Escape Studios Head of 3D Mark Spevick Joins Board of VES

Mark Spevick

We're congratulating our Head of 3D Mark Spevick, who has just joined the board of the the Visual Effects Society (VES), the global organisation that "represents the full breadth of VFX practitioners with over 3,000 professional members in 33 countries worldwide".

VES supports our industry with, among other things, the VES Awards, the deadline for which is fast approaching. If you're a student and you have a great VFX shot you'd like to submit, this could be a great chance to get noticed and start your career. The winner gets a paid flight to Beverly Hills and receives a VES statue.

Meet Panel Forge - New Storyboard Wizard

One of the highlights of yesterday’s Blue GFX Expo was Blue Zoo’s Tom Box introducing Panel Forge Pro (the first public demonstration of the software), a new storyboard and pipeline tool which has now been extensively road tested at Blue Zoo on the Miffy the Rabbit and Digby Dragon TV Series.

Panel Forge uses 3D Layouts – much like its rival Redboard (also developed here in London) – to save time in Storyboarding.  Panel Forge allows board artists to use low resolution 3D assets to help set up camera angles and layouts, and has been used on “10,000 shots” to date.  So, what is Panel Forge all about, and why should our students be interested?

How The Simpsons Predicted President Trump

Why read the news when you can watch animation? Specifically, The Simpsons, back in 2000, when in a now infamous episode titled “Bart to the Future,” the long-running animated TV series predicted that Donald Trump would one day become president of the United States of America.  Simpsons writer Dan Greaney recently told The Hollywood Reporter that the thought of a Trump presidency "just seemed like the logical last stop before hitting bottom. It was pitched because it was consistent with the vision of America going insane".

Blue GFX Expo Tomorrow! Last Chance to Register!

Today is the last chance to register for Blue GFX Expo - taking place in London tomorrow, 17th November.

This year speakers include Tom Box from Blue Zoo, one of the UK's biggest TV animation companies, Framestore on Dr Strange, as well as the folks from Autodesk showing the latest tools in Maya 2017. The event is free and we highly recommend that all our students attend the full day.

ASIFA-Hollywood Helps Rescue Thief and The Cobbler Artwork

Some good news at last for Richard Williams' lost masterpiece - The Thief and The Cobbler.  LA animation chapter ASIFA-Hollywood has donated the not-insignificant sum of $20,000 to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences to assist with the curation and documentation of a big chunk of the movie's original production artwork.

Escapees Lewis Young and Alastair Cross To Visit Escape Studios on Wednesday November 16th

Escape Studios is hosting an "Evening With" talk on Wednesday November 16th at our new mid-town campus at 190 High Holborn.

We will be welcoming Escapees Lewis Young, animation director at Polar Media, and Alastair Cross, a visual effects artist who has worked on many vfx hits including The Martian, Pan and the forthcoming must-see movie of the year: Fantastic Beasts - And Where to Find Them.

Come along to this free event and find out about these amazing movies from two of the people who helped put them together.

The event starts at 6.30pm and lasts until 8pm.

John Lewis Christmas Ad 2016 - by MPC

The John Lewis Christmas Ad is back, featuring some stunning CG creature work on Buster the Boxer by our good friends at MPC Advertising, based in London's Soho - just a short walk from our new MidTown Campus on High Holborn.  Ads like this show how far CG animation has come in recent years, pushing the boundaries of realism and making it hard for even seasoned experts to know what is real and what is digital. That's why our animation course focuses strongly not just on character animation but also on animal and creature work - helping our students to find work in the expanding world of animation in a visual effects environment.

A Chuck Jones Animation Tutorial

In this excellent 13 minute animation tutorial, actor and director Ron Howard introduces the work of animation legend Chuck Jones, the creative master behing the Road Runner and Bugs Bunny. There are other great voices here too - such as Disney animation stars Glen Keane and Eric Goldberg (the latter the author of the excellent "Character Animation Crash Course" - one of the books on our student reading list).  The video is a great introduction to the basic principles of animation, such as anticipation, squash and stretch, secondary action and overlapping action. We're recommending it to all our students.

"Bring Your Own Animation" Monday November 21st

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 on Monday 21st November at 6.30pm at the Lukin pub, 4 Conway Street in central London W1T 6BB.

Anyone can bring their animation or just come along for 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.

Escape Studios at Design Your Future in Manchester on 22nd 23 November

Manchester Central Convention Complex

Escape Studios will be at the Design Your Future event organised by UCAS in Manchester on 22nd 23 November.

We'll be showing off some cool animation tools and explaining how we can help students become professional animators and visual effects artists.

Got questions about our BA/MArt in 3D Animation, Games or VFX? Come and meet us at the Pearson College/Escape Studios stand.

"Creating Open Worlds" by Ubisoft at BAFTA on Wednesday 9 November

BAFTA is a superb resource for all our students studying in central London. The BAFTA clubhouse is at 195 Piccadilly - a short walk from our MidTown campus on High Holborn. Increasingly BAFTA is supporting not just film and TV but the games industry as well.

On Wednesday 9 November, BAFTA is hosting a games event titled "Creating Open Worlds", hosted by games titan Ubisoft.

This will be an amazing chance for our games students to meet the creative team behind Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Watch Dogs 2 and Steep. Tickets aren't free, but at £7.50 it's cheaper than a movie, and far more rewarding.

An Evening With Sean Danischevsky - Thursday 3 November

This Thursday, 3rd November Escape Studios is hosting an evening with Sean Danischevsky, a visual effects supervisor with over 20 years' experience working in film and television. Highlights of his career include Dark Knight, Batman Begins and Harry Potter.  Sean has worked for some of the biggest studios in London including Double Negative, The Mill and Framestore.

Events like this are a great way to find out how big VFX movies actually get made, by the people who made them. The event is free, so come along on thursday and find out the secrets behind some of the biggest VFX hits of recent years.

Plus, there will be free beer and pizza!

Escape Studios at VIEW - Secrets of TV Animation

Dan Sarto, Byron Howard, Simone Giampaulo and Conrad Vernon

Escape Studios is in Italy this week participaing in VIEW, the 17th International VFX & Computer Graphics Conference.

VIEW takes place every year in the beautiful Italian town of Torino (Turin), and yesterday I was there running a one-day workshop in Maya, demonstrating some cool creature animation techniques.

Meanwhile, plenty of big hitters in the animation and VFX industries were giving talks and sitting on panels, including my old DreamWorks colleague Conrad Vernon (Sausage Party) and Byron Howard (Zootopia).

Games Showcase at BAFTA - Dishonored 2 - Saturday 22 October at 5.30pm

BAFTA is a great resource for all our students studying in central London. The BAFTA clubhouse is at 195 Piccadilly - a short walk from our Holborn campus.

On Saturday 22 October at 5.30pm BAFTA is hosting the creative team behind the game Dishonored 2 - an amazing chance for our games students to meet the creative team behind this blockbuster game, and get to know the talent that put it together. Tickets aren't free, but at £7.50 it's cheaper than a movie.

Careers Webinar with Framestore Tonight!

Escape Studios is hosting a free Careers Webinar with Framestore Tonight from 6.30pm - 7.30pm. Framestore are a multi-awarding studio, one of London's leading centres for visual effects excellence. They will be joining us tonight for a webinar all about careers in the industry.

Introducing Escape Studios' 72 Hour Film Competition

Here at Escape Studios we are excited to be running our first ever virtual 72-Hour Film Project - #Escape72Hours.

All our students are invited to unleash their creativity and create a VFX-inspired short film, competing to be awarded a series of prizes by our industry-led panel. The competition begins at 12:00 noon on Friday 28th October 2016 and last three days.

Cartoon Movie: Deadline 25 November 2016

Do you have an idea for an animated feature film project you'd like to get off the ground?  If so, you should submit it to Cartoon Movie!

The Deadline to submit a feature film project to Cartoon Movie is 25 November 2016.  If your project gets selected, you will be able to pitch it to almost 1,000 animation and industry professionals from forty countries.

Present at Cartoon Movie will be around 200 buyers, including 120 distributors & sales agents.

But why should animation students want to pitch their feature film ideas? Because we think all our students should aim high - you could be the next Walt Disney or Jeffrey Katzenberg.  Most of all...you'll never find out if you don't try.

"I am Not a Mouse" by Escapee Evgenia Golubeva is at the BFI London Film Festival on Saturday

Escapee Evgenia Golubeva is screening her short animated film "I am Not a Mouse" at the BFI London Film Festival tomorrow.

We're proud to congratulate Evgenia on being selected for the festival, and on her excellent and charming animation.  To attend the BFI London Film Festival and buy tickets, follow this link.

BlueGFX Expo 17 November 2016

Blue GFX Expo is taking place in London on 17th November 2016.

Last year speakers included Tom Box from Blue Zoo, one of the UK's biggest TV animation company, Stuart Penn from Framestore, and the folks from Autodesk showing the latest tools.

Escape Studios VFX Festival 7th - 9th February 2017

Save the date! The countdown to our 2017 VFX festival is now officially on.

The VFX Festival is coming back for 2017, and just like last year we'll be showcasing the best of VFX, Animation, Games and Motion Graphics.

There is no better way to find out about the latest trends in our industry and - of most importance for our recent Escapees - who is hiring and for what.