Quadruped Locomotion by Maria Robertson

Quadruped Locomotion by Maria Robertson

We're adding more animation tutorials to our Vimeo channel, including now a full series of videos on quadruped locomotion.

The trick with tackling quadruped locomotion is break down an apparently complex motion into a manageable, simple workflow.

After all, in animation you get nothing for free. You start off with a digital puppet, and then have to figure out the rest yourself.

Rookie Awards: Deadline 31st May 2019

At Escape Studios we encourage all of our students to enter The Rookies Awards, the international competition for young creatives, which opens on 7th March, and closes on 31st May. 

The Rookies was founded in 2009 to "showcase the most talented student designers, illustrators, film makers, animators, developers, digital artists, and launch them into the career of their dreams." This year the deadline is May 31st 2019, so there is plenty of time to start crafting a great project.

Character Creation Summer School 2 August

Michael Davies - rigged Smaug

Want to learn how to design, model, rig and animate your own characters?

Why not learn the art of character creation from the artist who rigged Smaug (The Hobbit) and The Minions?

Escape Studios Animation tutor Michael Davies is a 3D generalist who has worked on VFX blockbusters such as Batman vs Superman, Doctor Strange and Thor Ragnarok.

Animate a "Take" with Simone Giampaolo

One of the most common problems encountered by student animators is how to block out a shot from scratch, starting with nothing but a blank screen and a character rig.

After all, in animation you get nothing for free. You start off with a digital puppet, usually in a stiff "T-pose", and have to figure out the rest yourself.

Luckily for our students, Aardman animation director and Escape Studios' animation tutor Simone Giampaolo has recorded a series of videos for us, showing how to take a shot from zero to hero. 

Francesco Nevi Creature FX TD at Framestore

Francesco Nevi

Many congratulations to Francesco Nevi, who has been appointed Creature FX TD at Framestore in London, one of the UK's leading VFX houses.

Francesco took our 12 week animation short course and, after polishing his demo reel, successfully won a place on Framestore's LaunchPad Pro Creature FX course (CFX).

Creature FX animators are consistently in short supply and this has been an area of skills shortage in the UK for some time.

2D Animation with Cel Action Starts 21 October

2D animation with Cel Action is coming to Escape Studios on Monday 21st October.

2D animation is making a big comeback these days, with plenty of TV series work being done right here in London.

But the new wave of 2D animation isn't just about drawing skills, it also involves learning new software.

2nd Year PR5001 Studio Project

Next week our 2nd year undergraduates embark on the Studio Project Module, code-named PR5001, where students collaborate to work together to a professional brief.

This module is the culmination of the second year of study at Escape Studios.

The projects are designed to simulate as closely as possible the experience of working on a live client project, and reflect the kind of work that animators are asked to do in industry.

The Studio Project is worth 45 credits and runs for the next 12 weeks, from Monday 18 February until the end of May (with a week off for Easter).

The Studio Project is broken up into two projects, giving students the chance to practice digital film-making twice in a short space of time, and polish their story-telling skills.

Did We Mend The Gap?

Julian Scott, Natalie Busuttil, Greg Wade, Kate O'Connor & Alex Williams

Last week we co-hosted an event with Film London titled "Mend the Gap" - an evening of discussion and debate around the current animation training and employment landscape.

Chaired by Film London’s Animation Consultant, Julian Scott, a panel of industry experts and university representatives came together to examine how academia and the animation industry might help solve the growing animation skills challenge.  So, did we manage to help Mend The Gap last week?

MA in Previz & Story Launches 30 Sept 2019

Iliana Franklin teaches at Escape Studios

On 30th September 2019 we are launching an animation world-first:  a master's degree in Previsualisation & Storyboarding .

Developed in consultation with industry (and still subject to formal validation by the University of Kent) this degree is a unique opportunity to learn industry-level skills and also earn an internationally recognised academic qualification.

2019 Animation Demo Reel

We're proud to showcase our latest Escape Studios animation demo reel - a compilation of some of the best work done by our animation students over the last year. Edited together by 3rd year animation tutor Michael Davies, this latest cut shows the huge strides that animation has made in recent months at Escape Studios, as our animators raise the bar for all our undergraduate, post-graduate and short-course students at Escape Studios.

BYOA Monday 18th February

BYOA - animators getting feedback

BYOA (Bring Your Own Animation) is back - taking place in London on Monday 18th February.

Organised by the London chapter of SIGGRAPH, BYOA is an animation event that takes place every month at a pub in central London, generally on a Monday night.

This month BYOA is taking place the Smugglers Tavern in Fitzrovia, a short walk from Escape Studios.

Pedro Cabeleira Lead Artist at Traveller's Tales

Pedro Cabeleira

Many congratulations to Escapee Pedro Cabeleira who has recently been promoted to Lead Character Artist at the games company Traveller's Tales.

Traveller's Tales is a UK based games company which is owned by Warner Bros and specialises in Lego games.

Pedro took our animation short course at Escape Studios and, after leaving Escape, successfully broke into the games industry.

Home Sweet Home - A Sweet Story

Home Sweet Home from Maria Robertson on Vimeo.

Home Sweet Home is a short film about friendship and family, in which a group of discarded sweets must try to get back to their sweet shop home. Directed by 3rd year undergraduate animator Maria Robertson, co-directed by Harry Pearson and produced by Maddison Gould, this film was a collaboration between three departments: Animation, 3D VFX, and Compositing. Working in a team, our students pulled together to deliver a strong piece of work, showing what can be done when students collaborate successfully on group projects.

What is 3Dami?

Last week at one of our Escape Studios Creative Workshops I was looking at a portfolio from a student who had, as part of a group project, made an entire 3D animated film using the 3D software Blender. 

When I asked her how she had done so much work, she explained that she had made the film along with a group of other students at 3Dami, an organisation that helps 14-18 year olds get experience with digital technology.

I was impressed with the quality of the film, and also with how much the students got done in a short amount of time. The project was exactly the kind of thing that we get our students to do at Escape Studios - hand-on experience making films using the right techniques and technology.

Last Call for Storyboarding on 20th March

Digby Dragon storyboard using PanelForge

Last call for storyboarding - our next evening class in storyboarding starts at our central London campus at 190 High Holborn on wednesday 20th March 2019.

This 8 week evening class is led by Francesca "Chess" Adams,  a story board artist at Blue Zoo, one of London's leading animation houses.

Chess brings her experience of working on shows like Digby Dragon and The Go Jetters, reflecting the huge increase in animated content being created right here in London in recent years, and the growing trend towards digital storyboarding tools such as Panel Forge.

Come and Mend The Gap on Monday 4th Feb

Next week on Monday 4th February 2019 we're hosting Film London's Mend the Gap event: a debate on animation training and employment.

There are over 100 university courses in the UK teaching animation, but few of them prepare students with the practical skills they will need to find work in industry. Instead, many courses focus on academic content, writing essays on animation rather than actually doing it.  As a result, many animation studios recruit entry-level talent from European animation schools, not from the UK. So what can be done to fix the problem?

Meet Karin - Our Newest Animation Tutor

Karin Mattson

Karin Mattsson is the latest animator to join our animation team; Karin will be teaching our 8 week evening class in 3D animation starting on 19th February.

Karin has worked on many Hollywood animation and VFX blockbusters such as Transformers, Harry Potter, and The Chronicles of Narnia. She has also worked on many commercials including the meerkat series for Passion Pictures in Soho.

Karin brings a wealth of experience and talent to the classroom. We asked her to talk about her work, and about what it takes to break into the animation industry.

AN5002 - Computer Animation: Advanced

Leopard by Francesco Nevi

One of the key modules tackled by our 2nd year undergraduate animators is titled "AN5002: Advanced Computer Animation".

In this module, worth 30 credits, students get to grips with animating animals and creatures.

The module lasts six weeks and finishes just before Christmas, with students practicing their skills in animal and creature animation, including quadruped locomotion and performance.

Mid-Year Showcase on Thursday 7th February

Escape Studios are hosting a Mid-Year Showcase of some of the best work created by our undergraduates, short course students and Escapees during 2018. We're inviting industry guests to come along and meet some of the rising talent, the next generation of animation, games and VFX artists. The event is on Thursday 7th February 2019, kicking of at 5.30pm, when we also celebrate the last day of the upcoming VFX Festival 2019: Emerging Talent.

Drawing Club Returns with Simone Giampaolo

Drawing Club is back, with a special guest tutor.

On Tuesday 29th January at 4.30pm Escape Studios welcomes Aardman director Simone Giampaolo, who will be leading Tuesday's class.

Even if you can barely draw a stick figure - come along and get stuck in. Drawing club is for beginners as well as experts, so don't be shy.