Thief and the Cobbler - A Moment in Time - in NYC

Richard Williams' unfinished masterpiece The Thief and the Cobbler - A Moment in Time - is to be screened in NYC tonight and on saturday at MOMA - New York's temple of modern art.

The screening was featured in the New York Times - you can read about it here.

To buy tickets to see this rarely-screened film, follow the link to the Moma website here.

Anyone serious about studying animation should see Williams' film at least once. This event is a rare chance to catch a film made utterly without artistic compromise. And of course a chance to meet Williams' himself, who will appear in a Q&A after the film.

Animation Reference from the BBC Motion Gallery and Getty Images

Here is some great reference for animators, specialising in animal locomotion and behaviour, from the BBC and Getty Images.

The site is easily searchable so, say you need some reference footage of a cheetah running, it's all very easy to find. You can easily download the videos as .mp4 files, and then open them up in QuickTime so you can step through them frame by frame. It's a great resource for animators looking for reference to create accurate, realistic animal motion.

Open Doors at Three Mills Studios on Wednesday 21 September

Stop-motion animation specialists 3 Mills Studios in East London (the folks who brought you Fantastic Mr Fox) are collaborating with Creative Skillset to open their doors on Wednesday 21st September.

For one evening only, visitors will have the chance to pose questions to the animation talent who have worked on some of the biggest TV and film productions right here in London.

Recent productions on site include many and varied projects (not just animation) such as Masterchef, The Royals, The Sound of Music - Live, Jekyll & Hyde and Legend.

On the night you will be also be able to get the inside scoop on live vacancies - such as production jobs, apprenticeships and  runner positions.

Double Negative's Chris Keller To Visit Escape

DNeg's Chris Keller is is coming to Escape Studios tomorrow, Wednesday September 14th, to talk about his compositing work on visual effects blockbusters like The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Man of Steel and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.  Best of all for all our students - the evening is completely free.

Bring Your Own Animation! - 19th September

The Lukin - BYOA!

"Bring Your Own Animation" (BYOA) is an animation event that takes place every month in London. This month it is being held at the Lukin pub, 4 Conway Street in central London W1T 6BB.

Anyone can bring their animation or just come to share their passion and have a few drinks.  If you are a student, or a professional who's working on a shot or a reel, bring your work and get feedback from Professional Animators. Bring your work in a USB or external hard drive. They probably won't have a good internet connection. Here at Escape Studios we strongly recommend that our students attend events such as this one.

What Should Go in an Animation Demo Reel? Eamonn Butler Reveals the Secrets

Eamonn Butler

Last night Escape Studios welcomed our latest speaker to our regular “Escape Labs” event – where we investigate the new technology that is driving the animation and visual effects industry.

We were proud to host Cinesite’s head of animation, Eamonn Butler, who came to talk to us at our Strand HQ about Cinesite's expanding animation pipeline - developing and producing their own slate of animated films.

Of particular interest to our student animators was what Eamonn had to say on the subject of animation demo reels: what to do – and what not to do.

When Should Maya Animators Use File Referencing?

What is referencing, and when should animators use it? File referencing ("referencing", for short) is the process in Autodesk Maya which allows the animator to make changes to an animation rig in the course of production and have the new rig automatically update itself to all your existing animation files. It's pretty much what most studios use to manage their animation pipeline, one way or another, as most production rigs are a work in progress.

The question for animators working and studying from home is, should you import the rig directly into your shot, or should you use referencing? Here are the pros and cons.

2017 VES Awards - Student Entries

The 15th Annual VES Awards are fast approaching. Here at Escape Studios we encourage all our students to enter Category 23: Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project. 

The award is sponsored by Autodesk, who make Maya, the leading animation and VFX software, and is a great opportunity for any ambitious student to kick-start their career.

Tech Talks at BAFTA - Starts Tomorrow!

London SIGGRAPH is organising the second annual TECHTALKS, starting tomorrow August 31st. The event is being held in association with VFX powerhouse Double Negative, and is sponsored by Autodesk, makers of Maya, the animation software that is now the dominant platform in our industry.

TechTalks is a two-day conference which focuses on the technical side of our industry. As always, we strongly recommend that our students attend events of this kind. It's always good to know where the industry is heading, and you never know who you might meet.

Jeffrey Katzenberg Leaves DreamWorks Animation?

It looks like Jeffrey Katzenberg is leaving DreamWorks Animation, after over 20 years helming what has become one of the most successful animation studios in the world.

There has been no announcement yet, and DreamWorks animators all seem to be sworn to secrecy, but this does look like the end for Jeffrey's long reign. So, what does this mean for the future of DreamWorks animation?

Cinesite Visit to Escape Studios on Tuesday September 6

We're excited to welcome Cinesite, one of London's leading visual effects houses, to visit Escape Studios for a conference on the future of the animation industry on September 6.

Recently, Cinesite have broken out of their traditional VFX core market to take the plunge into their own branded content.  They now have a slate of animated films preparing to come to market, hoping to take on the likes of Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks and Illumination in the global market for animated films.

Sydney Padua Comes to Escape Studios

Escape Studios is excited to welcome our latest guest lecturer in animation - industry veteran Sydney Padua, whose animation career not only includes a roster of Hollywood hits but also encompasses countless visual effects blockbusters.

If that's not enough for you, she has even published highly successful graphic novels.  So, some very good news then for animation and VFX students at Escape.

Syd will be teaching our students the finer points of animal and creature locomotion, helping to prepare them for a career in industry.

Meet the Dino Rig!

Here at Escape Studios our student animators are testing out this excellent dinosaur rig by Harry Gladwin-Geoghegan. It's a great free rig for Maya animators, and you can download it here.

The Dino rig is excellent for doing creature locomotion, and just about the only thing it won't do is close-ups, as the facial controls are quite limited.

But, to get some great dino action on your animation demo reel, this could well be the best rig to choose.

Escape Studios Welcomes Games Artist Holly Pickering on Tuesday 9th August!

We're excited to welcome games artist Holly Pickering tomorrow, tuesday 9th August, to talk to our students at Escape Studios. Holly is one of our "Escapees"; she graduated from Escape Studios in 2009 after studying the Art of Computer Games.

Since then, Holly has worked for a number of major games companies including Traveller’s Tales, White Paper Games and Rewind FX. Holly is also the co-founder of LadyCade, - an event that focuses on the contribution of women to the games industry.

Introducing Maya 2017 - and Arnold!

Autodesk has just released a new version of Maya, titled Maya 2017 (I know, we're only half way through 2016) - which now features an entirely new system for rendering your images. 

The old ray trace renderer, Mental Ray, has been dropped, and Autodesk have chosen Arnold instead.  For those of you have have never used Arnold before, and might have some catching up to do, animator Lee Caller has helpfully put together a YouTube playlist of videos that will walk you through the basics of the Arnold renderer. 

Arnold is a great renderer, and no doubt a significant improvement on Mental Ray. However, there is a catch, and it's a pretty big one.

August 11 Second Club!

Chicken or egg?

It's August! You could be heading for the beach to relax or, like our dedicated animators here at Escape Studios, you could be polishing your animation skills by entering The 11 Second Club, the monthly character animation competition in which aspiring animators compete to win prizes and get their work noticed.

Animators from all over the world participate, animating a character speaking a line of dialogue, which is provided on the first day of every month by the club. This month our animators will tackle a question of philosophy: which came first, chicken or egg?

Introducing Andy

Meet Andy! Andy (short for "androgynous") is a very flexible rig for character animation, and one that we recommend for student use here at Escape Studios

Andy is useful for both male and female character roles, and can be easily customised.  To get started, you can download Andy for free here at Creative Crash.

An Evening with Grant Gilbert - Thursday 28th July

Grant Gilbert

Grant Gilbert, Creative Director and founder of the multi-award winning design agency DBLG, is coming to Escape Studios to talk to our students about his work.

Gilbert and DBLG have worked for clients such as Channel 4, MTV, Nike and Studio Canal.  DBLG is a global leader in motion design work. In fact, don't take it from us - watch their reel here.

We're excited to welcome Grant Gilbert to Escape Studios - the latest in a long line of talented speakers to come to Escape and talk about the latest cutting edge techniques used in industry.

Introducing Heavy from Team Fortress

Heavy

One of the rigs we recommend for learning animation here at Escape Studios is the Heavy Rig, based on the Team Fortress character, and free for download at Highend3D.com. Heavy is particularly good for learning the early stages of animation - locomotion and mechanics.

Heavy is a relatively low poly and hence will almost certainly give you real-time playback in your view port. So, no hanging around waiting to playblast. The controls are simple and easy to use, the textures all work, and all the curves are in logical places. It's also a very stable rig and tends not to cause Maya to crash.

But, of course, all rigs have their quirks and foibles.  So, how can our students get the best out of Heavy?

"Acting for Animators" Coming to Escape Studios

Acting and Movement for animators

We're excited to be welcoming Sarah Perry of Shapes in Motion to teach our students a workshop in "acting for animators" here at Escape Studios.

Everyone knows that animators are actors - but what does that really mean in practice? Sarah's workshop will help our animation students unlock the secrets of acting methodology, and help them to become better actors themselves.  So, what can our animation students expect?