Austin Hill Studio Assistant at Escape Studios

Austin Hill

Congratulations to Escapee Austin Hill who has just joined us as a Studio Assistant at Escape Studios. 

Studio assistants help our students to progress their work, help to solve technical problems and also offer practical advice on animation techniques.

Studio assistants form an essential part of the feedback process at Escape Studios, part of what we call The Escape Method.

While at Escape Studios, Austin wrote, storyboarded and directed the award-winning short "Street Ratz", and also contributed boards and sound design to "Alma" and "Moon Rockz".

Rookies: Escape No 1 in UK for Games Design

Escape Studios Ranked No 1 in the UK

The Rookies, the international competition for aspiring digital artists, has ranked Escape Studios in the Top 10 globally for Games Design & Development - and the top-ranked school in the UK. 

The MArt in the Art of Video Games at Escape Studios has gone from strength to strength in recent years, with Escapees being recruited by top games companies both in the UK and overseas.

Team work is something we take very seriously at Escape Studios, one of the five pillars of "The Escape Method".

Animation is collaborative, and well-organised teamwork helps to prepare our students for the realities of life in the industry.

"Potguins" Best Micro Anim at Discover Awards

Potguins wins Best Micro Anim at Discover Fest

Congratulations to the makers of March of the Potguins, directed by Michael Vodden and produced by Daniel Brooks, which has won Best Micro Animation at the Discover Film Awards in London. 

March of the Potguins is about two penguin salt & pepper pots who embark on an epic journey across the kitchen counter top. 

Animal Lover Wins Best Micro Anim in Berlin

Best Micro Animation in Berlin

Many congratulations to the makers of the short film "Animal Lover", which has won "Best Micro Animation" at the Berlin Flash Film Festival. 

"Animal Lover" is a one-minute animated short written and directed by Anastasia Gurova, produced by Priya Shah, and edited by Daniel Brand-Sinyinza.  

This is the latest award for "Animal Lover", which also won "Best Animation" at the Flicks Film Festival in London.

Putting Animals on a Path with Marc Stevenson

We've uploaded a new path animation locomotion tutorial to our Vimeo channel.  The tutorial shows how to put animals and creatures on a path, and was recorded by veteran animator and Escape Studios' tutor Marc Stevenson.  Path animation is a great way to add believability and appeal to your creature animations.  Animals, unless trained, tend not to walk in straight lines. So, by learning to animate using paths, your creature locomotion will feel more fluid, natural and organic. You can find the tutorial here.

BAA 2022 Ident Challenge

BAA - British Animation Awards

The BAA Awards are back in 2022, celebrating the best of British Animation. 

This year the BAAs have give our students a unique challenge - the chance to animate a "sting/ident" for the Awards Ceremony at the BFI on 10 March 2022.

Students should create a sting/ident animation 4-25 seconds long. The final deadline is Wednesday 9 February 2022 at midnight.

Offcut Hon Mention Best VFX at London Fest

Offcut Hon. Mention for Best VFX at LIMFF

Many congratulations to the makers of "Offcut", which has won an Honourable Mention in the category of Best VFX at the LIMFF.

Offcut is a short film directed by Petroc Menuhin, produced by Tosin Ogunleye and Ethen Dent, which follows the adventures of a discarded scrap of wood who comes to life and finds meaning in music.   "Offcut" has won many festival awards.  

How to Plan Animal & Creature Animation

Bear animation by Amanda Costa with live-action reference

Our undergraduate animators are working on their second animation module, AN5002, which involves the creation of a piece of animal or creature animation.

Animal and creature animation involves creating believable animation - usually based on live-action reference.

How should students plan animal and creature animation?  Start by watching the 10 minute video below.

Box Bots Hon Mention Best VFX in Tokyo Fest

BoxBots wins Hon Mention for Best VFX in Tokyo

Many congratulations to the makers of "BoxBots", which has won an Honourable Mention in the category of Best VFX in Tokyo. 

Directed by Jordan Coles and Ross Green, and produced by Priya Shah, "BoxBots" is about a contest between two toys who compete for the "World Plasticweight Championship".

Escape Open Day on Sat Oct 16 and 6 Nov 2021

Escape Studios is hosting an undergraduate open day on Saturday 16 October 2021, and again on Saturday 6 November 2021.

Escape Studios' Open Days are a chance to find out about our undergraduate degrees in Animation, The Art of Games and Visual Effects.  An Open Day is an opportunity for potential students to find out how they can follow in the footsteps of our award-winning alumni.

Adam & Eve Mk II Best Sci-Fi at Discover Film

Adam & Eve Mk II "Best SciFi" at Discover Film Fest

Many congratulations to Sebastian Kuder, director of "Adam & Eve Mk II", which has won Best Sci-Fi at the Discover Film Awards.

Adam & Eve Mk II, is a sci-fi re-telling of the Genesis story, directed by Escapee Sebastian Kuder, now working as a cinematographer at The Third Floor.  The short has won multiple festival awards.  

  

Work Fitness Week 10-15 October

Work Fitness Week 10-15 October 2021

Work Fitness Week is returning to Escape Studios from 10-15 October. Join Escape Studios' Work Fitness Centre for a series of events aimed at helping all our Escapees into paid employment in their chosen field.  

Meet the team from Creative Assembly, Axis director Simone Giampaolo, and many other industry leaders.  Note that WFW is exclusively for our currently enrolled students. 

AN5001 Starts 1st November 2021

"Nefertiti"

Module AN5001 Computer Animation Pro starts on Monday 1st November 2021.

This year, AN5001 is the second animation module that our undergraduate students encounter in their second year of studies, in which our students study the art and craft of character animation. 

In AN5001 our animation students tackle character actions, pantomime, acting, performance and dialogue, and enter the monthly 11 Second Club competition. 

Minuet Wins Hon Mention Best Original Score

Minuet wins Hon Mention for Best Score in Tokyo

Congratulations to the makers of Minuet, which has won an Honourable Mention for Best Original Score at the Tokyo Film Festival.

Minuet is a short film about a young girl preparing for a concert recital, directed by Aaron Hopwood and Harry Pearson, and produced by Maddison Gould.  The original score was composed by Alexandra Harwood.

Minuet has won many awards. 

Animate a Horse Rearing Using Live Action

Horse Rearing Tutorial with Live Action Reference

We've uploaded a new animation tutorial to our expanding Vimeo tutorial channel - how to animate a horse rearing up - using live action reference.

The purpose of the tutorial is to learn how to import live action reference footage into Maya and use it to create believable animal animation.

You can find the tutorial, which is free for all our students, at our Vimeo Channel.

Jerich0 wins Best Super Short at UK Fest

Jerich0 wins Best Super Short at UK Film Fest

Many congratulations to the makers of Jerich0, which has won Best Super Short at the UK Monthly Film Festival. 

This award is the latest festival honour for Jerich0; directed by Sarah Andrews, produced by Matt Wight; original music by Alexandra Harwood. 

Simone Giampaolo Presents "Only a Child"

On Tuesday 12 October at 12.30pm we are hosting a webinar with animator, director and Escape Studios' tutor Simone Giampaolo about his new short film "Only a Child", which he describes as a "visual poem" created by over 20 animation directors.

"Only a Child" is a short film based on the original words spoken by the then 12 year-old Severn Cullis-Suzuki at the UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, in which she made a poetic plea from a child's perspective for better environmental protection. 

Simone spent twelve months working with twenty studios to create the award winning film.  In this webinar, Simone will talk about how he made the film, and how he led an international team working remotely to celebrate the environmental youth movement.  

This event is open to our currently enrolled students only; there will be a Q&A to follow.

"Slushy" Wins Best VFX at Argenteuil Fest

Congratulations to the creators of "Slushy", which has won Best VFX at the Argenteuil Film Festival. 

Directed by Callum Wylie and produced by Jess Hiles, "Slushy" is a short animated film about two frozen soft drinks who get separated and have to find a way back to their fridge-freezer home.

Slushy has won multiple festival awards.

Candle Wick Best Micro Film at Golden Nugget

Many congratulations to the directors of "Candle Wick", a short animated film created by our second-year animation students at Escape Studios, which has won "Best Micro Film" at the Golden Nugget Film Festival. 

"Candle Wick" is a short story about a candle living inside the walls of an old house, who must venture outside to save his home.

"Candle Wick" was directed by Oliver Gallagher, co-directed by Shauna Ludgate, and produced by Emmanouil "Manos" Zervoudakis.  Art direction was by Tsvetelina Kumanova. 

Mafia Mix-Up Best Micro Short at Vesuvius

Mafia Mix-Up wins Best Micro Short at Vesuvius

Congratulations to the makers of "Mafia Mix-Up", the latest short film created by animation students at Escape Studios, which has won Best Micro Short at the Vesuvius Film Festival.

Mafia Mix-Up was written and directed by Jake Lee, and produced by Emmanouil "Manos" Zervoudakis. 

This is the first festival award for Mafia Mix-Up.