VFX Festival Lineup 16-18 March 2020

The countdown to Escape Studios' 2020 VFX Festival - the 8th edition - is on.  As in previous years, we've got some great speakers coming to talk about the latest developments in Animation, Games and VFX.  In 2020, the festival will focus on discovering and developing new and emerging talent.  Two parts of The VFX Festival 2020 - EDU and Emerging Talent - will take place on 16 - 18 March at the Southbank Centre - the UK’s largest arts centre on the South Bank of the Thames.

2D Animation with Harmony Starts 29 June

Our newest animation course - three months of intensive training in 2D Animation with Toonboom Harmony - starts on 26th June 2020.

Our new 12 week course is aimed at anyone who wants to learn the art and craft of 2D Animation in Toonboom Harmony, a software package that is increasingly becoming the industry standard for 2D Animation. The course aims to take students to a professional level of skill, making them studio-ready talent.

Taught by veteran animator and animation tutor Jessie Ilham, currently working at Blue Zoo, our course is designed to help our students find employment in the rapidly expanding 2D animation industry, which is undergoing a major renaissance both in the UK and overseas.

Life Drawing is Back with Iliana Franklin

We're delighted to announce the return of life drawing classes to Escape Studios. Life Drawing is back, taught by veteran animator and board artist Iliana Franklin.

Iliana, who teaches our MA in storyboarding and previsualisation, will be booking professional life models for life drawing classes once a week on Wednesdays from 1pm until 6pm in Room B5 at 190 High Holborn.

Life drawing is still an important skill for our animators and storyboard artists. An understanding of human anatomy, and the ability to capture a pose or gesture in a few lines, is still a key skill - even in a digital world.

Fast sketches can be especially useful, helping animators to make quick thumbnails to plan animation - a technique which hasn't changed much since Disney's Golden Age. 

Anim Evening Class Returns on 1 Sept 2020

Animation by Jamie Floodgate

Mark your calendars - our 20 week part-time Animation evening class in 3D animation is back on 1st September 2020 at our High Holborn campus.

The class runs for 20 weeks on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, from 7-10pm, starting with animation fundamentals and building up to a professional level demo reel.

Duncan Guymer Producer at Sliced Bread

Duncan Guymer - Studio Assistant at Escape Studios

Many congratulations to Escapee Duncan Guymer, who has recently started a new job as a production assistant at Sliced Bread Animation in London.

Duncan took our evening class in 3D animation, and soon joined us as a studio assistant, helping to teach our short course animation students.

Duncan quickly mastered the art and craft of animation, and made particularly effective use of our online resources, especially the Vimeo channel to which all our students and Escapees have access.

"Golden Ticket" with Steve Burch on 7th Feb

Steve Burch's Golden Ticket

Escape Studios is welcoming back veteran animation producer Steve Burch to our High Holborn campus at 10am on the 7th Feb, this time with a "Golden Ticket" for our students.

Steve, who has worked on animation classics such as The Iron Giant, Space Jam, and Osmosis Jones, is visiting us on Monday to deliver a workshop on the so-called "soft skills" of freelancing, applying for jobs, getting hired, and interview technique.

Steve Sole Teaches Character Design Jan 27-29

Steve Sole

We're delighted to welcome back character designer & visual development artist Steven Sole to teach the fundamentals of character design on Jan 27, 28 and 29.

Steven will be teaching our 2nd year undergraduate students, who are currently working on their 2nd year Specialism Module CR5001, where students start to choose their own specialism.

Steven Sole comes to us from Framestore and also from Tiger Aspect Productions, where he was Art Director on the hit TV series Mr Bean.

To see some of Steven's work, visit his official site.

"Offcut" Wins Best Animation at Dirigo Festival

Many congratulations to the makers of "Offcut", which has won its first festival award for Best Animation at the Dirigo 6th International Student Film Festival 2020.

The Dirigo Film Festival takes place next Monday at the Arnolfini Arts Centre, Bristol on Monday,  January 27th 2020 from 18:45 pm. Tickets are free - so come along and support your fellow student film-makers. Let's make some noise!

Lighting For Animators with Steve Lall

Steve Lall teaching at Escape Studios

Studio Assistant Steve Lall will teach our 2nd year animation students the fundamentals of lighting in animation today.

A basic understanding of lighting setups is an important part of the animator's toolkit, and a necessary part of the short films our students will shortly be making in PR5001, the 2nd year Studio Project Module which begins in a few weeks.

Steve will cover the fundamentals of lighting with Arnold, showing how our animators can achieve successful lighting setups with minimal complexity.

We also have a series of videos on lighting at our Vimeo Channel to support the classroom instruction.

Unreal Engine Tutorials at Vimeo

We've uploaded a new series of tutorials at our Vimeo Channel on how to use the Unreal Engine rendering pipeline.

Realtime rendering is a growing part of the animation production pipeline. Whether our students are studying VFX, animation, or games, Unreal Engine offers big savings in render times.

Many of our short films are rendered in Unreal Engine. The short films Planet Mars, Minuet and Adam & Eve Mk II were all rendered in Unreal Engine and enjoyed festival success, winning many awards.

Introducing "Joe"

Escape Studios proudly presents "Joe", a short film directed by third year student Callum Reeve and produced by Aidan Lonergan. This short film was completed as part of the third year animation Module PR6001,  a Studio Project worth 60 Credits.

In this module our animation and VFX students join forces to produce a visual effects (VFX) project, with three months to take the project from initial pitch to final render.

The lead animator was Jack Thompson, and cinematography was by Clement Gharini. The 3D VFX Lead was Alfie Mitchell, and the Compositing Lead was George Randall.

Joe is currently being entered into film festivals, and we wish the team every success.

Laura Knight Animator at Jellyfish Pictures

Laura Knight

Many congratulations to Escapee Laura Knight who has started a new job as an animator at Jellyfish Pictures, one of London's leading animation houses.

Laura took our MA in 3D Animation and worked hard on polishing her demo reel (see below) to land the new job.

Laura joins Escapees Henry Fenwick and Rory Marchant who also found work as animators at Jellyfish after graduating from Escape Studios.

Horse Locomotion Tutorials at Vimeo

We've uploaded a new series of horse locomotion videos to our Vimeo Channel, teaching students how to animate a walk, a trot and a run. 

We already have a series of quadruped locomotion videos, by Escape Maria Robertson, but this new series is specifically focused on animating horses.

Learning to animation quadrupeds is one of the key skills animators must master here at Escape Studios. Much of the animation being done in London is animal and creature work; such as the stunning animation of Disney's re-make of The Lion King, most of it completed at MPC in Soho.

Michael O’Sullivan Explains the Art of the Pitch

Michael O'Sullivan

We were delighted to welcome Hollywood Movie executive and former Paramount CFO Michael O’Sullivan to Escape Studios this week.

On Wednesday 15th January Michael gave a talk on the art of finance in the creative industries.

How do our students create innovative ideas for film, TV and games that can become commercially viable? A good pitch is an art in itself; a successful pitch can make or break a project, and without one no animated film, game or TV Series has a chance of getting off the ground.

Our MA Students in Storyboarding and Previz got to meet Michael O’Sullivan and learn about film financing, and the art of preparing a commercially viable project pitch.

Rigging with Michael Davies on Jan 20th

Michael Davies teaches at Escape Studios

3D artist and undergraduate program leader Michael Davies will teach our second year animation students a class in "Character Rigging for Animators", starting Monday 20th January 2020.

For three days Michael will take our 2nd year animation students through the fundamentals of rigging their own characters.

The class is part of Module CR5001, a specialism module in which students begin to focus on a chosen specialism of their choice.

Introducing the "March of the Potguins"

March of the Potguins

Escape Studios proudly presents March of the Potguins, a short film directed by third year student Michael Vodden and produced by Daniel Brooks. This mockumentary satrical short was completed as part of the third year animation Module PR6001,  a Studio Project worth 60 Credits.

In this module our animation and VFX students join forces to produce a visual effects (VFX) project, with three months to take the project from initial pitch to final render.

The lead animator was Lucy Harris, and cinematography was by Clement Gharini. The 3D VFX Lead was Adikah Patterson, and the Compositing Lead was Diogo Teixiera.

March of the Potguins is being entered into film festivals.

Acting for Animators is Back on Jan 16th

Sarah Perry of Shapes in Motion is returning to Escape Studios tomorrow, Thursday 16th January, to teach an all-day "Acting for Animators" class to our second year animation students, as they embark on their Animation Specialism module.  Sarah is an expert on teaching acting skills to animators, having taught classes at MPC, Framestore, and many other leading UK animation and VFX houses.  To find out a little about the class, and about Shapes in Motion, watch the video above.

Michael O’Sullivan Visits Escape Studios

Michael O'Sullivan

We're delighted to welcome Hollywood Movie executive and former Paramount CFO Michael O’Sullivan to Escape Studios tomorrow. On Wednesday 15th January Michael will deliver a talk on the art of finance in the creative industries.

How do our students create innovative ideas for film, TV and games that can become commercially viable?

Our MA Students in Storyboarding and Previz will meet Michael O’Sullivan and will have the opportunity to discuss topics on film financing. In particular, they will learn the art of preparing a commercially viable project pitch.

Introducing "Draw"

Escape Studios proudly presents "Draw", a short film directed by third year animation student Martin Kamminga, and completed as part of the third year animation Module PR6001, a Studio Project worth 60 Credits.

In this module our animation and VFX students join forces to produce a visual effects (VFX) project, with three months to take the project from initial pitch to final render.

Draw was produced by Conway Dobbs, and the lead animator was Maciej Osuch - who in 2019 directed the award-winning short Golden Acorn.  The 3D VFX Lead was Jake Newton and the 2D VFX Lead was Christopher Fernandes.

Draw is currently being entered into film festivals, and we wish Martin and his team every success.

"Offcut" Selected for Dirigo Film Festival

Many congratulations to the makers of "Offcut", whose film has been selected for its first festival entry - the Dirigo 6th International Student Film Festival 2020.

The event takes place at the Arnolfini Arts Centre, Bristol on Monday,  January 27th 2020 from 18:45 pm. Tickets are free.

Our short film Flame, directed by Cherelle Owusu, is a finalist at the Horsham Film Festival, which takes place on 13th February. You can buy tickets for £10 here.

And Sebastian Kuder's graduation film Adam & Eve Mk II has been selected for the Brussels Independent Film Festival on February 9th, and the Wild Indie Sci-fi & Fantasy Film Festival in Greenwich, which takes place on 1 February. Tickets are on sale now at Event Brite for £10.

Producing Animation With Steve Burch 13 Jan

Animation Producer Steve Burch

Escape Studios is welcoming back veteran animation producer Steve Burch to our High Holborn campus on Monday 13th January.

Steve, who has worked on animation classics such as The Iron Giant, Space Jam, and Osmosis Jones, is visiting us on Monday to deliver a workshop on Producing Animation to our second year animators.

Producing animation is an increasingly important part of what we teach at Escape Studios, as our students collaborate on short film projects, entering festivals and winning awards.

Olivia Unwin Production Asstnt at Framestore

Olivia Unwin

Many congratulations to Escapee Olivia Unwin who has recently started a new position as a Production Assistant at London VFX powerhouse Framestore.

Olivia took our BA in the Art of Video Games, and specialised in producing studio projects, where our students come together in groups to mimic as closely as possible the realities of working in industry.

MoCap with Steve Lall on 14th January

Motion Capture with Steven Lall

Our Second Year animation students are back at Escape Studios, and will be soon be tackling their Animation Specialism module, in which students begin to focus on one particular aspect of the animation pipeline.

In this module we bring a variety of tutors in to the classroom to explore different parts of the animation pipeline.

On 14th and 15th January our students will get a masterclass in Performance Capture animation, taught by our very own Studio Assistant Steven Lall.

Animation Taster Day Saturday 11th Jan

Learn to animate a bird in flight

We're running a new Animation Taster Day here at Escape Studios on Saturday 11th January. taught by veteran animator Marc Stevenson.

Taster Days are a great chance to learn about character and creature animation, and find out what an animator's job is all about.

You will learn how to use Autodesk Maya and get a hands-on introduction to 3D Animation techniques; the full day costs just £25, and by the end of the day you'll have your own piece of creature animation - a bird in flight - uploaded to your YouTube channel.  No prior knowledge of Maya - or any software - is required.

New Substance Painter Tutorials at Vimeo

We've uploaded a new series of tutorials on the use of Substance Painter to our Vimeo Tutorial Channel, which is free for all our students and Escapees. The tutorials were recorded by our UG program leader Michael Davies.

You can find this new set of tutorials on Substance Painter here at our Vimeo channel: https://vimeo.com/showcase/5399159

Substance Painter is an important tool that in recent years has been used extensively for texturing, especially in the Games Industry. Recently the Substance Painter tools have developed to be used within the animation and VFX Pipeline, so it's more important than ever that our students are able to learn this increasingly important tool.

AN4001 - Anim 1 - Starts 13 January 2020

AN4001 starts with a bouncing ball

For our first year undergraduates, our core animation module - Animation 1 - starts on Monday 13th January 2020.

AN4001, as the module is officially known, is a 15 Credit module that teaches the fundamentals of character and creature animation. The module lasts four weeks, and covers all the basic principles of animation.

Directed Study Week Starts Monday 6 Jan

Digital lighting

All our undergraduate students have a directed study week starting tomorrow, Monday January 6th. For our first year undergraduates, we have created an online project for all our students that will help them to learn about camera and lighting in Maya.

Lighting and camera are essential skills that will benefit all of our students during the course of their studies at Escape Studios.

How to Animate a Dragon in Flight

Dragon in Flight Tutorial by Jamie Floodgate

We're delighted to announce a new animation tutorial at our growing Vimeo Tutorial Channel; showing students how to animate a dragon in flight.

The tutorial, recorded by Escapee Jamie Floodgate, uses the free Jaemin Dragon rig by Truong, which can be downloaded here.

The dragon flight tutorial can be found here at our Vimeo channel, and is free for all our students and Escapees.

MA Scholarships - Deadline Jan 6th 2020

Time is running out to apply for a scholarship to study on one of our postgraduate degrees in animation, games, 3D VFX, 2D VFX (compositing), and Storyboarding & Previsualisation.

At Escape Studios we offer a £8,000 scholarship to one applicant for each of our next 2020 postgraduate cohorts; significantly reducing the cost of a postgraduate degree in 2D VFX, 3D VFX, 3D Animation, Game Art or Storyboarding and Previsualisation. Don't wait - apply now.

UCAS Deadline 15th January - Apply Now

UCAS - time to apply

If you're thinking of applying to study animation, games or VFX at Escape Studios, you have until January 15th to get your UCAS application in.

The main UCAS deadline is January 15th 2020.  We are now taking applications for the fourth intake of our integrated BA/MArt in Animation, Games and VFX - first launched in September 2016.  So don't delay - get your application in now.

Introducing "Offcut"

Escape Studios proudly presents "Offcut", a short film directed by third year animation student Petroc Menuhin, produced by Tosin Ogunleye and Ethen Dent, and completed as part of the third year animation Module PR6001,  a Studio Project worth 60 Credits.  In this module our animation and VFX students join forces to produce a visual effects (VFX) project, with three months to take the project from initial pitch to final render.