Aardman Workshop at the Cartoon Museum 1 April

Aardman model-making workshop 1st April

The Cartoon Museum in Fitzrovia is hosting an Aardman Animation model-making workshop on April 1st, demonstrating how to make your very own "Sean the Sheep" plasticene model.  

For animation students at Escape Studios this is a rare opportunity to engage with the stop-motion pipeline, learning to make a physical maquette suitable for animation. 

Get yourself a tripod and a smart phone - now you're ready to animate.  You can sign up for the workshop here - it costs just £18.86. 

"Stop Motion Effect" Animation Tutorial in Maya

"Stop Motion Effect" Tutorial at YouTube

In this new animation tutorial students learn how to produce a "Stop Motion Effect" in Maya with undergraduate Programme Leader Marc Stevenson.  

Marc's tutorial, hosted at his Animation YouTube Channel, explains how to take a piece of digital animation created in Maya and simulate the look and feel of traditional hand-made stop motion animation. 

Aardman Animation Toolkit for Stop-Motion

For all our students who would like to try their hands at stop-motion animation: armature specialist Animation Toolkit has partnered with Aardman Animation to design and create a bespoke armature kit to help stop motion animators with the puppet making process.

Animators can now easily and affordably create their own animation puppets.

Aardman Armature Kit for Stop Motion

For all our students who would like to try their hands at stop-motion animation: armature specialist Animation Toolkit has partnered with Aardman Animation to design and create a bespoke armature kit to help stop motion animators with the puppet making process.

Animators can now easily and affordably create their own animation puppets.

Escape Students Learn to Make Sean the Sheep

Recently Aardman animation came to London, bringing model making workshops as part of the launch of their latest feature film Sean the Sheep - Farmageddon.

The workshops took place at the Hackney Picturehouse and The Ritzy in Brixton, and many of our animation students were able to take part.

The afternoon workshops were led by Senior Model Makers from Aardman: Claire Cohen and Ellie Hugill.

Claire and Ellie gave our students a fascinating insight into stop-motion animation, helping the students to build their very own Sean the Sheep.

The skills that make a great stop-motion animator are very similar to the skills that make a great 3D animator. Whether you are working with clay or pixels, an animator still has to give an entertaining performance.

Kubo and the Two Strings Q&A with Director Travis Knight and Producer Arianne Sutner

Screening of Kubo at the Curzon Mayfair

SIGGRAPH's London chapter recently hosted a local screening of Laika's latest stop motion triumph - the Annie-nominated “Kubo and the Two Strings”.

After the movie I was honoured to host a Q&A with Director Travis Knight and Producer Arianne Sutner who talked about the making of the film, and revealed some amazing insights into the work flow of LAIKA studio.

Events like this are a great way for our students to meet leading film-makers in person, and find out what makes the industry tick.

SIGGRAPH Screening of LAIKA’s “Kubo and the Two Strings” on Tuesday December 6

SIGGRAPH's London chapter is hosting a local screening of Laika's latest stop motion triumph - the Annie-nominated “Kubo and the Two Strings”.

After the movie I'll be hosting a Q&A with Director Travis Knight and Producer Arianne Sutner who will talk about the making of the film.

Events like this are a great way for our students to meet leading film-makers in person, and find out what makes the industry tick.

Cool New Stop-Motion Animation Rig - Stickybones

Stickybones

Here at Escape Studios we teach primarily digital skills, reflecting the needs of the industry we work in, where new technology creates its own demand for talent.

But old-school skills still matter, and anyone who wants to experiment with the craft of animation would do well to try stop-motion animation, a relatively low tech way to get started in the industry.  Now, a new rig has just been released - Stickybones - which makes the stop-motion animator's job much, much easier.