Storyboarding is Back on 23 March 2024

"Brodiaga" by Anastasia Gurova

Our evening class in Storyboarding returns on 23 March 2024. 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.

Storyboarding Tutorials at Our Vimeo Channel

Storyboarding & Character Design at Our Vimeo Channel

We're proud to present our Escape Studios Vimeo Tutorial Channel to support our students with online resources for storyboarding and character design.

Our Vimeo Tutorial Channel is a hub for our animation and VFX video tutorials, making it easy for our students to find tutorials to support their classroom studies. Our storyboarding tutorials begin with the theory behind storyboarding and progress through to advanced storyboarding workshops. 

Storyboarding Evening Class Returns 10 Nov 2022

Storyboard by Anastasia Gurova

Our evening class in Storyboarding returns on Wednesday 10th November 2022.

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.

Meet Escape Studios' Animation Dept

At Escape Studios we are fortunate to have many talented tutors in our large and growing animation department.  

We have a depth of talent and skills among our staff that ensures we can teach all aspects of the animation pipeline, from concept art through storyboarding, animation and final render. 

Below (in no particular order) are some of our talented tutors you will find teaching animation in our classrooms at Escape Studios.

Storyboarding is Back on 10 Feb 2022

Storyboarding with Chess Adams

Our evening class in Storyboarding with Francesca "Chess" Adams, series director and story board artist at Blue Zoo, returns on Thursday 10 February 2022.

This evening class in storyboarding is an online class, taught from 7-10pm, and runs for ten weeks.

Chess brings her long experience of storyboarding and directing shows like Digby Dragon and The Go Jetters, reflecting the substantial increase in animated content being created in the UK.  

Last Call for Storyboarding on 11 Nov 2021

Chess Adams teaching at Escape Studios

Last call for our evening class in Storyboarding with Francesca "Chess" Adams, series director and story board artist at Blue Zoo, which starts on Thursday 11 November 2021.

This evening class in storyboarding is scheduled to be taught online, and runs for ten weeks.

Chess brings her long experience of storyboarding and directing shows like Digby Dragon and The Go Jetters, reflecting the big increase in animated content being created in the UK.  

Storyboarding Returns on 11 Nov 2021

Francesca "Chess" Adams

Our evening class in Storyboarding with Francesca "Chess" Adams, series director and story board artist at Blue Zoo, is back on Thursday 11 November 2021.

Our next evening class in storyboarding is scheduled to be taught online, and runs for ten weeks.

Chess brings her long experience of working on shows like Digby Dragon and The Go Jetters, reflecting the big increase in animated content being created in the UK.

There is also a growing trend towards digital storyboarding tools such as Panel Forge, which speed up the storyboarding process.

Storyboarding is Back 12 May 2021

Francesca "Chess" Adams at Escape Studios

Our evening class in Storyboarding with Francesca "Chess" Adams, veteran story board artist at Blue Zoo, is back on 12 May 2021.

Our next evening class in storyboarding is scheduled to be taught online, and runs for ten weeks.

Chess brings her long experience of working on shows like Digby Dragon and The Go Jetters, reflecting the huge increase in animated content being created right here in London in recent years, and the growing trend towards digital storyboarding tools such as Panel Forge, which speed up the process and help to bridge the gap with 3D Layout.

Storyboarding Class Returns on 21 October

Francesca "Chess" Adams at Escape Studios

Our evening class in Storyboarding with Francesca "Chess" Adams, veteran story board artist at Blue Zoo, one of London's leading animation houses, is back on 21 October 2020.

Our next evening class in storyboarding is scheduled to be taught online, and runs for eight weeks.

Chess brings her long experience of working on shows like Digby Dragon and The Go Jetters, reflecting the huge increase in animated content being created right here in London in recent years, and the growing trend towards digital storyboarding tools such as Panel Forge, which speed up the process and help to bridge the gap with 3D Layout.

Storyboarding MasterClass with Chess Adams

Francesca "Chess" Adams teaches our storyboarding evening class at Escape Studios. Chess recently recorded this excellent video for the "Summer of Animation", the summer outreach program for 13-18 year olds which is hosted by Access VFX and supported by Escape Studios. It's a great starting point for anyone who wants to learn the art and craft of storyboarding for animation, and is completely free.

Last Call For Storyboarding on 1st July

Francesca "Chess" Adams

Last call for our evening class in Storyboarding with Francesca "Chess" Adams, veteran story board artist at Blue Zoo, one of London's leading animation houses, which returns on 1st July 2020.

This evening class in storyboarding is scheduled to be taught online, and runs for eight weeks.

Chess brings her long experience of working on shows like Digby Dragon and The Go Jetters, reflecting the huge increase in animated content being created right here in London in recent years, and the growing trend towards digital storyboarding tools such as Panel Forge, which speed up the process and help to bridge the gap with 3D Layout.

Storyboarding Is Back on 1 July 2020

Francesca "Chess" Adams

Our evening class in Storyboarding with Francesca "Chess" Adams, veteran story board artist at Blue Zoo, one of London's leading animation houses, is back on 1st July 2020.

Our next evening class in storyboarding is scheduled to be taught online, and runs for eight weeks.

Chess brings her long experience of working on shows like Digby Dragon and The Go Jetters, reflecting the huge increase in animated content being created right here in London in recent years, and the growing trend towards digital storyboarding tools such as Panel Forge, which speed up the process and help to bridge the gap with 3D Layout.

What are Storyboards For?

"Chess" Adams

What are storyboards for? And why do animators need them?  In this guest post, Francesca "Chess" Adams explains the purpose of storyboards, and why animators should want to master this important part of the pre-production process.

Chess is a story board artist at Blue Zoo, one of London's leading animation houses.  She is a graduate of the National Film and Television School (NFTS), and her extensive TV credits include Digby Dragon and the Go Jetters.

Chess also teaches our evening classes in storyboarding, which starts on 22 January 2020.

Stephan Franck: An Approach to Storyboarding

Stephan Franck is a Hollywood storyboard artist whose story credits include Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,  Despicable Me,  Kung Fu Panda: and Osmosis Jones.   In this excellent short video he explores some of the fundamental skills required of a story board artist, including speed and visual efficiency.  Stephan's video is valuable resource for our student board artists, as we start the process of extending the online learning resources available to our storyboarding students, just as we have been doing for our student animators at our online Vimeo Tutorial Channel.

Storyboarding is Back on 22 January 2020

Francesca "Chess" Adams

Our evening class in Storyboarding with Francesca "Chess" Adams, veteran story board artist at Blue Zoo, one of London's leading animation houses, is back early next year.

Our next evening class in storyboarding starts at our central London campus at 190 High Holborn on 22 January 2020 and runs for 8 weeks.

Chess brings her long experience of working on shows like Digby Dragon and The Go Jetters, reflecting the huge increase in animated content being created right here in London in recent years, and the growing trend towards digital storyboarding tools such as Panel Forge, which speed up the process and help to bridge the gap with 3D Layout.

Last Call for Storyboarding on 29th October

Francesca "Chess" Adams

Last call for Storyboarding with Francesca "Chess" Adams,  veteran story board artist at Blue Zoo, one of London's leading animation houses.

Our next evening class in storyboarding starts at our central London campus at 190 High Holborn on 29th October, running through to 17th December 2019.

Chess brings her long experience of working on shows like Digby Dragon and The Go Jetters, reflecting the huge increase in animated content being created right here in London in recent years, and the growing trend towards digital storyboarding tools such as Panel Forge, which speed up the process and help to bridge the gap with 3D Layout.

Last Call for Storyboarding on 20th March

Digby Dragon storyboard using PanelForge

Last call for storyboarding - our next evening class in storyboarding starts at our central London campus at 190 High Holborn on wednesday 20th March 2019.

This 8 week evening class is led by Francesca "Chess" Adams,  a story board artist at Blue Zoo, one of London's leading animation houses.

Chess brings her experience of working on shows like Digby Dragon and The Go Jetters, reflecting the huge increase in animated content being created right here in London in recent years, and the growing trend towards digital storyboarding tools such as Panel Forge.

Storyboarding Returns on 20 March 2019

Digby Dragon storyboard using PanelForge

Storyboarding is back. Our next evening class in storyboarding starts at our central London campus at 190 High Holborn on wednesday 20th March 2019.

This 8 week evening class is led by Francesca "Chess" Adams,  a story board artist at Blue Zoo, one of London's leading animation houses.

Chess brings her experience of working on shows like Digby Dragon and The Go Jetters, reflecting the huge increase in animated content being created right here in London in recent years, and the growing trend towards digital storyboarding tools such as Panel Forge.

Last Call for Storyboarding on June 6th

Chess Adams boards on Digby Dragon at Blue Zoo

Storyboarding is back...our next evening class in storyboarding starts at our Shepherd's Bush campus tomorrow, wednesday 6th June, and we still have one or two seats left.

This 8 week evening class is led by the very talented Francesca "Chess" Adams,  a story board artist at Blue Zoo, one of London's leading animation houses.

Chess brings her experience of working on shows like Digby Dragon and The Go Jetters, reflecting the huge increase in animated content being created right here in London in recent years. If you'd like to sign up, there is still time to book a seat.

An Evening With... Francesca Adams 22nd Feb

Blue Zoo storyboard artist Francesca "Chess" Adams is our guest for our next "An Evening with..." event. Every month we have a guest speaker from industry to come in for a talk, followed by a short Q&A with our students, past present and future.

It's a chance for students to catch up with industry professionals, find out how the industry works, and also - of course - enjoy some free beer and pizza.