A Long Way Home Best Trailer Golden Nugget

A Long Way Home "Best Trailer" at Golden Nugget Fest

Many congratulations to the makers of A Long Way Home, which has won its sixth festival award - Best Trailer at the Golden Nugget Film Festival. 

A Long Way Home is a teaser/trailer directed by Harrison Bell, written by Simone Fraser, and produced by Josiah Martin-Lofters.

Quadruped Leopard Walk Locomotion Tutorial

Leopard Walk by Melissa Coarezza

We've uploaded a new video tutorial at Vimeo on animating quadrupeds, a "Leopard Walk Tutorial" using the free Leopard Rig by Truong CG, which is available for download at Gumroad. 

The Leopard Rig is built along the same lines as Truong's other quadruped rigs.  The locomotion tutorial is password-protected - but available to all our current students and recent Escapees.

Unreal Engine Summer at Escape Studios

Unreal Engine at Escape Studios

Why not learn the fundamentals of Unreal Engine online with Escape Studios this summer.  Our online courses in Unreal Engine have been launched in partnership with Epic Games, the creators of the software.

Unreal Engine is a real-time renderer that is changing the way that animation and VFX is working; the industry is rapidly switching from traditional (and time-intensive) ray-tracers to real-time rendering technology.  To sign up, follow this link to the official page, and register your interest. 

"Pet Shop" Wins Best Trailer at Halicarnassus

Pet Shop - Best Trailer at Halicarnassus Fest

Congratulations to the makers of "Pet Shop", which has won another festival award - "Best Trailer" at the Halicarnassus Film Festival.

Directed by Shauna Ludgate and Produced by Emmanouil "Manos" Zervoudakis,  "Pet Shop" is a story about animals in a pet shop who long to find a home. 

2021 Animation Demo Reel

We're proud to release our latest animation demo reel, a compilation of some of the best shots taken from the many award-winning films created by our students over the past year. This latest reel includes work from "Malloe", "BoxBots", "A Long Way Home",  "Palindromo", "Alma", "Pet Shop", "Kiwi's Dream", "Amarok", "The Beauty of Nature" and "Solitude". 

BoxBots Best Animation at Golden Nugget Fest

"BoxBots" wins Best Animation at Golden Nugget Fest

Many congratulations to the makers of "BoxBots", which has won its fourth festival award - Best Animation at the Golden Nugget Film Festival in London. 

Directed by Jordan Coles and Ross Green, and produced by Priya Shah, "BoxBots" is about a contest between two toys who compete for the "World Plasticweight Championship".

Kevin Richards Animator at Paper Pop City

Kevin Richards

Congratulations to Escapee Kevin Richards who is working as a lead animator in Bournemouth at Aardman Animation, on Paper Pop City, a new TV series developed by the Bristol-based studio. 

Kevin graduated from our 12 week course in 3D animation, and soon found work as a 3D animator at Cloth Cat in Cardiff; later working on the Channel 5 series Shane the Chef. 

Kevin has also been a regular guest tutor at Escape Studios, helping to teach a new generation of the students the art and craft of character animation. 

Alma Wins Hon Mention at Madeira Video Fest

Best Animation (Hon Mention) at IVFF 

Congratulations to the makers of "Alma", which has won its third festival award: Honourable Mention at the International Video Festival Funfest in Madeira, in the category of "Best Animated Film".

"Alma", is the first fully motion capture CG short film created at Escape Studios; it was directed by Rola Hafez, co-directed by Francesco Cordari and Alexandra Megerdichian, and produced by Emmanouil "Manos" Zervoudakis. 

The Escape Studios Mug - Our "Easter Egg"

"Quarantine Chorus" - spot the mug!

When you watch our students' animated short films, look hard and you might find an Easter Egg - an Escape Studios Mug.  

The Escape Studios Mug has been a local tradition since we first started making animated shorts a few years ago; the idea is that the iconic orange mug will find its way, somehow, somewhere, into each film that we make. 

Escape Studios has always had a strong sense of design. The mug is, of course, just a mug, but it is a stylish piece of graphic design in its own right, and part of our overall goal at Escape Studios - "to make beautiful things".

"Malloe" Double Winner at Flicks Festival

"Malloe" wins Best Anim and Best Art Direction

Congratulations to the makers of "Malloe", which has won two awards at the Flicks Flim Festival, scooping up "Best Animation" and also "Best Art Direction". 

"Malloe" was produced by our 3rd year graduating animation students, working together as a team in Module PR6001 to produce their final short animated film.  

"Malloe" was directed by Eilin Berrio Pena, edited by Ross Green, and produced by Nickoel Izharudin.  Art Direction was by Paloma Zhu. 

Pet Shop Wins Best Trailer at Art Film Awards

Congratulations to the makers of "Pet Shop", which has won its fifth festival award - Best Trailer at the Art Film Awards.

Directed by Shauna Ludgate and Produced by Emmanouil "Manos" Zervoudakis,  "Pet Shop" is a story about animals in a pet shop who long to find a home. 

James Baxter Live Animation Webinar 30 June

James Baxter

On 30 June at 6pm we are hosting a live animation webinar with legendary Disney and DreamWorks animator James Baxter.  James began his animation career on Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and has since worked on dozens of animated films.  

James was the animation lead on Belle on Beauty and the Beast, Rafiki on The Lion King, and Quasimodo on The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  Baxter also won the Windsor McCay Award at the 2018 Annie Awards.

Kiwi's Dream Excellence Award at The Rookies

Kiwi's Dream wins Excellence Award at The Rookies

Congratulations to the makers of "Kiwi's Dream", which has won its 14th festival award - for Excellence in Animation at The Rookies.

Directed by Paloma Zhu and produced by Daniel Rowe, "Kiwi's Dream" is a short story about an origami kiwi who dreams of flight.  

It was completed as part of 3rd year animation Module PR6001.

Nickoel Izharudin Producer at MPC

Nickoel Izharudin

Congratulations to Escapee Nickoel Izharudin who has joined MPC in London as a VFX Production Coordinator.

Nickoel took our integrated MArt in 3D Animation and, while at Escape Studios, produced a number of award-winning short films, such as Little Gestures, Hotel Aloha, Quarantine Chorus, and Malloe; all four shorts have won multiple awards in international film festivals.

Nickoel is now turning her production experience to commercial projects at MPC - one of the UK's leading animation and visual effects houses.

Quarantine Chorus Best Animation at Ramsgate

"Quarantine Chorus" Festival Commendation at Ramsgate

Many congratulations to the makers of "Quarantine Chorus", which has won "Festival Commendation" at the Ramsgate Film Festival.  

This is the 11th festival award for Quarantine Chorus, a short story about life under Lockdown in a small town in Italy.  

The film was directed by Edoardo Sartori, produced by Nickoel Izharudin and edited by Paloma Zhu; it was based on an original idea by Tequila Mason. 

Escape Studios 2021 Showcase 22 June

Animation Showcase at Escape Studios

We are proud to present the 2021 Escape Studios Student Showcase - featuring all the finest work done at Escape Studios over the past year.

The live showcase takes place on 22nd (Tuesday) June 2021; we'll be showing the very best work done by our animation, games and VFX students since September 2020.  This has been a tough year in many ways but the work done by students at Escape Studios keeps getting better - we couldn't be prouder of what they have achieved.

Introducing "Side Quest"

Meet "Side Quest", the latest short film created by our students at Escape Studios.  "Side Quest" is an adventure story set in a distant fantasy land, in which a brave knight embarks on a quest to free a Princess from a vicious dragon.  Will our hero pull through and save the damsel - or will he fall victim to the world's many side quests?  "Side Quest" was directed by Jess Hiles and produced by Priya Shah as part of PR6001, a Studio Module in which our third year animation students collaborate to produce short films.

Rassoul Edji Texture & LookDev Artist at MPC

Rassoul Edji

Congratulations to Escapee Rassoul Edji who is now a Senior Texturing & LookDev Artist at MPC.  Rassoul studied the Art of VFX at Escape Studios, and also directed the award-winning short film "Seeker", which has won multiple festival awards.

Rassoul joins many Escapees you have joined MPC after leaving Escape Studios, including animation students Emily Lim, Maria Casanueva, Chan Sagoo,  Daniel Amor, Joseph Sciberras, Amanda Costa, Elena Scala, and Stephen Mealand. 

Reach Wins Best VFX at London Film Fest

Reach wins Best VFX at LIMFF

Congratulations to the makers of "Reach", which has won its second festival award: "Best VFX" at the London International Monthly Film Festival (LIMFF).

"Reach" is a short film directed by Matteo Balduzzi, produced by Alessandro Cannucciari, and  completed as part of the third year Module PR6001.

Pet Shop "Best Super Short" at UK Film Fest

Pet Shop Wins Best Super Short at UKMFF

Congratulations to the makers of "Pet Shop", which has won its fourth festival award - Best Super Short at the UK Monthly Film Festival.

Directed by Shauna Ludgate and Produced by Emmanouil "Manos" Zervoudakis,  "Pet Shop" is a story about animals in a pet shop who long to find a home. 

Kiwi's Dream Wins €1,000 at Cactus Film Fest

Kiwi's Dream wins €1k Award at Cactus Film Fest

Congratulations to the makers of "Kiwi's Dream", which has won its 13th festival award - a "CSV award" at the Cactus Film Festival, worth €1,000. 

Directed by Paloma Zhu and produced by Daniel Rowe, "Kiwi's Dream" is a short story about an origami kiwi who dreams of flight.  It was completed as part of the third year animation Module PR6001.

Lucy Harris Junior Layout Artist at Blue Zoo

Lucy Harris

Many congratulations to Escapee Lucy Harris,  who has started work as a junior layout artist at Blue Zoo Animation in London. 

While at Escape Studios, Lucy worked on a number of award-winning short films, including "March of the Potguins", which won a "Five Star Award" at the British Amateur Film Festival in 2020. 

In 2020 Lucy directed the short sci-fi fantasy "Over Under", which won "Best Animation" at the Flicks Festival and "Most Fabulous Animation" at the Animafantasia Film Fest. 

Planet Mars Hon Mention Best Cinematography

Planet Mars Best Cinematography (Hon. Mention) at LIMFF

Congratulations to the creators of the mockumentary animated short "Planet Mars", which has won its first festival award - an "Honourable Mention" for Best Cinematography at the London International Monthly Film Festival.  

Directed by Escapee Sebastian Kuder, Planet Mars was completed as part of the second year of animation studies at Escape Studios, in Module PR5001, a Studio Project Module in which students collaborate to produce a short film. 

Introducing "The Beauty of Nature"

The Beauty Of Nature from Liam Mann on Vimeo.

Escape Studios is proud to present "The Beauty of Nature", the latest short film created by our second year animation students at Escape Studios.  Written and directed by Eliezer Girma, and produced by Liam Mann, "The Beauty of Nature" is a mockumentary satire completed as part of Studio Module PR5001, a collaborative module in which students work together on short film projects, simulating as closely as possible the workings of a real animation studio.  The film was animated in Maya, edited in Adobe Premiere and rendered in Unreal Engine. 

Pet Shop Wins Best Trailer at Vesuvius Fest

"Pet Shop" wins "Best Trailer" at Vesuvius Fest

Congratulations to the makers of "Pet Shop", which has won its second festival award - Best Trailer at the Vesuvius Film Festival.

Directed by Shauna Ludgate and Produced by Emmanouil "Manos" Zervoudakis,  "Pet Shop" is a story about animals in a pet shop who long to find a home. 

Amarok Nominated for "Best Trailer" at TMFF

"Amarok" Nominated for Best Trailer at TMFF

Congratulations to the makers of "Amarok", which has been nominated for "Best Trailer" at The Monthly Film Festival in Glasgow (TMFF). 

Amarok was written and directed by Shenaaz Suliman, co-written by Simone Fraser, produced by Josiah Martin-Lofters, and edited by Cameron Haley.  

Amarok is a trailer for a web series (currently in development) about a First Nations police detective in Northern Canada. 

Introducing "The Crash"

The Crash - Advert (Short Film) from Lewys Rhodes on Vimeo.

Introducing "The Crash", the latest short film created by VFX students at Escape Studios.  "The Crash" is a short science fiction story combining live action and VFX; it was written and directed by Lewys Rhodes, and produced by Daniel Rowe, who earlier this year produced the multi-award-winning short film "Kiwi's Dream".   

Solitude "Best Micro Short" at Vesuvius Fest

Solitude "Best Micro Short" at Vesuvius Film Fest

Escape Studios is proud to congratulate the makers of"Solitude", which has won its first festival award - "Best Micro Short" at the Vesuvius Film Festival.   

Directed by Molly McCabe, edited by Liam Mann, and produced by Charlotte Gimbird, "Solitude" is about solitude, loneliness, isolation - and friendship.  Animation was done in Maya, editing in Adobe Premiere Pro and rendering in Redshift. 

Piotr Noworyta Junior MoCap Animator at ILM

Piotr Noworyta

Many congratulations to Escapee Piotr Noworyta who has just started work as a junior facial capture artist at ILM. 

Piotr took our integrated MArt in the Art of 3D Animation, and has now joined one of the world's leading animation and visual effects houses, a global leader responsible for hits such as the Star Wars series and the ground-breaking dinosaur animation on Jurassic Park.

Piotr is now a facial capture animator at ILM.  Performance Capture is a growing part of the animation pipeline, of which we are doing more and more at Escape Studios. 

"Pet Shop" Wins Best Trailer at Onyko Fest

Pet Shop wins Best Trailer at Onyko Festival

Congratulations to the makers of "Pet Shop", which has won its first festival award - Best Trailer at the Onyko Film Festival.

Directed by Shauna Ludgate and Produced by Emmanouil "Manos" Zervoudakis,  "Pet Shop" is a story about animals in a pet shop who long to find a home.