Checkmate Wins Best Student Film at Reels Fest

"Checkmate" wins Best Student Film at Reels Film Fest  

Congratulations to the makers of the short animated film "Checkmate", which has won "Best Student Film" at the Reels 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. 

Unreal Engine for Architecture Starts 28 April 2025

Evening Class in Unreal Engine for Architecture

Our new Evening Class in Unreal Engine for Architecture starts on 28 April 2025.  The course runs from 28 April until 17 June 2025; 12 evening classes over six weeks.  

Escape Studios has been an Unreal Engine Authorized Training Centre since 2020 - the first Unreal ATC in the UK. To find out more, follow this link: https://bit.ly/4hOhLNR.

Unreal Engine 5 offers capabilities that can transform the way architectural visualisation is approached and executed, speeding up the render process.  

This new Evening Class in Unreal Engine for Architecture is created specifically for architects, architectural students or people working in an art role within construction who want to add Unreal Engine to their arsenal.

X-Terminate Wins Best VFX at Reels Fest

X-Terminate wins "Best VFX" at Reels Film Festival Awards

Congratulations to the makers of X-Terminate, the short film created by our third year animation students and VFX students at Escape Studios, which has won "Best VFX" at the Reels Film Festival Awards.

Directed by Maria Freitas and produced by Emmanuel Rahman,  X-Terminate was a collaboration between undergraduate animation students and VFX students at Escape Studios, working together to create an original story.  Guy Dijkhuis was the 3D VFX Lead; Caterina Castiglione was the 2D VFX Lead.  This is the fifth festival award for X-Terminate. 

Last Call for 3D Anim Evening Class Starts 7 April

Our 3D Animation Evening Class runs for 20 weeks on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, from 7-10pm, and is taught online by veteran animator Matteo Sanna.

Students start with basic exercises and build towards an industry-ready demo reel.

The 3D Animation Evening Class returns on 7 April 2025. 

Introducing "Crawl Space" by James Hothi

Escape Studios is proud to present "Crawl Space", a new short animation created by MA Animation student James Hothi.   James Hothi is studying the Art of Computer Animation at Escape Studios, taught by industry veteran Kevin Richards.  

Introducing the 3D VFX Team at Escape Studios

3D VFX Team at Escape Studios

Meet the 3D VFX Team at Escape Studios. VFX is at the heart of Escape Studios; it's where we began 20 years ago - when the industry was just starting to expand and grow.

Back in the early 2000s there were few places in the UK where students could learn the necessary skills to land that crucial first job in the VFX industry.  Below are our talented tutors who teach the art and craft of VFX at Escape Studios, helping to ensure we remain the UK's leading centre for the study of VFX.

How Animators Find Industry Mentors

One question I sometimes get asked by students at Escape Studios is "How Do I Find a Mentor?"  The answer (of course!) is to start with your tutors, and then broaden out from there.  Over the course of a long animation career our Escapees are likely to have many mentors, though very few of these (if any) will be formal mentorship roles; most will be informal, and you might not even realise these people were mentors until many years later.   In my case I have been lucky enough to be mentored by animators such as James Baxter (Road to El Dorado), Andreas Deja (Lion King), Duncan Marjoribanks (Pocahontas) and also Glen Keane, whose notes on planning animation I still refer to today.  But mentorship is, in each and every case, very much what you make of it.

"Ongo" Wins "Best Super Short" in Florence

Congratulations to the makers of Ongo, which has won Best Super Short Film at the Florence Film Awards.  Ongo was created by our third year graduating class of 3D animation students at Escape Studios.  

Ongo was written and directed by Anna Reyes Ramirez and produced by Stephanie Quelal Castaneda. Industry feedback was generously provided by Charlie Tetlow and Felipe De Lanteuil from Industrial Light & Magic.  This is the third festival award for Ongo,

Escapeverse Live 2025 - Now at YouTube

 

For anyone who missed the EscapeVerse Live Festival at the end of February, we've now uploaded the full schedule of talks, panels and webinars to our YouTube channel.  Above is the Teamwork Panel I hosted on 25 February, with Escapees Adam Dewhirst, Ricardo Ferreira, Stefano Ferron and Harry Symonds.  They were all great guests and had many entertaining insights into the importance of good teamwork - as well as some horror stories about teamwork gone wrong (such as Adam's fishy tale at 31:31).  You can find the full EscapeVerse 2025 playlist here. 

Introducing "Save Yourself"

Introducing Save Yourself, the latest VFX short from Escape Studios.  Save Yourself was created by our third year graduating class of VFX students at Escape Studios.  The short film was written and directed by Jasmine Patel and produced by Charlie Cope.  Harrison Davies was the 3D VFX lead, and Fiona Lee was the 2D VFX Lead.  Cinematography was by Irene Gomez-Emilsson.  Industry feedback was generously provided by Industrial Light & Magic. 

"Ongo" Wins "Best Animation" at NYC Awards

Ongo wins Best Animated Film at NYC Movie Awards

Congratulations to the makers of Ongo, which has won Best Animated Film at the New York Movie Awards.  Ongo was created by our third year graduating class of 3D animation students at Escape Studios.  

Ongo was written and directed by Anna Reyes Ramirez and produced by Stephanie Quelal Castaneda. Industry feedback was generously provided by Charlie Tetlow and Felipe De Lanteuil from Industrial Light & Magic.  This is the second festival award for Ongo,

Introducing The 2D VFX Team at Escape Studios

Meet the 2D VFX Team at Escape Studios. 2D VFX is all about compositing, and is primarily taught in Nuke, by The Foundry.  

Our graduates in 2D Compositing have enjoyed considerable success in recent years, with a very high proportion of our students finding work in their chosen field. Compositing continues to be a vital part of the VFX Pipeline.   

Below are the talented tutors who teach the art and craft of 2D VFX at Escape Studios, helping to ensure we remain the UK's leading centre for the study of VFX.

We also have hundreds of tutorials in compositing in Nuke at our Tutorial Channel to support our students.

Introducing "Cursed Bond"

 

 Introducing "Cursed Bond", the story of a mysterious hermit who finds a strange creature in the forest. "Cursed Bond" was created by our third year graduating class of VFX students at Escape Studios.  The short film was written and directed by Ted Walker, and produced by Mahak Chowdhary.  Cinematography was by Irene Gomez Emilsson and the VFX Supervisor was Oliver Eveson.  Art direction was by Quimey Dasso.  

Escape Studios and The Art of The Ident

Ident created by Maria Robertson

At Escape Studios, students are encouraged to create idents—short animated sequences used for branding, such as the charming animation created by Maria Robertson on left. 

Many students have also created custom idents for their short film projects, and in 2022 our students created a series of custom idents for the British Animation Awards (BAAs).  Scroll down to see some of the best Escape Studios idents below. 

"Vivid" Wins Best VFX in Makizhmithran Fest

"Vivid" Wins "Best VFX" at Makizhmithran Film Festival

Congratulations to the makers of "Vivid", the latest short VFX film from Escape Studios, which has won an award for "Best VFX" at the Makizhmithran Film Festival.

"Vivid" was created by our third year graduating class of VFX students.  Vivid was written and directed by Kia Claire, and produced by Amber Coventry.  Samuel Greer was the 3D VFX Lead and William Griffith was the 2D VFX Lead.  

This is the film's fourth festival award. 

Meet The Motion Graphics Team at Escape Studios

Motion Graphics Team at Escape Studios

Meet the growing Motion Graphics team at Escape Studios. Motion Graphics is a key part of the animation industry, an expanding area of jobs and creativity.  

Our new Master's Degree in Motion Graphics (just launched) teaches the art of motion graphics as well as the underlying theory and structure.

In September 2025 we launch our new BA/MArt in Motion Graphics, offering an undergraduate study route for the first time.  

We also offer an Evening Class in Motion Graphics for part-time distance learners. 

All our tutors come from industry, with experience in 2D and 3D Motion Graphics. 

"Ongo" Wins "Best Super Short Film" in London

Ongo wins Best Super Short at London Movie Awards 

Congratulations to the makers of Ongo, which has won Best Super Short Film at the London Movie Awards with a live screening at the CloseUp Theatre in Shoreditch.  Ongo was created by our third year graduating class of 3D animation students at Escape Studios.  

Ongo was written and directed by Anna Reyes Ramirez and produced by Stephanie Quelal Castaneda. Industry feedback was generously provided by Charlie Tetlow and Felipe De Lanteuil from Industrial Light & Magic.  This is the first festival award for Ongo,

How Long Does It Take To Learn Autodesk Maya?

Many of our first year students at Escape Studios will never have opened Maya before.  Or, at least, they won't be very familiar with it.  Maya is a big, complex piece of software - the interface can look daunting at first.  But don't be discouraged, with time and practice - you will get there in the end. 

"Vivid" Wins Best VFX at EE Film Fest

"Vivid" wins "Best VFX" at Eastern Europe Film Fest

Congratulations to the makers of "Vivid", the latest short VFX film from Escape Studios, which has won an award for "Best VFX" at the Eastern Europe Film Festival.

"Vivid" was created by our third year graduating class of VFX students.  Vivid was written and directed by Kia Claire, and produced by Amber Coventry.  Samuel Greer was the 3D VFX Lead and William Griffith was the 2D VFX Lead.  

This is the film's third festival award. 

Why Disney Always Rejected 1st Time Applicants

Back in the 1980s when I was starting my animation career, it was said by the old-timers in the animation business that anyone wanting to be an animator at Disney had to apply twice —because the first application would be rejected by default. This wasn’t an official policy, but rather an unspoken test of determination.

Disney, at the time, was the global animation leader (arguably it still is), and competition for jobs was very fierce.  The idea was that only those with true passion and perseverance would push through rejection, refine their portfolios, and reapply. It separated the dreamers from the truly committed.