Welcome to Escape Studios!

Welcome to Escape Studios!

A very warm welcome to our new animation undergraduate students who will soon join us on our BA/Mart in Animation on Monday.

Teaching starts on Monday 14th September, and this year is a blend of traditional classroom and digital online delivery. 

Classes take place at our Central London Campus at 190 High Holborn. Online classes will be delivered through a variety of online platforms including Blackboard Collaborate.  Below is a brief list of suggestions to get you underway.
 


Core Textbook - The Animator's Survival Kit

We recommend that all our animation students buy a copy of  The Animator's Survival Kit, by Richard Williams; now the standard textbook for animators and easily the most comprehensive book available for learning animation.

We have two copies in the animation library here at Escape Studios (we also have dozens of other books on animation and digital film-making), but they are often out on loan so it's a good idea to get your own copy.

Get a Laptop
Now that working from home is the new reality, we recommend that all our students have access to a laptop computer; this will enable you to work from home and make it easier to for you to work outside studio hours.  Computer specs change all the time but here is a useful guide to buying your own machine. Ideally, you would also have a second monitor, so that you can watch a tutorial on one screen and follow along on the other.  We also recommend using a tablet rather than a mouse.

Install Maya
The next thing to do is install your free copy of Autodesk Maya. Maya is the main software we animate with, nowadays it's the industry standard. You can download a free educational license here.

Start Watching Our Tutorials
Start to learn the Maya interface. We offer our students a free playlist that introduces students to the basics of the Maya tools, to get you started.
It's a good idea to get familiar with Maya early on.

We also have a Vimeo Tutorial Channel which is exclusively for our students and recent Escapees. The Vimeo Tutorial Channel is password protected - email me for the password and you can access hundreds of videos on animation, games and VFX. Start with animation basics, and keep going.

"Jerich0" - BAFTA shortlisted

Understand the Course Structure
Familiarise yourself with how the course works. To get started, check out the links below:

• What's in the First Year Year at Escape Studios?
• Second year at Escape Studios
• Third year at Escape Studios
• Fourth and final year, (integrated MArt)
• What is the "Escape Method"?
• Learning Resources at Escape Studios
• How feedback works at Escape Studios

Award-winning "Quarantine Chorus"

Welcome to Escape Studios!
Welcome to Escape Studios! The post-Covid world of learning will be a bit confusing at first, but we are confident that we will continue to deliver world-class animation teaching despite the problems caused by Corona.

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 2021, 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.