paul's cathedral. 

Sound Design Tips from Jakob Parsons

Jakob Parsons

Escape Studios recently welcomed sound specialist Jakob Parsons to teach sound design to our 2nd year undergraduate animators.

Our animation students are currently working on their first Studio Project - a teaser/trailer for an upcoming game, TV series or feature film.

Sound design is a vital part of the film-making process, and the only way to really learn it is to do it, make your mistakes, and then fix them.

Storyboard Summer Course 18 June - 13 July

Iliana Franklin teaches Storyboarding at Escape Studios

We're running an intensive four week storyboarding at Escape Studios over the summer. Story board artist Iliana Franklin, whose production credits include The Tale of Despereaux, is returning to Escape Studios to teach the art and craft of storyboarding, a vital part of the pre-production process that is currently experiencing a skills shortage here in the UK. The course is aimed at anyone who wants to learn storyboarding, whether for animation, live action, commercials, or your own personal projects, and runs from 18 June - 13 July.

Evgenia Golubeva in Annecy Official Selection

"I want to live in the Zoo"

Many congratulations to Escapee Evgenia Golubeva, whose animated short film "I want to live in the Zoo" has been included in the Annecy Official Selection.

Annecy is arguably the most prestigious animation festival in the world, and being included in the selection (and therefore having a chance to win a prize) is a great honour.

Sydney Padua Teaches Animals and Creatures

Sydney Padua talks animals & creatures

Escape Studios recently welcomed back veteran animator (and creature specialist) Sydney Padua, who has been teaching our animation students animal and creature locomotion, and performance.  Sydney's animation career includes classics like Brad Bird's The Iron Giant and - most recently - The Jungle Book, where she contributed to the hyper-realistic style of the hugely successful Disney remake. She also worked on the yet-to-be-released remake of The Lion King, which is largely being animated at London VFX powerhouse Framestore.

Francesca Adams on Storyboarding

Francesca Adams at Escape Studios

Blue Zoo storyboard artist Francesca "Chess" Adams was at Escape Studios recently to talk about her work as an animation board artist.

Chess showed some of her work at Blue Zoo, including scenes from Digby Dragon, made using PanelForge, an in-house storyboarding software platform that can be downloaded for free for student use.

We also asked Chess what tips she has for aspiring board artists hoping to break into the industry.

Jakob Parsons Sound Designer to Escape

Jakob Parsons

Next week on Monday 12th March Escape Studios welcomes sound specialist Jakob Parsons to teach sound design to our 2nd year undergraduate animators. They are currently working on their first group project - a teaser for an upcoming game, TV series or feature film.

Sound design is a vital part of the film-making process, and the only way to really learn it is to try making your own short film project.  Jakob will be coming in to Escape to share his workflow with the students, and to help them come up with inventive and creative solutions to the many problems they will face.

Michael Davies Rigging Webinar 8 March

Mike Davies - the man who rigged Smaug

Rigging Supremo Mike Davies, veteran rigger whose film credits include The Hobbit and The Minions, is hosting a free webinar on the art of rigging on Thursday 8 March at 7pm.

Mike will be teaching our evening class in rigging, so if you're interested in studying with Mike, be sure to sign up so you can a feeling for what the course is like.

If you'd like to register (it's completely free), follow the link here to sign up.