Animation Short Course Starts October 1st

Our next animation short course - three months of intensive training in 3D animation - starts on 1st October 2018.

We're honoured to partner with London animation & VFX powerhouse Cinesite, who will be mentoring our trainee animators and our MA students. Cinesite's Head of Animation Eamonn Butler has been a regular visitor to our Holborn campus, and we can't think of anyone better to help nurture our next generation of animation talent.

Eamonn Butler, head of animation at Cinesite

Who is this course for?
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.

What's this course all about?
We take you through all the essential principles of animation from the very beginning – bouncing a ball – through to sophisticated character and creature animation. We start with the basics of motion and locomotion, building up to pantomime, character performance, and also tackling animals and creatures.

Employability
London has a strong focus on visual effects work and we want our students to be able to tackle the challenges and opportunities in our local market. By the end of the course you should have a polished video portfolio in the shape of an online demo reel to help you find work in this growing but competitive industry.

Industry Mentor - Cinesite
We are fortunate to have animation and VFX industry leaders Cinesite as our industry mentors for this course. We can't think of a better partner, and can't wait to get them involved in training the next generation of animators at Escape Studios. 

Course Design
The animation program has been refined over many years, constantly being adapted to suit the needs of industry, and following extensive industry consultation.

When does it start and finish?
The course starts on October 1st 2018 and lasts for 12 weeks, finishing just before Christmas. Students will study alongside the intake for our new MA in Animation, which kicks off at the same time.

Where is it taught?
At our Central London Campus at 190 High Holborn, WC2

Who teaches the course?

Alex Williams

The course will be taught by myself and by a number of other animation tutors.  The lead tutor will likely be Lee Caller, an excellent animator with a superb sense of comic timing and storytelling. Other tutors include myself, and some of the many talented animators who work at Escape Studios.

Every animator has their own unique workflow and areas of specialism, so having a variety of tutors helps our students get a broad range of approaches to animation.

Course Breakdown

• AN7001 Animation 1 – Locomotion and Mechanics (30 credits)
  This develops students’ understanding of basic locomotion and mechanics for 3D animation, applying the principles of animation in a production environment.
  
  
• AN7002 Animation 2 – Character Performance (30 credits)
  This module enables students to demonstrate a systematic knowledge and understanding of character animation and character performance (including dialogue and lip sync) in a production environment.
  
  
• AN7003 Animation 3 – Animals and Creatures (30 credits)
  Students will use advanced performance techniques and live reference to produce high quality animal and creature performances.
  
  
• AN7004 Animation 4- Studio Project (30 credits)
  In this module students work on a group project in which they are entirely responsible for the production of a prototype in which some students may work in-house and others remotely.

• AN7005 Animation 5- Production Project (60 credits)
  This involves a self-directed project demonstrating the extent of your knowledge and understanding of the current state-of-the-art and mastery of chosen subject matter.

Career opportunities
Our students go on to work in many areas of the industry including 3D animation for films, TV, games, and visual effects. After the classroom course is over we offer three months of online mentoring, so that our students can continue to refine and polish their skills. We take aftercare very seriously – since it can take time to put together a job-ready demo reel, we make sure our students get the time and practice that they need to refine their work to make them job-ready.

Success Stories
To see some of our Escape Studios animation success stories, follow this link.

Student Work
To see some of the work done by students at Escape Studios, check out our YouTube Channel.




Where can you sign up?
Follow this link to the official site.

---Alex

The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects. To apply for our new BA/MArt starting in September 2019, follow this link. We train all our students with practical real-world skills, to give them the best possible chance of a career in industry. To see some of our animation success stories, follow this link.