Daniel Beeching Studio Assistant at Escape Studios

Daniel Beeching Studio Assistant

We are extending a warm welcome to Daniel Beeching who joins Escape Studios as a Studio Assistant.

Daniel Beeching studied the Art of VFX at Escape studios, contributing to a number of award-winning short films, including Mini Mail, Socks To Be You and Odd Socks. 

Studio Assistants are a key part of the team at Escape Studios, one of the principal resources for our students, making sure that they get regular timely feedback on their work. 

Meet the SA Supervisors at Escape Studios

Studio Assistants at Escape Studios.

Meet the Studio Assistant ("SA") Supervisors at at Escape Studios.  Jess Hiles, is our new Undergraduate ("UG") Studio Assistant Manager.  

Jess Hiles is a multi-award-winning artist with credits on many short films, including Slushy, Hat Shop, Tatty, Our Ocean, Street Ratz and Hotel Aloha. 

Sunny Asadi Studio Assistant at Escape Studios

Sunny Asadi

A warm welcome to Escapee Sayna "Sunny" Asadi who has recently joined Escape Studios as a Studio Assistant at Escape Studios, helping to train the next generation of animators.

Sunny took our master's degree in the Art of Computer Animation, taught by veteran animator Lee Caller.  

Our Studio Assistants are a key part of the team at Escape Studios, one of the principal resources for our students, making sure that they get regular timely feedback on their work.

Stevie Stedman Studio Assistant at Escape

Stevie Stedman

Many congratulations to Escapee Stevie Stedman who is currently working as a Studio Assistant at Escape Studios.

Stevie took our MA in Storyboarding & Previsualisation, graduating with a Distinction. While at Escape Studios, Stevie has written, directed and produced a number of award-winning films, such as "Hat Shop", which Stevie wrote and directed, and which has won many festival awards.

Studio Assistants at Escape Studios help to give our students classroom feedback and solve technical problems; we couldn't manage without them.

What Studio Assistants Do at Escape Studios

Studio Assistants at Escape Studios

What do our Studio Assistants ("SAs") do at Escape Studios? Our Studio Assistants are a key part of the team at Escape Studios, one of the principal resources for our students, making sure that they get regular timely feedback on their work. 

Studio Assistants are recruited on a regular basis from our graduating student body, offering talented students a chance to develop their skills further, work on their demo reels, and also to help new students progress their skills.

Lucy Harris Studio Assistant at Escape Studios

Lucy Harris

Many congratulations to our fourth year animation student Lucy Harris,  who has become a studio assistant at Escape Studios, while studying for her MArt.

Lucy has worked a number of award-winning short films during her time at Escape Studios, including "March of the Potguins", which won a "Five Star Award" at the British Amateur Film Festival in 2020. 

In 2020 Lucy directed the short sci-fi fantasy "Over Under", which won "Best Animation" at the Flicks Festival in London and "Most Fabulous Animation" at the Animafantasia Film Festival. 

Duncan Guymer Producer at Sliced Bread

Duncan Guymer - Studio Assistant at Escape Studios

Many congratulations to Escapee Duncan Guymer, who has recently started a new job as a production assistant at Sliced Bread Animation in London.

Duncan took our evening class in 3D animation, and soon joined us as a studio assistant, helping to teach our short course animation students.

Duncan quickly mastered the art and craft of animation, and made particularly effective use of our online resources, especially the Vimeo channel to which all our students and Escapees have access.

Daniel Dutton Studio Assistant at Escape

Daniel Dutton

Many congratulations to our fourth year animation student Daniel Dutton who was recently made a studio assistant at Escape Studios, while studying for his MA in his fourth year.

Daniel has worked a number of award-winning short films during his time at Escape Studios; he was the editor on Jericho, a short film completed by our third year undergraduate students, in which a lonely robot searches for pieces to build a mechanical friend.

Daniel also animated on Minuet, a short film about a young concert pianist who, while preparing for her big performance, finds help in an unlikely place. Daniel was Technical Director (TD) on the project, managing the Unreal Engine pipeline.

Duncan Guymer Studio Assistant at Escape

Duncan Guymer - Studio Assistant at Escape Studios

Many congratulations to Escapee Duncan Guymer, who has recently started work at Escape Studios as a Studio Assistant, helping to support the teaching of our student animators.

Duncan took our evening class in 3D animation, and learned so quickly that we brought him on board as a studio assistant, helping to teach our short course animation students.

The secret of Duncan's success? Plenty of practice, and in particular effective use of our online resources, especially the Vimeo channel to which all our students and Escapees have access.

How Feedback Works at Escape Studios

Michael Davies Teaching at Escape Studios

One of the hardest skills for animation students to learn is how to take criticism.  We all tend to be shy about our work (especially when we are learning something new) and, when our work is criticised, that criticism can feel very personal.

There are many ways in which students at Escape Studios can get feedback and critique. First and most obvious is in the classroom, from your tutor. 

We also have Studio Assistants (SAs) whose job it is to help students when they encounter problems - especially technical ones. Studio Assistants are always available, usually sitting at the back of the class.

Meet Our Studio Assistants

Studio assistants - the undergraduate team

Our Studio Assistants are the backbone of Escape Studios - we couldn't manage without them.  Studio Assistants help keep our classes running smoothly and keep an eye out for all the students in the class - to help make sure that everyone gets the most out of their studies.

Our team has grown of late - so here's a group photo to match some names to faces. Our studio assistants are there to help all our students - so if you get stuck, don't be shy to ask Michael, Ash, Mael, Amanda, Federico, Pol, Matt, Lorenzo, Thierry, Thomas, Mitch, Fabrizio or Harry for help.

Ash Ellis Teaches Lighting

Ash Ellis at Escape Studios

Our Animation and 3D Studio Assistant, Ash Ellis, took over the Animation Short Course for one day last week to teach our animation students the fundamentals of lighting in animation.

​Animators don't need a high level of expertise in lighting, as they are generally judged by recruiters and studios purely on their animation skills.

Nonetheless, a basic understanding of lighting setups is an important ancillary skill, part of the animator's toolkit.

Steve Lall Teaches MoCap at Escape

Our Second year animation students welcomed another guest tutor last week, and this time it was our very own Studio Assistant Steven Lall.

Steve was teaching the class about Motion Capture, now often known as Performance Capture.

MoCap is a growing part of the animation industry and something our students need to be able to work with effectively in order to graduate with a more diverse and technically up-to-date demo reel.

Steven Lall Studio Assistant at Escape

Steven Lall

Many congratulations to Escapee Steven Lall who has recently started work at Escape Studios as a studio assistant, helping our second year undergraduate animators to polish their skills.

Becoming a studio assistant at Escape Studios is a great way to launch a career in animation and VFX -  our studio assistants invariably move on to careers in industry, after working and studying here, perfecting their demo reels and developing industry contacts.

Amanda Costa Studio Assistant At Escape

Amanda Costa

Congratulations to Escapee Amanda Costa who has just started a new animation job at Escape Studios this week, working as a studio assistant and helping to support our new cohort of undergraduate students learning 3D animation.

Becoming a studio assistant at Escape Studios is a great way to launch a career in animation and VFX -  our studio assistants invariably move on to careers in industry, after working and studying here, perfecting their demo reels and developing industry contacts.

Rory Marchant Studio Assistant at Escape

Animation Reel 2016 from Rory B Marchant on Vimeo.

A warm welcome to Rory Marchant who starts a new animation job at Escape Studios today, working as a studio assistant and helping to support our undergraduate students learning 3D animation in Maya.  Rory took the Animation Apprentice online course, and since then he has been working as a freelance animator, doing superb work - such as this excellent commercial for a French client.

Dave Novis Studio Assistant at Escape

Dave Novis Animation Reel from David Novis on Vimeo.

Escapee Dave Novis, who took our animation short course last summer, joins Escape Studios as a studio assistant this week, getting ready to help out with our next cohort of animation trainees. Dave is an excellent animator who combines a thorough understanding of Maya and the 3D animation tools with a great sense of entertainment and comic timing.  Becoming a studio assistant is a great way to start off a career in animation and VFX - our studio assistants all move on to careers in industry.  We congratulate Dave on his new job, and welcome him to the Escape Studios team.