Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme Open to Escapees

Hong Kong PHD Fellowship Scheme

Escape Studios is delighted to support the Hong Kong PHD Fellowship Scheme for the Academic Year 2025-26, launched by The School of Creative Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University, and to encourage our recent graduates to apply.

"Checkmate" Wins Best Animation in Makizhmithran

 "Checkmate" wins Best Animation at Makizhmithran Awards

Congratulations to the makers of the short animated film "Checkmate", which has won Best Animation at the Makizhmithran Film Awards.  

Checkmate was completed as part of Studio Module PR5001, a collaborative module in which second-year animation students work together on short film projects.  

Checkmate was directed by Cara Masters and produced by Erminas Surgautas.  This is its fourth festival award. 

Never Cross the Line: The "180 Degree Rule"

180-Degree Rule

What is "Crossing the Line?", and why should animators never (or, almost never) cross it?

"Crossing the Line" is also known as the "180-Degree Rule", and it is one of the fundamental rules of cinematography.

Like most rules of film-making, the only way to really understand the 180 Degree Rule is to break it, figure out what went wrong - and then work out how to fix it next time.

Let's say you have a shot with two characters talking to one another. Draw an imaginary line between the two characters. This is the "line" that we should not cross.

Escape Studios 2024 2D Animation Reel

We're proud to present our 2024 2D Animation Reel.  Here at Escape Studios we've been expanding our 2D animation capacity for some years, starting with our Evening Classes in Toonboom Harmony, and now offering our undergraduate animation students a new 2D Animation Pathway, focusing on digital tools such as Toonboom Harmony, Adobe Animate and Blender.  The 2D Animation industry has been going through a renaissance, and we're proud to offer our students a chance to be a part of it.  This month we also became a formally accredited Toonboom Harmony Authorised Training Centre (ATC). 

Father's Blade Wins Best Trailer at Nawada Fest

"Father's Blade" wins "Best Trailer" at Nawada Fest

Congratulations to the makers of the short film "Father's Blade", which has won "Best Trailer" at the Nawada Film Festival.

"Father's Blade" was directed by Thomas Husband and produced by Hugo Whitworth; the editor was Alfie Williams and the lead animator was Brandon Rai.  This is the fifth festival award for Father's Blade. 

The Art of Walt Disney in the Animation Library

The Art of Disney Animation

We're delighted to add a new book on the Art of Disney Animation in the Animation & VFX Library.

This classic book, donated by animation tutor Kevin Richards, features some of the best artwork created for the Disney studio on classic films such as Snow White, Pinocchio, Mary Poppins and Bedknobs and Broomsticks, showing just how important a strong sense of design was to the Disney Studio during its first golden age.

Our students at Escape Studios grew up with the Pixar movies in the modern digital age, but it's still important to study the classical Disney era, and learn from the masters who designed and created the medium that we work in today.

Thanks to animation tutor Kevin Richards for the kind donation.

Why Animators Need a Great Acting Shot

Acting shot by Escapee Rich Jeffrey

Why do animators need a great acting shot on their demo reel?  Because nothing showcases an animator’s talent quite like a strong acting shot.  

A well-executed acting scene shows that an animator can approach a shot like an actor might approach a scene in a movie or a play. 

Acting shots reveal whether an animator can go beyond basic mechanics and deliver a performance.

Why Characters Shouldn't Look at The Camera

Bugs - stop looking at us!

One of the most common mistakes made by student animators is to have their characters talk directly to the camera, breaking the so-called "Fourth Wall".

Inexperienced animators often make this error. We pose out our character and we think - who is she talking to? I know - she's talking to me! But in a film, or a play, or a TV Series, the camera (ie the audience) is almost always an observer, never a participant.

Part of the so-called Willing Suspension of Disbelief is that the characters acting for us don't know we are there.

Sometimes characters will talk to the camera (like Bugs Bunny, left) but this is unusual. Mostly, on-screen characters look at each other, not at us. 

Harmony Evening Class Returns on 6 March 2025

Our 2D Animation Online Evening class in Toonboom Harmony returns to Escape Studios on 6 March 2025.

Learn the fundamentals of 2D animation over 10 weeks, one evening a week using Toonboom Harmony, one of the leading software packages for the creation of 2D animation.

The class is taught by industry veteran Iliana Franklin. 

Escapee Carolina Xavier Animator at Framestore

Carolina Xavier

Congratulations to Escapee Carolina Xavier who has joined Framestore, one of the UK's leading Animation and VFX houses, as an animator.

Carolina took our Master's Degree in 3D Animation at Escape Studios, studying with animation veteran Lee Caller.  While at Escape Studios, Carolina produced the award-winning short film "Flame".

Framestore is a leading VFX house, responsible for some of the biggest animation and vfx hits of recent years.  You can find Carolina Xavier's animation demo reel here.

New Coventry Marking Process at Escape Studios

Our Degrees are Validated by The University of Coventry

Since September 2024 our undergraduate degrees at Escape Studios have been validated by the University of Coventry, rather than by the University of Kent.  

With this change of oversight comes changes to the way we mark undergraduate work; the main change being to simplify our marking systems.  

Escape Studios Toonboom Harmony ATC

Toonboom Harmony ATC Certificate

We're delighted to announce that Escape Studios has been confirmed as an ATC (Authorised Training Centre) for Toonboom Harmony, one of the leading software packages for the creation of 2D animation.

2D Animation has been experiencing a revival, with many 2D productions being animated in the UK. 

In particular, Blue Zoo, Aardman Animation, Passion Pictures and others have chosen Toonboom Harmony as their principal 2D animation platform.

Animation Leads 2024 Box Office

There is a lot of doom and gloom in our industry these days, following strikes by both writers and actors, and anxiety over the looming threat of AI.  

Despite this, the animation industry continues to thrive, with 25% of box office success coming from animation productions in 2024 (see infographic left). 

Two of this year's biggest hits are Inside Out 2 ($1.6 billion worldwide) and just-released Wild Robot.

Animate a Sneeze With "Monty"

Animate a sneeze with Monty

In this beginner animation tutorial, we show how to animate a sneeze with Monty, the green pea.

A sneeze is an explosion of air, so we want a big anticipation, and then a big sneeze. 

For extra points, attach a hat to Monty's head, and animate it flying up in the air, spinning and landing again (you will need the Parentmaster plugin for this).

Clara Cornish Teaches Storyboards 4 March 2025

Our Evening Class in

Giles & Rupert's Prehistoric Predicament - Storyboards

Storyboarding returns on 4 March 2025.  This evening class in storyboarding is an online class, taught from 7-10pm, and runs for ten weeks.

Storyboarding is a growing area of the animation industry; one which has recorded significant skills shortages in recent years.

Our storyboard students have gone on to successful careers at studios such as Walt Disney, Brown Bag Films and Blue Zoo Animation.

Compositing Evening Class Starts 4 March 2025

Compositing Evening Class returns on 24 September 2024

Our next Compositing Evening Class starts on 4 March 2025.  Taught by our industry experts, this course teaches the art and craft of 2D VFX compositing for the visual effects industry. 

Compositing is the art of combining different images to create a single cohesive image.  Compositors are always in demand in the VFX industry, with high levels of employment among our Escapees.

Escapee Jessa Timog-Santiago 3D Animator at LIVR

Jessa Timog-Santiago

Congratulations to Escapee Jessa Timog-Santiago who has started work as a 3D Animator at LIVR, an XR (Extended Reality) company based in London. 

Jessa Timog-Santiago studied the Art of Computer Animation at Escape Studios, working on a number of award-winning films, including Good Soup, iCare, Freefall and Spitfire. 

Extended Reality is an expanding field encapsulating Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and Mixed Reality (MR).  

Meet the SA Supervisors at Escape Studios

Studio Assistants at Escape Studios.

Meet the Studio Assistant ("SA") Supervisors at at Escape Studios.  Jess Hiles, is our new Undergraduate ("UG") Studio Assistant Manager.  

Jess Hiles is a multi-award-winning artist with credits on many short films, including Slushy, Hat Shop, Tatty, Our Ocean, Street Ratz and Hotel Aloha. 

Where's my Classroom at Escape Studios?

Classroom Guide at Escape Studios

Where's my classroom? As Escape Studios expands, it gets harder to know where all our classrooms are located. 

To see where you are studying, see the map on the left, which shows which floor each classroom is on - and never get lost again. 

We moved into our new North Greenwich Campus in the summer of 2023, located in located in the North Greenwich Peninsula, right next to The O2, in the Design District.

Later, in the summer of 2024 we expanded into the Sixth Floor at 6 Mitre Passage, to house our growing student community. 

"Checkmate" Wins "Best Animation" in Milan

"Checkmate" wins Best Animation at Milan Gold Awards

Congratulations to the makers of the short animated film "Checkmate", which has won Best Animation at the Milan Gold Awards.  

Checkmate was completed as part of Studio Module PR5001, a collaborative module in which second-year animation students work together on short film projects.  

Checkmate was directed by Cara Masters and produced by Erminas Surgautas.  This is its third festival award. 

Attaches & Parenting in Maya - The Cheat Method

In this short video above we demonstrate how to do Attaches and Parenting in Maya, using "The Cheat Method". It's a very simple approach which involves parenting an object to another - in this case, Monty's hat, using the simple Shift Select + P method.  Then, rather than un-attach the hat, we simply replace the hat with a new identical hat, which looks exactly the same.  This way, we don't have the bother of un-attaching the original hat - we can just remove it from the scene and replace it with a new one. 

Escape Studios UG Open Day Sat 19th Oct 2024

Escape Studios is hosting a new undergraduate open day on the morning of Saturday 19th October at 10am.

Escape Studios' Open Days are a chance to find out about our undergraduate degrees in Animation (2D & 3D), Motion Graphics, The Art of Games and The Art of Visual Effects, as well as our new BCs/MSci courses: BSc/MSci Technical Art for Games & VFX, BSc/MSci Video Games Design and BSc/MSci Character Creation for Animation, Games and VFX.

"Aztlan" Wins "Best Super Short" at Int'l Gold Awards

The Lost City of Aztlan wins "Best Super Short" Award  

Congratulations to the makers of The Lost City of Aztlan, which has won "Best Super Short" at the International Gold Awards.  

Directed by Mariam Hussein and produced by Michael Vodden, this short film about a long-hidden Mayan civilisation was created by our VFX students as part of their final graduation project.  

Filmed on location in Chislehurst Caves in South East London, this is its first film festival award.

BT Tower Destruction - Top 10 Escape VFX Shots

BT Tower destruction

This BT Tower destruction shot is one of our all-time favourite VFX shots created at Escape Studios.  

Over the years our students have detonated many global landmarks (digitally of course) including Big Ben, Greenwich Maritime, The City of London, An Italian Campanile, a Football Stadium, an unfortunate Tube Train and countless London backstreets blown up and exploded.  

Sofia Caldeira Celebrates "Wicked" & Gladiator"

Sofia Caldeira celebrates two new releases

Congratulations to Escapee Sofia Caldeira who is celebrating the simultaneous release of two new films, Wicked and Gladiator, that Sofia worked on at The Third Floor, one of the UK's leading previsualisation houses. 

Sofia Caldeira took our Evening Class in Character Creation at Escape Studios, and also our Evening Class in 3D VFX.

Sofia Caldeira is one of a number of Escapees to start their careers with The Third Floor.

Previsualisation is a growing area of animation and VFX pre-production, as artists work with directors to lock down the look and feel of a project at an early stage.

Maria Robertson Animator at Spliced Animation

Maria Robertson

Many congratulations to Escape Studios undergraduate animation student Maria Robertson who is working as an animator at Spliced Animation Studio in Manchester. 

Maria Robertson studied the Art of Computer Animation at Escape Studios, graduating with a First-Class Degree.  While at Escape, Maria also worked on a number of award-winning short films, including Home Sweet Home, Planet Mars and Minuet.

Charlie Wilson Joins Framestore as Environment TD

Escapee Charlie Wilson

Congratulations to Escapee Charlie Wilson who has joined London VFX house Framestore as an Environment TD.  

Charlie Wilson studied the Art of Visual Effects at Escape Studios.  While studying with us, he directed two award-winning short films: DANS and Outpatient. 

Environment TDs create photo-real digital environments for high end visual effects shots through the use of digital tools and techniques. 

Four Escape Student Films in Animex Film Festival

Four Films Selected for Animex Film Festival

We're delighted to congratulate our students on having four short films accepted into this year's Animex Film Festival. 

Animex is an annual international film festival of animation, VFX and games which takes place at Middlesborough Town Hall in North Yorkshire.  This year Animex runs from 11-15 November 2024. 

2024 Escape Studios' VFX Showreel

We're proud to present our 2024 VFX demo reel from Escape Studios, featuring the best work created by our students over the past year.  Visual Effects is at the heart of what we do; it's where we began over twenty years ago when Escape Studios was first founded to bridge the gap between the needs of industry for studio ready talent, and the ability of schools and HE institutions to teach the necessary skills. Enjoy our students' latest VFX fabulousness.

Mad Scramble Run Animation Tutorial with "Monty"

Cartoony run and smear frame exit with Monty

In this new animation tutorial we show how to animate a cartoony "mad scramble" run and smear frame exit with Monty, the green pea.  

It's a simple tutorial aimed at animation beginners, and covers runs, jumps and smear frames.  We'll also need to do some attaches and parenting (for Monty's hat) basic lighting in Arnold and learn how to add motion blur to the final render.

Why Do We Do Group Projects at Escape Studios?

Studio Projects at Escape

Why do we do so many group projects at Escape Studios? It's a question many students ask, because at Escape Studios there is a significant focus on group, or "Studio Projects" as we call them. 

We don't do Studio Projects because they are easy, we do them because they are hard.  The animation and visual effects industries are a team sport, and it's vital that we prepare our students for the realities of working in - and for - a team.  And this means figuring how to work successfully with other people in the workplace. 

"Checkmate" Wins "Best Super Short" in London

"Checkmate" wins "Best Super Short" in London

Congratulations to the makers of the short animated film "Checkmate", which has won "Best Super Short" at the London Movie Awards.

Checkmate was completed as part of Studio Module PR5001, a collaborative module in which second-year animation students work together on short film projects.  

Checkmate was directed by Cara Masters and produced by Erminas Surgautas.  This is its second festival award. 

Render Motion Blur in Maya and Arnold

How to Render Motion Blur in Maya and Arnold:  This very simple and very short tutorial shows how to turn on Motion Blur in the Arnold Renderer in Autodesk Maya.  Why would we want to turn on motion blur? Because when we have very fast action, we almost always want motion blur; this simulates how our eyes actually see things in real life. 

Escapee Jake Newton VFX Lead at Vine FX

Jake Newton VFX Lead at Vine FX

We're proud to congratulate Escapee Jake Newton who has been promoted to VFX Lead at Vine FX, one of London's leading VFX houses.

Jake Newton graduated from Escape Studios with an MArt (First Class) in The Art of Visual Effects.  While studying at Escape Studios Jake worked on a number of award-winning films, including the vfx short "Draw", which has won many festival awards, and on which Jake served as the VFX Lead. 

2024 Escape Studios 3D Animation Demo Reel

We're proud to present our 2024 Escape Studios Animation Demo Reel, a selection of the best animation completed at Escape Studios over the past year.  This year Animation Career Review ranked us #3 for Animation in the UK, #8 for Animation in Europe and #17 for Animation Internationally.  To see more student work at Escape Studios, follow this link. 

Carine Ong Producer at Apple TV

Carine Ong

Many congratulations to Escapee Carine Ong who has joined MPC as a VFX Associate Producer.

MPC is one of the UK's longest-established VFX and animation houses; responsible for blockbuster hits such as The Lion King and The Jungle Book.

Carine  took our Evening class in 3D VFX ("VFX Foundation") at Escape Studios - joining the growing number of Escapees working in production roles across VFX, animation and games.

"Father's Blade" Wins "Best Design" Award at EEFF

Congratulations to the makers of the short film "Father's Blade", which has won an Honourable Mention in the category of Best Production Design at the Eastern Europe Film Festival.

"Father's Blade" was directed by Thomas Husband and produced by Hugo Whitworth; the editor was Alfie Williams and the lead animator was Brandon Rai.   

This is the fourth festival award for Father's Blade. 

Character Design is Back 3 March 2025

Character Design by Luzia Soares

Character Design returns to Escape Studios on 3 March 2025. 

Character Design is an eight week evening class taught by industry veteran and Escape Studios' Head of Character Design Steve Sole.

Steve guides students through the principles of character design, building up to an industry brief.

"Checkmate" Wins Special Award at Rohip Festival

"Checkmate" wins Special Mention Award at Rohip Fest

Congratulations to the makers of the short animated film "Checkmate", which has won a Special Mention Award in the category of Best Micro Short Film at the Rohip Film Festival.  

Checkmate was completed as part of Studio Module PR5001, a collaborative module in which second-year animation students work together on short film projects.  

Checkmate was directed by Cara Masters and produced by Erminas Surgautas.  This is its first festival award. 

VES Awards Open for Entries: Deadline 31 Oct 2024

The VES Awards: Deadline 31 October 2024

The 23rd Annual VES Awards are now taking entries.  Here at Escape Studios we encourage all our students to enter Category 25: Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project. 

The VES awards are sponsored by Autodesk, who make Maya, the leading animation and VFX software.  The VES Awards deadline is 31st October 2024.

3D VFX Foundations Returns 4 March 2025

Our Evening Class in 3D VFX Foundations returns on 3 March 2025, and runs for 20 weeks. 3D VFX Foundations is a part-time evening class that teaches the art and craft of 3D Visual Effects. 

Taught by industry veteran Dan Shutt, 3D VFX Foundation course is taught live online two nights a week, Monday and Wednesday evenings, from 7pm until 10pm.

Escapee Lydia Layton VFX Manager at Pixomondo

Lydia Layton

Many congratulations to Escapee Lydia Layton, who is currently working as VFX Manager at Pixomondo in Toronto, Canada. 

Lydia took our 12 week class in 3D animation at Escape Studios. Since graduation, Lydia has worked on a number of Hollywood films including No Time to Die, Black Panther and The Fall Guy.  

In recent years, many of our Escapees have gone on to fill producing roles in the creative industries, in part because of Escape Studios' focus on managing group project work on our award-winning films. 

Anand Sembhi Intern at King Bee Animation

Anand Sembhi Intern at King Bee

Many congratulations to Escapee Anand Sembhi - who has begun an Animation Internship at King Bee Animation.

Anand Sembhi studied the Art of Computer Animation at Escape Studios.  

While at Escape Studios, Anand Sembhi contributed to a number of award-wnning short films, including Freefall, Spitfire, Tech Troubles and Good Soup. 

Rookies Ranks Escape Studios No 2 in UK for VFX

Rookies: Escape Studios in the Top 15 Globally for VFX

The Rookies, the international competition for aspiring VFX artists, has ranked Escape Studios No 2 in the UK and Number 15 Globally for VFX - a huge achievement for our students and staff. 

VFX is very much at the heart of what we do at Escape Studios; it's where we began over 20 years ago, helping to bridge the gap between the skills that industry needed and what was being taught in schools and colleges. 

Motion Graphics Evening Class Returns 4 March 2025

Motion Graphics Evening Class returns on 4 March 2025

Our Motion Graphics 12 Week Evening Class returns on 4 March 2025.  The course is taught by experienced industry professionals, and aims to prepare students for careers in the motion graphic and motion design industries.

The market for skilled motion designers has never been bigger, and London is host to the world’s largest motion design community.   To find out more, visit the official course page here.