Alex Maynard Animator at Jellyfish Pictures

Alex Maynard joins Jellyfish Pictures

Many congratulations to Escapee Alex Maynard who has recently joined Jellyfish Pictures as a junior animator.  

Jellyfish Pictures is one of London's leading animation and VFX houses, responsible for many film and TV hits; many Escapees have joined Jellyfish after graduating from Escape Studios.

Alex Maynard studied the Art of Computer Animation at Escape Studios.  Alex also contributed to a number of award-winning short films, including Hannibelle, which he directed.  

Escape Studios Visit to Jellyfish Pictures

Escape Studios visits Jellyfish Pictures

Escape Studios would like to thank industry partners Jellyfish Pictures and Alexander Thornton for welcoming our recent Escapees to their studio last week.

Studio visits are a great opportunity to learn about the animation and VFX pipeline, and get an insight into how studios actually work. Many thanks to Will Newis and Jo Fletcher Manawa for their insightful presentations. 

Jellyfish Pictures is one of London's leading animation and VFX houses, responsible for many film and TV hits; many Escapees have joined Jellyfish after graduating from Escape Studios. 

Jellyfish TDs Attend Escape Solaris Workshop

Jellyfish TDs visit Escape Studios

A group of Jellyfish Pictures TDs and Developers - Cameron Bourne, Diana Pelino, Nikhil Shankar-Noble, Ryan Fuller, Elif Su Ulasoglu, Enno Schluender - and Escapee Raphael Kennedy - had a fantastic start to the week, attending the SideFX Software Solaris Workshop at Escape Studios with a deep-dive into Houdini, Karma and USD.  

All Jellyfish shows are now using Houdini and Solaris.

Escapee Alex Budulan TD at Jellyfish Pictures

Alex Budulan

Many congratulations to Escapee Alex Budulan who has become an FX Artist at Jellyfish Pictures.

FX is a growing part of the animation and VFX industry, one where new technology is driving opportunities for employment and growth.

Real time rendering - especially with Unreal Engine - is an area where the technology has shifted in the past few years, with animation and VFX houses abandoning traditional ray-tracers in favour of real time rendering.

Luis Marcillo-Coronado Animator at Jellyfish

Luis David Marcillo-Coronado

Many congratulations to Escapee Luis David Marcillo-Coronado who has recently started work as a 2D animator at Jellyfish Pictures in London.

Luis completed a Master's Degree in Animation here at Escape Studios and, after graduating with an MA, continued to polish his demo reel.

At Escape Studios, Luis contributed to the award-winning short film "Flame", a group project directed by Cherelle Owusu and produced by Carolina Xavier, which has won multiple festival awards.

Luis's career at Jellyfish began as a runner, a well-established entry-level pathway into the animation and vfx industries, after which he got a well-deserved promotion to animator.

Careers Webinar with Blue Zoo ILM & Jellyfish

Last week on 5 August we hosted a free online Animation Careers Evening with animation industry leaders ILM, Blue Zoo and Jellyfish Pictures.  Blue Zoo recruiter Lauren Barnes, and animators Jamie Floodgate, Jack Bond and Joel Airebamen discussed the latest career opportunities in the expanding animation industry, offering their insights into how to get hired into the current animation boom. Who is hiring, and for what skills? What kind of demo reel do you need to get hired? How has Brexit affected the jobs environment? Watch this video to find out. 

Last Call for Animation Careers Evening Tonight

Animation Careers Event Tonight

Last call to join us tonight at 4.30pm for our free online Animation Careers Evening with animation industry leaders Blue Zoo and Jellyfish Pictures.  

Blue Zoo recruiter Lauren Barnes, and animators Jamie Floodgate and Joel Airebamen will discuss the latest career opportunities in the expanding animation industry.  You can sign up here at the official site.

Animation Careers Evening on 5 August 4.30pm

Animation Careers Event August 5th

Join us at Escape Studios on Thursday 5th August at 4:30pm for a free online Animation Careers Evening with animation industry leaders Blue Zoo and Jellyfish Pictures.  

Blue Zoo recruiter Lauren Barnes, and animators Jamie Floodgate and Joel Airebamen will discuss the latest animation career opportunities. Sign up here at the official site.

Amanda Costa Animator at Jellyfish Pictures

Amanda Costa

Many congratulations to Escapee Amanda Costa who is now an animator at London's Jellyfish Pictures.

Amanda took our 12 week animation short course at Escape Studios, and now joins Escapees Luis Marcillo-Coronado, Laura Knight, Henry Fenwick and Rory Marchant who also found work at Jellyfish after leaving Escape Studios.

Jellyfish Pictures is one of London's largest and most successful animation studios, working on TV series such as "Dennis and Gnasher - Unleashed" and also doing feature film work on the Star Wars franchise.

Luis Marcillo-Coronado Runner at Jellyfish

Luis David Marcillo-Coronado

Many congratulations to Escapee Luis David Marcillo-Coronado who has recently landed a position as a Runner at Jellyfish Pictures in London.

Luis completed a Master's Degree in Animation here at Escape Studios and, after graduating with an MA, continued to polish his demo reel.

At Escape, Luis worked on the award-winning short film "Flame", a group project directed by Cherelle Owusu and produced by Carolina Xavier.

Working as a runner is a well-established entry-level pathway into the animation and vfx industries.

Laura Knight Animator at Jellyfish Pictures

Laura Knight

Many congratulations to Escapee Laura Knight who has started a new job as an animator at Jellyfish Pictures, one of London's leading animation houses.

Laura took our MA in 3D Animation and worked hard on polishing her demo reel (see below) to land the new job.

Laura joins Escapees Henry Fenwick and Rory Marchant who also found work as animators at Jellyfish after graduating from Escape Studios.

Free JellyFish Animation Tutorial at YouTube

For anyone looking to learn 3D animation, don't forget we have lots of free tutorials at the official Escape Studios YouTube channel. In the animation tutorial above, Escape Studios Head of 3D Mark Spevick shows you how to use nHair and procedural tools to create - from scratch - some excellent jellyfish animation.

Dennis the Menace at the VFX Festival

Jellyfish animation is one of London's leading animation studios, specialising in TV work such as the new Dennis the Menace series.

At the recent VFX Festival in Shoreditch,  Jellyfish's lead animator Denis Jose Francois introduced the series, and talked about some of the challenges faced by Jellyfish in bringing this well-loved comic character to the small screen.

And, at the end of his talk he also offered some useful tips on what Jellyfish looks for in an animation demo reel.

Escape Labs with Jellyfish Tuesday October 10

Escape Labs is back!  On Tuesday October 10th we're welcoming Jeremy Smith, CTO, at Jellyfish Pictures, to talk about the latest developments in cloud rendering, looking specifically at the benefits of working in a virtual environment.

Escape Labs events are all about the latest tech in our industry, making sure we and our industry partners stay current with the latest trends. To book your ticket, follow this link. 

Rory Marchant Animator at Jellyfish Pictures

Animation Reel 2016 from Rory B Marchant on Vimeo.

Many Congratulations to Escapee Rory Marchant who has just recently finished working as a studio assistant at Escape Studios, and has now landed himself a job as a Junior Animator at Jellyfish Pictures. Rory has also been working as a freelance animator, doing superb work - such as this excellent commercial for a French client.

Henry Fenwick Animator at Jellyfish Pictures

Many congratulations to Escapee Henry Fenwick, who is an animator at Jellyfish Pictures, working on the new Dennis the Menace  TV series for the BBC.

Jellyfish was founded in 2001 and since then has grown into one of the leading boutique visual effects and animation houses in London, starting from VFX origins and expanding into TV character animation work.

Escape Studios Visits Jellyfish Animation!

Jellyfish Pictures in Brixton

Escape Studios' animation studios were treated to a studio tour of Jellyfish Pictures this past week, getting a unique behind-the-scenes peek into the workings of a major London animation studio.

Jellyfish are a relatively new kid on the London block, but they have grown from modest beginnings to become a major player in visual effects animation and also TV series work - which is currently booming in our home town.

Henry Fenwick Running at Prime Focus

Prime Focus

Working as a runner doesn't sound that glamorous - but it is a tried and tested way to break into the animation and VFX industry.  Last year Escapee Henry Fenwick finished a three week work experience at Prime Focus Film in London's Soho.

We asked him to share his experience and also his advice, with a view to helping other animation students know what to expect when becoming a runner at a Soho studio.

In short - Is it Worth Taking a Job as a Runner?