Congratulations to Escapees at 2026 Golden Globes

Congratulations to the many Escapees (Escape Studios' alumni) whose animation and visual effects work was celebrated at the 2026 Golden Globes Awards last Sunday 11th January 2026. 

Eight Escapees worked on Avatar: Fire & Ash.  Eleven Escapees worked on Wicked: For Good.  Thirteen Escapees worked on "Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning".  Four Escapees worked on Sinners. 

The winners of the 2026 Golden Globes Awards were announced during the live telecast on January 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton, Los Angeles. 

Jobs in Animation & VFX in an Age of Turbulence

Finding work in an age of change

It is no secret that growth in the animation and visual effects industry has had a bumpy ride recently. 

The reasons are many: over expansion during the streaming boom years, the fallout from Covid, writer's strikes, actor's strikes, the gradual decline of the theatrical movie business and - above all - the rise and rise of AI. 

So, how do recent graduates find work in an industry which remains highly competitive and is also experiencing headwinds? The answer is - apply often, and apply widely. 

UK VFX Tax Credit Uplift Start on Jan 1st 2025

UK VFX tax credit uplift starts on Jan 1st 2025

One piece of good news in the recent UK Budget was the UK VFX tax credit uplift, which will start on Jan 1st 2025.

On 30 October 2024 the Chancellor of the Exchequer confirmed an increased tax incentive for spending on visual effects (“VFX”) in the UK - which has been warmly welcomed by the UK’s VFX industry. 

From Jan 1st 2025, VFX spending in the UK will attract a net rebate of 29.25% and would be exempt from the overall 80% cap on spending eligible for film and TV tax relief. 

"Meet The Masters" with Escapee Tiago Faria 12 June

Join us at our next "Meet The Masters" event with Escapee Tiago Faria, currently working as VFX Supervisor and Compositor at BlueBoltVFX. 

Tiago Faria will be talking about his extensive work in the visual effects industry, which includes Ridley Scott's Napoleon,  Mission Impossible and Operation Mincemeat. 

This "Meet The Masters" event takes online via Zoom on Wednesday 12th June from 6pm - 7pm UK time.  We strongly recommend that all our currently enrolled students and recent Escapees attend. 

You can book your free place here:  https://bit.ly/3Vf0B2p.

Escape Students Celebrate "Dead Shot" Premiere

Henry N'Guetta, Klaudija Cermak and Oliver Chenery 

Escape Studios students are celebrating tomorrow's Sky Premiere of the indie thriller Dead Shot (formerly "Borderland"), directed by London-based film-makers Tom and Charles Guard.

In Dead Shot,  a retired Irish paramilitary witnesses the fatal shooting of his pregnant wife by an SAS officer, and takes his revenge to the streets of 1970's London.

Our compositing students, led by VFX Supervisor Klaudija Cermak, completed around a dozen shots on the film.

Free VFX Careers Event 10 October at 5.30pm

VFX Careers Event Monday 10th October at 5:30pm

Join us for a free virtual Visual Effects Careers Event on Monday 10th October at 5:30pm. 

Guests will be offered career advice from our special guests Brad Blackbourn (Virtual Production Manager) and Scott Pritchard (Associate VFX Supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic).  To sign up for this free event, follow this link.

BAA 2022 Ident Challenge

BAA - British Animation Awards

The BAA Awards are back in 2022, celebrating the best of British Animation. 

This year the BAAs have give our students a unique challenge - the chance to animate a "sting/ident" for the Awards Ceremony at the BFI on 10 March 2022.

Students should create a sting/ident animation 4-25 seconds long. The final deadline is Wednesday 9 February 2022 at midnight.

Work Fitness Week 10-15 October

Work Fitness Week 10-15 October 2021

Work Fitness Week is returning to Escape Studios from 10-15 October. Join Escape Studios' Work Fitness Centre for a series of events aimed at helping all our Escapees into paid employment in their chosen field.  

Meet the team from Creative Assembly, Axis director Simone Giampaolo, and many other industry leaders.  Note that WFW is exclusively for our currently enrolled students. 

Animation Booms Under Lockdown

Lloyd of the Flies

A weekend article in the Daily Telegraph confirms the continuing good news for the animation industry; even under Lockdown, the animation industry continues to thrive and expand. 

Aardman Animation, the creators of "Wallace and Gromit", have expanded into digital animation with a new series "Lloyd of the Flies", a 52-episode comedy about a housefly.

Unlike live action shoots, which were shut down due to Covid-19, the animation industry is expanding, as programmers increasingly replace live-action content with animation. 

How Animation Dailies Works

Animation dailies take place each morning, when artists working on a project meet-up to share their work in its current state. The purpose is to make sure everyone is moving in the right direction and to get feedback from the director, client, producer or supervisor. Think of it as a critique session where everyone watches everyone else's work.

Dailies can take some time to get used to. For newbie animators, having your work critiqued on a big screen in front of all your colleagues and peers can be very intimidating.

Your first instinct will be to hide under your chair, and say nothing. But to thrive and prosper, animators must learn how dailies works, and how to make the system work for them.

Below are our tips to get the best out of animation dailies.

Michael O’Sullivan Explains the Art of the Pitch

Michael O'Sullivan

We were delighted to welcome Hollywood Movie executive and former Paramount CFO Michael O’Sullivan to Escape Studios this week.

On Wednesday 15th January Michael gave a talk on the art of finance in the creative industries.

How do our students create innovative ideas for film, TV and games that can become commercially viable? A good pitch is an art in itself; a successful pitch can make or break a project, and without one no animated film, game or TV Series has a chance of getting off the ground.

Our MA Students in Storyboarding and Previz got to meet Michael O’Sullivan and learn about film financing, and the art of preparing a commercially viable project pitch.

Mock Interviews with Industry Today at Escape

"Interview"by the Animation Workshop

Today at Escape Studios we're running a series of mock interviews with some of our industry partners and mentors, who have kindly offered their time to give our undergraduate students an idea of what a job interview is actually like.

Learning how to survive an interview is an important part of preparing our students for a career in industry.

Secrets of the Spider-Verse by Peter Ramsey

Peter Ramsay at VIEW: Into the Spider-Verse

One of the highlights of today's VIEW conference in Turin, Italy, was a talk by Peter Ramsey, co-director of Spiderman – Into The Spider-Verse.

Ramsay's talk was sub-titled “What Story are You Telling?”, and he showed the audience how the answer to that question informed every frame and every pixel of the Oscar and BAFTA winning movie.

Spiderman – Into The Spider-Verse re-invented the Spiderman franchise, and achieved a unique comic book-style look for the world of Spiderman.  How did they do it?

The Making of Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Canadian author and animation historian Ross Anderson's long-anticipated book - Pulling a Rabbit Out of a Hat - The Story Behind the Making of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is finally in print.

Ross was first interviewed by animation blog FLiP back in 2013, about writing of the book, which has taken six years to bring to fruition.

Ross was signing copies at this year's Annecy film festival; his book aims to be the definitive history of the making of the film, which changed the animation industry and launched dozens of animation careers (including my own).

Among the book's highlights are Tom Sito's hilarious sketches and scribbles that documented the making of the film.

BlueGFX Expo on Wednesday 21st November

Blue GFX Expo 2018 is taking place in London this week on Wednesday 21st November.

We're suspending animation classes at Escape on the day, and we're also paying for our undergraduate and masters' animation students to attend this excellent event.

Mend the Gap! at Escape Studios

Mend the Gap: an evening of discussion and debate around the current animation training and employment landscape.

Currently up to 30% (or more) of the team at British animation studios are artists sourced from overseas, often from schools in Europe.

But with Brexit looming, and the likely loss of free movement of labour, the future of UK animation could be under threat.

UK universities produce over 600 students with degrees in animation every year - so why are many UK animation graduates not ready for work when they leave university? On 1st November our panel event, organised by Film London and hosted at Escape Studios,  will debate what can be done to Mend the Gap.

What Do Animation Producers Do?

Jeffrey Katzenberg - founder of DreamWorks Animation

What does a producer do, exactly? This is an important question for anyone who hopes to go into the animation industry.

As we get ready for our evening class in Producing Animation, we take a look at the different kinds of producers on an animated film project, and what they all actually do.

Brexit and The Future of UK Animation

Brexit means....what?

At Escape Studios' recent Advisory Board meeting, leading figures in the creative industries guided us on where the industry is heading, and what skills are in demand.

After all, it's no use teaching our students outdated technology - we need to know what the industry needs now, and what kind of skills graduates will need in the future.

At the meeting the main subject for discussion was Brexit - and what this will mean for the creative industries in the UK.  So, what can the creative industries do to solve the problems posed by this looming upheaval?

How To Use EIS to Finance Your Animated Film

As we get ready for our evening class in Producing Animation, starting in September, it's important to conside some of the different ways to finance animated film projects.

Anyone who has tried to raise money for a film project (or any project) knows how hard it can be. Yes, you may have a great idea, but finding the money needed to bring it to life is no easy task.

EIS (Enterprise Investment Scheme) is one of the most promising means of securing equity investment. So, what is EIS and how does it work?

Govt Industrial Strategy Highlights Creative Industries - Good News for Our Students

Support for "Creative Industries"

Theresa May's Government recently released an Industrial Strategy that highlights a number of sectors that they believe will lead to new jobs and growth in the future.

Among these are listed the creative industries, suggesting that our Government will continue to offer support to the business of - among other things - animation, games and visual effects.