Neil Boyle Introduces "Kensuke's Kingdom"

Neil Boyle introduces "Kensuke's Kingdom" 

Animator and director Neil Boyle joined us on Tuesday 19th May at Escape Studios to talk about his BAFTA-nominated 2D animated feature film "Kensuke's Kingdom" released in 2023. 

Neil Boyle talked about the making of Kensuke's Kingdom, and also discussed the state of 2D animation in the UK.  Making independent animated feature films isn't easy, but with persistence and effort it can be done. 

"An Evening With..." Neil Boyle & "Kensuke's Kingdom" on 19 May 2026 at 5.30pm

Join us on Tuesday 19th May at 5.30pm for our latest "An Evening With..." event - with Neil Boyle, director of the BAFTA-nominated 2D animated feature film "Kensuke's Kingdom" released in 2023. 

Neil Boyle will talk about the making of Kensuke's Kingdom, and also discuss the state of 2D animation in the UK and - as always - explore the latest opportunities for Escapees and recent graduates.  Note that this in-person event is open to our currently enrolled students only. 

"An Evening With...." Studio AKA 12 May 2026

Philip Hunt and Studio AKA 12 May 2026  

All our currently enrolled students are invited to join us for our next "Evening With..." event on Tuesday 12th May at 5.30pm for an in-person meeting with animator, actor and director Philip Hunt, the creative director of the Emmy and BAFTA-winning Studio AKA.  

Studio AKA is one of London's most innovative animation studios, and one of our long-standing industry partners.   Philip Hunt will talk about the work of Studio AKA, the current state of UK animation and - as always - where the entry-level jobs and opportunities are for Escapees and recent graduates. 

Evening With...Escapee Josh Kiddie 3 Dec 2025

We're delighted to announce our next "Evening With" Event on Wednesday 3 December 2025 at 5.30pm.  

Escapee and games artist Josh Kiddie returns to Escape Studios to discuss his career in the games industry. 

Evening With..."The Teamwork Edition" 30 Jan 2025

"Evening With" Teamwork 30 Jan 2025 at 5.30pm

We're delighted to announce our next "Evening With" Event on 30 January 2025.  

Our guests are Escapees Adam Dewhirst (Tenet, John Carter, World War Z) and Oly Spinks, Head of CGI at Figment Productions. 

The theme for this "Evening With..." event is teamwork - why it matters - and how to do it right. 

An Evening With Paul Franklin 23 Jan 2024

Calling all currently enrolled students at Escape Studios - join us for "An Evening With Paul Franklin" on Tuesday 23 Jan 2024 at 5.30pm. 

Paul Franklin is an Oscar winning VFX supervisor who has supervised the visual effects on films such as Dark Knight, Inception, and Interstellar. 

Franklin has won two BAFTAs and is the co-founder of the global VFX powerhouse Double Negative.  

Franklin is an artist who knows VFX inside out, and he offers our students a unique insight into how big budget visual effects movies get made, and what a visual effects supervisor actually does.

"An Evening With..." Jorge R Gutierrez 11 May 2023

Escape Studios is delighted to welcome animator and director Jorge R Gutierrez to our next "Evening With..." event at Escape Studios on Thursday 11th May at 6pm. 

Jorge R Gutierrez is a veteran animator and film director whose credits include the critically-acclaimed 2014 release "The Book of Life", which he directed. 

An Evening With...Simon Stanley-Clamp 27 Feb 2023

Escape Studios is delighted to welcome Cinesite VFX Supervisor Simon Stanley-Clamp to our next "Evening With..." event at Escape Studios on Monday 27th February at 5pm. 

Simon Stanley-Clamp is a veteran VFX Supervisor whose credits include Ant Man, John Carter, Avengers Endgame and Edge of Tomorrow. 

As always, "Evening With..." events are a great opportunity for our currently enrolled students to meet some of the leading figures from the animation and vfx communities, and find out more about how the vfx pipeline actually works.

The event takes place on on Monday 27th February at 5pm at 190 High Holborn, Rooms 2.8 and 2.9 - and is free for all our students. 

"An Evening With" Avatar's Kim Sinclair 24th Jan

On Tuesday 24th January at 5.30pm we welcome Oscar and BAFTA-award-winning Avatar Art Director Kim Sinclair, for our latest "An Evening With..." event.

Kim Sinclair was the Lead Art Director of ‘Avatar’ (2009), for which he won an Oscar for "Best Achievement in Art Direction" as well as a Bafta for "Best Production Design".

The event will be held at Escape Studios in rooms 1.11 / 1.12 on Tuesday the 24th of January at 5:30pm.

Kim will give us a talk about his work on the first Avatar followed by a Q&A in which our students can ask questions about his life, work and career.

Kim started his career as a Set Designer in 1982.  Since then, he has art directed movies for many Hollywood directors including Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Bob Zemeckis, James Cameron, Zack Snyder and Peter Jackson.

"An Evening With..." Chrissy Metge Wed 23 Nov

Chrissy Metge at Escape on 23 Nov 2022

Escape Studios is delighted to welcome back animation & VFX producer Chrissy Metge to Escape Studios for "An Evening With..." event on Wednesday 23rd November at 5pm.

Chrissy is an Executive Producer at DNEG Animation; she started her career as an animator, before moving into production. Her talk is titled "From Animator to Producer", and Chrissy will talk about her career and the many possible roles available in the Creative Industries.

Chrissy is an experienced producer, and also creative director at Fuzzy Duckling Media and Duckling Publishing.   Chrissy has worked in the animation film and TV industry for 18 years, and has film credits on many movies, including VFX blockbusters The Hobbit, Ironman 3 and Hunger Games 2.   You can see Chrissy's full list of credits at her IMDB page here. 

This event is open to all currently enrolled students.

Animation Event with Alberto & Leo Wed 8 Dec

"An Evening With..." Alberto Mielgo and Leo Sanchez Barbosa

Escape Studios is collaborating with Siggraph London for "An Evening With" event next week with legendary designer Alberto Mielgo and Leo Sanchez Barbosa.

This event takes place on Wednesday 8th December at 6.30pm GMT via Zoom.

To sign up, follow the official Zoom link.

An "Evening with..." Tara Saunders Tonight

Co-Studio Head at Playstation Tara Saunders will join us tonight at our latest  'Evening with...' event at Escape Studios. 

This event, which is exclusively for currently enrolled students at Escape Studios, takes place on Wednesday 10th March at 6pm GMT.

To sign up (current students only), follow the official Zoom link.

"Evening With..." Aldo Gagliardi Tomorrow

Aldo Gagliardi

We're hosting "An Evening With... " animator Aldo Gagliardi tomorrow Thursday 5th November at 6pm, as we welcome our next special guest at Escape Studios.  

Aldo Gagliardi is Head of Animation at Passion Pictures in London.  His many film credits include Where the Wild Things Are, Arthur Christmas, Avatar, Nanny McPhee, Tale of Despereaux and Gravity.  

Aldo takes us through his personal animation journey, how students can break into the animation industry, and how graduates can find work despite lockdown and Covid-19.  A Q&A will be held at the end. 

"Evening With..." Robert Valley 14 May

Artwork by Robert Valley

On Thursday 14th May, Escape Studios welcomes Oscar-nominated Director, Animator and Character designer, Robert Valley to one of our regular "Evening With..." events.

Robert Valley is an animator with a remarkable career that includes hits such as Aeon Flux,Tron: Uprising, Netflix’s Love, Death & Robots and ‘Zima Blue’.

"Evening With..." Scott Ross Thurs 30th April

Scott Ross

Escape Studios is proud to host a very special guest for our next Virtual "Evening With…" event: Scott Ross.

On Thursday 30th April at 5pm, we will be joined by this legendary pioneer of digital media and entertainment.

With a career spanning three decades birthing the compositing software NUKE, leading George Lucas’ ILM, and founding digital production company Digital Domain with James Cameron and Stan Winston, Ross has worked on a number of Academy Award winning films.

An Evening With… Kevin McDowell on 16 April

Kevin McDowell

Our doors may be closed for now, but teaching continues, and our "Evening With..." events are still carrying on - now as online webinars. We can't serve beer and pizza, but we can still host events with the most talented and interesting stars of our industry.

On April 16th Escape Studios is proud to host an "Evening With... Kevin McDowell".

Kevin McDowell has been the Art Director for SEGA’s Massive PC strategy game series “Total War” for the past 20 years and has been working in video games for 23 years.

Kevin's games have sold over 27 million copies, and in 2012 he won a BAFTA for Total War: Shogun 2.

An Evening With...Hasraf "Haz" Dulull 25 March

Join us on Wednesday 25th March for one of our regular "Evening with..." events at Escape Studios.

The event takes place on Wednesday 25 March as we welcome Hasraf "Haz" Dulull to talk about making the transition from award-winning visual effects to directing and producing his own independent sci-fi feature films. 

Evening With...Dave Ranyard 19 February

Join us on Wednesday night for one of our regular "Evening with..." events at Escape Studios.

The event takes place on Wednesday 19 February as we welcome Dave Ranyard from Dream Reality Interactive on the subject of VR (Virtual Reality) and AR (Augmented Reality).

An Evening With... Stratostorm - Tonight

Join us tonight for one of our "Evening with..." events at Escape Studios on Wednesday 20th November as we welcome animators and entrepreneurs Helena Hilario and Mario Pece for a talk about the creation of their award-winning studio Stratostorm.

"Evening With" The Lion King 22 August

MPC has recently confirmed our very special guest for our next "Evening With" event - with El Suliman, animation lead on The Lion King.

The event will be taking place at Escape Studios on the evening of 22nd August.

Like all our "Evening With..." events, all are welcome; the event is free and open to students and prospective students.