Klaudija Cermak Elected to VES Board of Directors

Escape Studios is proud to congratulate compositing tutor Klaudija Cermak who has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Visual Effects Society (VES), London Section.

Klaudija has over 25 years experience on commercials, broadcast TV and feature films.  Klaudija has worked at most of the major post-production houses in London including MPC, Mill, Millfilm, Framestore, Double Negative and Glassworks.

The Visual Effects Society is an entertainment industry organization representing visual effects artists with 5,000 members in 50 countries.  Since 2002 it has produced the Visual Effects Society Awards, which honours vfx excellence in multiple categories. 

Escape Studios Gets TV Paint - and a Student Discount

We’re excited to announce that Escape Studios has added TV Paint to our software toolkit, giving our 2D animation students even more opportunities to develop professional 2D animation skills. 

Our 2D animation programmes have been running Toonboom Harmony as our principal animation platform, but we've decided to go for broke and add TV Paint as well.  So, from the start of this academic year (2025), our animation students will have a choice of 2D animation platforms to work on.  Plus, we've secured a special deal for our students to get themselves a license for home use if they need the extra flexibility.

New Euro Scholarship for Undergraduate Students

Escape Studios is proud to announce a new European Scholarship for undergraduate students joining us in September 2026.

This initiative offers a partial fee waiver to all eligible students from EU and EEA countries joining us for any undergraduate degree, with no separate application required.

So, if you’re a student from Europe keen on joining one of the top VFX, games, animation or technical courses, this is the perfect time to apply.

Escape Studios welcome overseas students, who bring with them fresh ideas and different ways of working.

Find out more about our new European Scholarship here at the official site.

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. 

Escape Studios Toonboom Harmony ATC

Toonboom Harmony ATC Certificate

We're delighted to announce that Escape Studios has been confirmed as an ATC (Authorised Training Centre) for Toonboom Harmony, one of the leading software packages for the creation of 2D animation.

2D Animation has been experiencing a revival, with many 2D productions being animated in the UK. 

In particular, Blue Zoo, Aardman Animation, Passion Pictures and others have chosen Toonboom Harmony as their principal 2D animation platform.

We're Expanding: Sixth Floor at 6 Mitre Passage Open

Welcome to the Sixth Floor at Escape Studios

Escape Studios is expanding - our brand new 6th Floor is now open for study.  This week we welcomed our new students to our newly expanded location here in North Greenwich. 

6 Mitre Passage, the new home of Escape Studios, first opened its doors to our students in September 2023.  Our new campus located in the North Greenwich Peninsula, right next to The O2, in the Design District. 

Pip Cowen Wins "Most Valuable Player" Award

Philippa "Pip" Cowen wins "Most Valuable Player"

Many congratulations to Escapee Philippa "Pip" Cowen who won the "Most Valuable Player" Award in the Class of Animation at the Escape Studios Graduation Showcase last week.  

While at Escape Studios Pip studied the Art of Computer Animation, and contributed her talents to many animation projects, winning multiple festival awards. 

Escape Studios Welcomes International Students

Escape Studios is delighted to announce that - for the first time since Brexit - we can now sponsor international students to join our programmes on student visas. 

This comes in time for the launch of a number of brand-new courses starting in September 2024, including our new MA in Motion Graphics.

North Greenwich Campus Ready to Open

6 Mitre Passage - our new home

6 Mitre Passage, the new home of Escape Studios, is getting ready to open its doors to our students.  Our new campus located in the North Greenwich Peninsula, right next to The O2. 

We occupy the top two floors of 6 Mitre Passage - a new building in North Greenwich with gorgeous views of the River Thames.  

We are now located in the Design District, a new hub for technology and design in London.

Remembering Daniel Brand-Sinyinza

Daniel Brand-Sinyinza

Escape Studios is mourning the untimely passing of Daniel Brand-Sinyinza, whose premature death from cancer we have just recently learned about.  Daniel studied the Art of Computer Animation at Escape Studios, graduating in the summer of 2021.

Daniel was a very talented student, who won multiple awards for his work on the many animated short films that he contributed to at Escape Studios. 

Popular and well liked by his colleagues, Daniel was a lively and able student, always a pleasure to teach, keen to master the art and craft of animation, and contributed to many award-winning short films.

Escape Studios Visits Blue Bolt VFX

Escape visits Blue Bolt in Victoria, London

Escape Studios' students were delighted to visit VFX house Blue Bolt this past week. 

Blue Bolt are a cutting-edge VFX house based in London, Victoria.  The studio visit was led by Escape Studios' Talent Development Manager Will Hughes, who met Blue Bolt VFX Supervisor Richard Frazer, as well of Head of 3D Nicholas Birmingham and 3D artists Amandeep Kukreja (a fellow Escapee) and Alex Charilaou.

Escape Studios Moves to North Greenwich

Our New Home - from September 2023

Escape Studios is delighted to announce the move to our new campus in North Greenwich in September 2023. 

Our new home will be the top floors of a new building in North Greenwich - with stunning views of the River Thames.  

It is located in the Design District, an area that is becoming a hub for technology and design.

External Examiner to Visit Escape Studios

Adam Twycross 

On Monday 24 April we welcome Adam Twycross to Escape Studios - Adam is our external examiner for our undergraduate course in The Art of VFX.  

Adam is a senior lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University, and an experienced vfx artist.

External examiners play an important part of quality control in UK higher education, ensuring that our courses meet the highest standards, and that the grades awarded are correct and appropriate.

Aidan Lonergan Tutor at Escape Studios

Aidan Lonergan

We're extending a warm welcome to our newest tutor at Escape Studios - Escapee Aidan Lonergan, who will soon be teaching our short course and MA in Character and Creature Creation, now recruiting for September 2023.  

Aidan comes to us from MPC, one of the UK's longest-established VFX and animation houses, where he worked as a rigger, and from Factory 42, an immersive and television content production studio based at Somerset House on the Strand.

Aidan takes over teaching the short course and MA in Character and Creature Creation from Michael Davies, who first developed the course content.   

Cartoon Forum Welcomes the UK to Europe

Cartoon Forum - Toulouse 18-21 September 2023

The European film agency "Cartoon", organisers of "Cartoon Forum" and "Cartoon Movie", has announced that UK animation will return to Cartoon Forum this year in a special initiative titled "Animated UK Meets Europe", led by Animation UK, and supported by the BBC, Disney, and other major UK Partners. 

More New Books for The Animation Library

New Pixar Studio books

We've acquired some new books for the Escape Studios Animation library, where we keep traditional hard copies (ie actual physical books) on the Third Floor at 190 High Holborn, WC1. 

The new books are "Pixar Storytelling" and "Pixar and the Aesthetic Imagination", new titles which will help our 2nd year animators as they start their group film projects. 

The Animation Library is located outside Toontown and Winterfell classrooms.

Escape Studios No 3 in UK for Animation 2022

Escape Studios Ranked No 3 in the UK in 2022

The 2022 Animation School Rankings are in, and we're delighted to have moved up the European rankings again this year.

This year Animation Career Review have ranked us #15 for Animation Internationally, #8 for Animation in Europe (moving up from #9 last year), and #3 for Animation in the UK. Congratulations to all our students and tutors on their hard work.

Evgenia Golubeva Pitches "Saskatoons"

"Saskatoons" by Evgenia Golubeva

Escapee Evgenia Golubeva will be at Cartoon Forum this year to pitch her new comedy series "The Saskatoons", an original TV series aimed at young audiences. 

Cartoon Forum is Europe's biggest TV pitch-fest for animation, and takes place in Toulouse, France, from 20-23 September.

If you have an idea for an animated TV series, Cartoon Forum is the place to pitch it.

Animator Paul Harrison Joins Escape Studios

Paul Harrison

We're delighted to welcome back veteran animator, tutor, VFX Supervisor and 3D generalist Paul Harrison, who will be teaching our third year undergraduate animation students.

Paul brings a wealth of animation and VFX experience to Escape Studios; he has worked for clients including The Mill, DNEG, Prodigious, Smoke and Mirrors, Mainframe, and the BBC.

Paul is also a comic book artist and writer, and a content creator for children’s media. He is the creator of the Urban Squirrel series of comics. 

Escape Studios Official Unreal Engine ATC

We are proud to announce that Escape Studios is now an Unreal Engine ATC (Authorized Training Center); the only one in the UK and one of only two in Europe.  We are very honoured to be selected to be part of the program and to help train people in Unreal Engine.  As well as our Short Courses, UG and Masters programs we also train companies in UE4, most recently London VFX powerhouse Framestore.  Unreal's real time rendering capabilities, Blueprint system and ease of use is not only changing the games industry but the CGI industry as a whole, helping to speed up the process of animation, previsualisation, virtual reality and architectural visualisation.