Rigging Tutorials at our Vimeo Channel

To support our students who want to get to grips with the art of rigging, Escape Studios tutor Michael Davies has recorded a series of videos on facial rigging for our Vimeo channel.

The Facial Rigging tutorial builds on the existing character rigging tutorials, and is designed to help students develop their skills in character rigging.

You can find the facial rigging tutorial here, along with hundreds of other video tutorials, available to our students and Escapees.

What is "The Escape Method"?

Framestore's Oz Gani reviews student work

What is the Escape Method? The Escape Method is the way we teach animation at Escape Studios. It has five main pillars: Intensive classroom teaching, online tutorials, constructive feedback, industry engagement, and group projects.

All our students at Escape Studios study intensively, with daily personal tuition from industry-trained tutors, combined with online tutorials, regular, intensive feedback, and engagement from industry.

Our BA and MA courses also have a strong focus on group work, known as "Studio Projects" in which students work together in teams, learning the "soft skills" of working in groups, mirroring the actual processes of a live studio project.

UCAS Deadline January 15 2020

UCAS - time to apply

It's that time of year again; time to start thinking about your UCAS application. If you're thinking of applying to Escape Studios to study the Art of 3D Animation, Games or Visual effects, it's time to think about UCAS. 

The relevant UCAS deadline is January 15th 2020.   We are welcoming applications for the fourth intake of our new integrated BA/MArt in Animation, Games and VFX - launched in September 2016.

One of the most common questions I get asked by prospective students is: "should I wait to apply until I have finished my portfolio?" The answer is no.  Get your UCAS application in early, and worry about your portfolio later. You'll have plenty of time before attending one of our Creative Workshops to pull your portfolio together.

12 Week Animation Course Starts 17 Feb 2020

Escapee Chan Sagoo worked on Lion King (2019)

Our next animation short course - three months of intensive training in 3D animation - starts on 17th February 2020.

Our 12 week course is aimed at anyone who wants to learn the art and craft of 3D Animation in Maya, and aims to take students to a professional level of skill, making them studio-ready talent.

Taught by veteran animation tutor Lee Caller, our animation is designed to help our students find employment in the rapidly expanding animation and VFX industry.

Carse & Waterman Animation Visits Escape

Gary Carse and Daniel Waterman

Daniel Waterman from Staffordshire-based animation company Carse and Waterman Productions visited Escape Studios this week to give a talk to our MA Animation students.

Daniel explained to our students, who are studying the business of animation, about the functioning of development funds, capital funds, and tax credits, with practical examples on how to access them.

Daniel also discussed his own first iteration at business and how it evolved over time, his approach to managing growth, and how to find a niche in the animation industry.

Adam & Eve Mk II Best Short Film at Arch1

Adam & Eve Mk II by Sebastian Kuder

Many congratulations to Sebastian Kuder, director of Adam & Eve Mk II, which has won the award for Best Short Film Under 5 Minutes at the Arch 1 Festival of Film in London this week.

The award represents the latest in a long line of wins for student films at Escape Studios.

Adam & Eve: Mk II is a sci-fi re-telling of the Genesis story, written and directed by Sebastian Kuder, who has directed and animated a number of short films at Escape Studios over the last three years, including Planet Mars and The Good Old Days.

ToonBoom Harmony Returns on 18 March 2020

Plamen Ananiev with Harmony animators at Escape Studios

Our popular 2D Animation evening class in Toonboom Harmony is returning on Wednesday 18 March 2020.

The class runs for 10 weeks, one evening a week (Tuesdays), and is an introduction to animating in Toonboom Harmony, one of the leading software packages for the creation of 2D animation.

The evening class is taught by Harmony animator Plamen Ananiev, who is an animator at London animation powerhouse Blue Zoo. Harmony animators are much in demand, as 2D animation experiences a significant revival, both in the UK and overseas.

Ash Ellis Technical Animator at MPC

Ash Ellis

Many congratulations to Ash Ellis, who has recently landed a job as a Technical Animator at MPC.

Ash studied animation and VFX at Escape Studios, and then became a Studio Assistant, helping to teach new students at Escape Studios.

Ash was a also a regular tutor in the animation classroom, teaching animation "taster days" for prospective students, and also teaching "lighting for animators" for our 2nd year animation undergraduates.

We're delighted to congratulate Ash on his new job at one of the UK's leading animation houses.

Simone Giampaolo: How Cartoons are Born

Simone Giampaolo at VIEW conference

Escape Studios animation tutor Simone Giampaolo was at the View Conference in Turin this past week, talking to a packed audience about How Cartoons are Born.

Simone explained the basics of animation, including the Twelve Principles, such as the importance of strong poses and silhouettes. He also explained some of the basics of design; such as the use of circles, triangles and squares to express basic contrasts between animated characters.

Funny Fail Stories on Tuesday 29 October

Funny Fail Stories is coming; book your seats on Tuesday 29 October for tales of failure from the world of animation and VFX.

Hosted by Escape Studios' tutor Simone Giampaolo, and sponsored by Escape Studios, this event takes place at Zigfried Von Underbelly at 11 Hoxton Square, London N1, just a 5 minute walk from Old St Tube station.

Speakers bringing tales of disaster and near-disaster in the animation and VFX industry include Alina Bopele from Studio AKA,  Sabina Janetzka from Cinesite, and Stefano Marrone from Nucco Brain.

The event is also supported by the London chapter of SIGGRAPH.

Tickets are free and you can book them here.

Escape Students Learn to Make Sean the Sheep

Recently Aardman animation came to London, bringing model making workshops as part of the launch of their latest feature film Sean the Sheep - Farmageddon.

The workshops took place at the Hackney Picturehouse and The Ritzy in Brixton, and many of our animation students were able to take part.

The afternoon workshops were led by Senior Model Makers from Aardman: Claire Cohen and Ellie Hugill.

Claire and Ellie gave our students a fascinating insight into stop-motion animation, helping the students to build their very own Sean the Sheep.

The skills that make a great stop-motion animator are very similar to the skills that make a great 3D animator. Whether you are working with clay or pixels, an animator still has to give an entertaining performance.

MA 3D Animation Starts 17th Feb 2020

"Flame": MA film project

Our new MA (Master of Arts) in 3D Animation is back, with a new class starting on 17th February 2020.

The MA in animation will be taught at our mid-town campus at 190 High Holborn in central London, and we look forward to welcoming our new cohort of students.

If you're looking for an animation course that teaches you how to animate to a professional level, and also leads to a formal qualification in the field, then this could be the right course for you.

Why Animation Graduates Need Linkedin

Tiffany Feeny, Ted Ty, Alex Williams, Jan-Bart Van Beek

How do animation graduates break into the industry? At this week's VIEW conference in Turin I was invited onto a recruitment panel hosted by New York's School of Visual Arts, hosted by SVA's Director of Career Development Angie Wojak.

Also on the panel was the recruiter Tiffany Feeney of Talent Outpost, an independent recruitment agency based in Switzerland.

Tiffany's big message to recent graduates looking for work?  "Be on Linkedin".

Secrets of the Spider-Verse by Peter Ramsey

Peter Ramsay at VIEW: Into the Spider-Verse

One of the highlights of today's VIEW conference in Turin, Italy, was a talk by Peter Ramsey, co-director of Spiderman – Into The Spider-Verse.

Ramsay's talk was sub-titled “What Story are You Telling?”, and he showed the audience how the answer to that question informed every frame and every pixel of the Oscar and BAFTA winning movie.

Spiderman – Into The Spider-Verse re-invented the Spiderman franchise, and achieved a unique comic book-style look for the world of Spiderman.  How did they do it?

Minuet, Planet Mars, Adam & Eve Mk II and Jericho in ScreenTest on Nov 15-16th

Congratulations to the makers of Minuet, Planet Mars, Adam & Eve Mk II and Jericho.

All four student films were completed at Escape Studios and have made the official selection for ScreenTest, the London Student Film Festival, which tales place in Greenwich, on Friday November 15th and Saturday November 16th. Tickets are just £5, and you can book them here.

Meet Richard Cunningham, External Examiner

Richard Cunningham, external examiner

Meet Richard Cunningham, our new External Examiner for our Master's Degree in 3D animation at Escape Studios.

External examiners play an important part of quality control in UK higher education, ensuring that our courses meet the highest standards, and that the grades awarded are correct and appropriate.

We're honoured to have Richard onboard; he is an experienced animator and a lecturer in Computer Animation and Digital Media at Kingston University.

Richard is also a graduate of Bard College, New York, Kingston University, and Blue Zoo's Anim Dojo animation programme.

2D Compositing Tutorials at Our Vimeo Channel

Our Vimeo channel offers our students online learning to supplement our classroom tuition.  We now have a series of videos on Nuke,  the VFX industry's leading compositing software.

Our online tutorials are intended to complement our classroom studies, allowing students at Escape Studios to recap, or catch up on work they missed, while following a tutorial in their own time.  

Escape Studios in "Zero Budget Film Festival"

Many congratulations to the makers of Jericho, Vivi Ossa and Minuet, who are all award winners in this year's Zero Budget Film Festival, which takes place annually in Sheffield. This year the festival is on Saturday November 16th at 7pm.

All three prize-winning films were completed by our graduating class of animators and 3D artists, who will be receiving their well-earned degrees at the graduation ceremony on November 7th.

We're delighted to have three winners in a single contest, and we hope that at least some of our students will be able to make it to Sheffield to attend the event on the big night. 

Alan Lewis External Examiner Story & Previs

Alan Lewis

Meet Alan Lewis, our new External Examiner for our pioneering Master's Degree in Storyboarding & Previsualisation at Escape Studios, which is running for the first time at our campus at 190 High Holborn.

External examiners play an important part of quality control in UK higher education, ensuring that our courses meet the highest standards, and the grades awarded are correct and appropriate.

We're honoured to have Alan onboard; he is Head of the Division of Creative Technologies for the School of Arts and Creative Industries at South Bank University. In this role, he is responsible for the overall operation and development of the VFX, Games, Digital Design, Sound, and Journalism BA/BSc degrees. He is also the Course Director for the VFX programme at South Bank.

Graduation Ceremony on 7th November

For all our students who passed their exams and were awarded a degree this past summer, the graduation ceremony will be on the 7th November at Milton Court Concert Hall in London. 

We look forward to welcoming all our students for the graduation ceremony and afterwards for a celebratory reception.

This is a particularly exciting day for our students at Escape Studios, as this will be the first cohort of undergraduate Escapees to receive their BA in the Art of Computer Animation, a major milestone for us all.