"Papercut" Wins Five Stars Award at 2023 BIAFF

Many congratulations to makers of the VFX short film "Papercut", which has won a "Five Stars Award" at the British International Film Festival.
  

Directed by Giorgos Konstantinou and produced by Victoria Arraez, Papercut was a collaboration between 3rd year undergraduate animation and vfx students, working together to create an original short.   

This is the latest of many festival awards for Papercut.

Short Course and PG Open Day Sat 22 April 2023

Join us on Saturday 22nd April 2023 for a Short Course and Post-Graduate Open Day at Escape Studios, hosted at our central London campus at 190 High Holborn WC1. 

The event takes place on Saturday 22 April, where you can visit our studios, try out our software and find out what it's like to study with us. 

"Lucky Break" Wins "Best VFX" at Art Film Awards

"Lucky Break" wins Best VFX at the Art Film Awards

Many congratulations to the makers of "Lucky Break", which has won its first festival award - Best VFX at the Art Film Awards.

Lucky Break was directed by Victoria Stoykova, edited by Rohnak Sharma, and produced by Adewale Ogunbekun.

Lucky Break was a collaboration between undergraduate animation and vfx students, working together to create an original story.  

Andrew Schlussel Talks AI and Animation

In his new Ted Talk DNEG Animation's Andrew Schlussel explains why, even though AI can now automate many jobs - such as concept art - we should not fear it.  Andrew explains how changes in animation and vfx technology over the years have increased the size of the industry - not shrunk it.  He suggests that AI will be no different, and that the "net sum" of jobs in the Creative Industries will continue to increase, even though certain processes can now be done by machine learning.  What should we do with AI instead? - embrace it, and use it. 

"iCare" Wins "Best Animated Short" at Golden Nugget

iCare" wins "Best Animated Short" at Golden Nugget Fest

Congratulations to the makers of the short VFX film "iCare", which has won the award for "Best Animated Short" at the Golden Nugget Film Festival.

Directed by Bruno Urzi and produced by Alex Sellen,  iCare was a collaboration between undergraduate animation and vfx students, working together to create an original story.

This is the latest of many festival awards for iCare.

"Ambush" Wins "Best VFX" at Reels Film Fest

"Ambush" wins "Best VFX" at Reels Film Fest

Congratulations to the makers of "Ambush", which has won an award for "Best VFX" at the Reels Film Festival.

Ambush was directed by Thomas Grantley and produced by Viktor Fiuk. The 3D Lead was Efthymios Bairaktaris and the 2D Lead was Andrea Tomas.  

Ambush was completed as part of the VFX Project, the final film-making module in the third year of studies at Escape Studios, in which students work together to create a short film, mirroring as closely as possible the workings of a studio environment. This is Ambush's latest festival award.

Undergraduate Open Day Sat 22 April 2023

Undergraduate open day on Saturday 22 April 2023

Escape Studios is hosting a new undergraduate open day on Saturday 22 April 2023.

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.

What Do DNEG Animation Look For in a Demo Reel? - More Acting and Dialogue Shots

DNEG Animation Team

On 21st March we hosted an event with DNEG Animation, in which around 60 of our animation students got personal feedback on their animation reels, from Andrew Schlussel - Senior Director, Training and Development DNEG Animation, Dara McGarry - Director of Outreach at DNEG Animation and Bridget Dash - Senior Talent Acquisition for DNEG Feature Animation. 

At Escape Studios we host regular industry feedback sessions, where students can get feedback from industry guests.  Industry feedback is important because it helps to keep us grounded in the real world of the animation industry, reminding us of what animators will be expected to do when they face actual clients.

The big note from DNEG Animation? More acting and dialogue shots, please. 

Animation Taster on 24th April 2023

We're running a new Animation Taster at Escape Studios on Tuesday 24 April 2023, taught by short course animation tutor Lee Caller.

Taster Classes are a great chance to learn about character and creature animation, and find out what an animator's job is all about.

You will learn how to use Autodesk Maya and get a hands-on introduction to 3D Animation techniques. No prior knowledge of Maya - or any software - is required.

The all-day animation taster lasts from 10am until 4pm.

Escape Studios 2023 Careers Guide

2023 Careers Guide

The free Escape Studios 2023 Careers Guide is back - with a fresh take on the current state of the animation, games and VFX industries. 

Our annual Careers Guide, updated every year, is an invaluable handbook for aspiring digital artists in the animation, games and VFX industries. 

What are the key roles in the industry? Who is hiring, and for what positions? 

Character & Creature Creation Taster 24 April 2023

Character & Creature Creation is back: we're hosting a Taster Day in Character & Creature Creation on 24th April 2023 at 10am

The free taster takes placefrom 10am until 4pm and is run by Escape Studios tutor and animation veteran Michael Davies.

Michael will introduce students to to facial anatomy - and how this can used to help create a character from a 2D concept.  

Character & Creature Creation is one of our most technically advanced courses; it involves the creation of characters and creatures from start to finish - from rough concept art all the way through to the final animation, lighting and rendering of characters and creatures. 

Meet The Houdini Tutors at Escape Studios

Houdini Team: Simon, Dan & Mark

Meet the Houdini Team at Escape Studios - Head of Industry Training Mark Spevick and veteran VFX artist Simon Browne teach Houdini to our VFX students at Escape Studios. 

SideFX Houdini is an increasingly useful digital tool that allows users to create FX work such as smoke, fire and water with much less difficulty than with traditional software packages.

Baseball Pitch Tutorial with Marc Stevenson

Learn to animate a baseball throw with Marc Stevenson in the free video tutorial above.  This new tutorial is part of our series of animation tutorials hosted at our Vimeo Tutorial Channel; our central hub for our animation and VFX video tutorials, making it easy for our students to find tutorials to support their classroom studies. In this tutorial, Marc shows how to animate a baseball pitch using live action reference, and also how to attach and un-attach the ball from the pitcher's glove.

"Street Ratz" Wins "Best Trailer" at RFA

Street Ratz

Many congratulations to the makers of "Street Ratz", which has won "Best Trailer" at the Robinson Film Awards.

This is the latest award for "Street Ratz", which tells the story of Tal, a young girl locked in a dystopian universe who must avoid the clutches of a gangland mafia boss to escape the city underworld. 

Street Ratz is a teaser/trailer written and directed by Austin Hill,  and produced by Jack Wright.  The lead animator was Piotr Noworyta.  Street Ratz has won many festival awards.

Who Teaches 2D Animation at Escape Studios?

2D Animation Team at Escape Studios

Who Teaches 2D Animation at Escape Studios? Meet our talented 2D Animation team, the folks who are delivering our new 2D Animation Pathway at Escape Studios.  

We have many animation tutors with experience in 2D animation; a growing number are now also teaching with the latest 2D animation software - Toonboom Harmony.

In recent years 2D Animation has experienced a significant revival both in the UK and overseas, as Studios such as Blue Zoo, Aardman Animation, and Brown Bag Films adopt new software such as ToonBoom Harmony.

"Tatty" Wins "Best VFX" at the EEFF

"Tatty" wins "Best VFX at the EEFF

Congratulations to the makers of the VFX short film "Tatty", which has won an award for "Best VFX" at the Eastern Europe Film Festival.  

Directed by Amelia Watson and produced by Wiktoria Swierk, "Tatty" was a collaboration between undergraduate animation and vfx students at Escape Studios, working together to create an original story.

This is the third festival award for Tatty.

Animation Taster on Monday 20 March 2023

Animation by Lee Caller

Our animation taster is back! We're running an in-person Animation Taster at Escape Studios on Monday 20th March 2023, taught by short course animation tutor Lee Caller.

Taster Classes are a great chance to learn about character and creature animation, and find out what an animator's job is all about.

Meet the 2nd Year Tutors at Escape Studios

Who teaches the second year undergraduate animation and vfx students at Escape Studios? The second year of studies is where our students begin to specialise in their chosen field - whether animation, visual effects or games.  

For animators, there are four modules in the second year: AN5001 (character animation), AN5002 (creature animation), CR5001 (specialism) and PR5001 (Studio Project).

For VFX artists, the modules are similar, with VFX students choosing between 3D VFX and 2D VFX (compositing)

Below are the tutors who help our students embark on their professional animation and VFX journey.

Animation Demo Reel Feedback with DNEG 21 March

Calling all current animation students and recent Escapees - we are hosting a new Demo Reel Review with DNEG Animation on 21st March 2023.

This event takes place at 5pm in person in Rooms 1.11 and 1.12 at our Central London campus at 190 High Holborn WC1 and is free for all our students.  

"Game Knight" Wins "Special Award" at EEFF

"Game Knight", Special Award for Best VFX 

Congratulations to the makers of "Game Knight", which has won a Special Award for "Best VFX" at the Eastern Europe Film Awards.  

Directed by Wyndham Brunt and produced by Christopher Marsden-Carleton,  

Game Knight was a collaboration between undergraduate animation and vfx students.  This is its third festival award.