Introducing "Held Back"

Introducing Held Back, the latest short animated film from Escape Studios.  Held Back was completed as part of Studio Module PR5001, a collaborative module in which second-year animation students work together on short film projects.   Held Back was directed by Lewis Sims and produced by Hassan Mahdi. 

Escape Studios' Film Society Starts 9 October

Join Film Soc Today

Escape Studios' Film Society is a new student society created to organise film screenings.  Film Society aims to introduce students to a wide array of films to be inspired by and to draw upon on creatively during the course of their studies.  

Screenings take three different forms: in campus screenings, online screenings and out of campus screenings. The first screening is "Flow" on 9th October at 5pm. 

Why The Animation Industry Still Needs Animators

Will AI Replace Animators?

There is a lot of doom and gloom about AI right now in the creative industries, a general assumption that we are living on borrowed time and that AI is coming for our jobs. 

But is it really? Early this year I took a break from teaching at Escape Studios to work as Animation Director on a new feature film.  And right now, I’m reminded every day that while AI tools are making waves, animation is still — at its heart — a craft driven by human creativity.  

Undergraduate Open Day 25 October 2025

Escape Studios is hosting a new undergraduate open day on Saturday 25 October 2025.

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, and also to check out our North Greenwich Campus.

Looking for advice on what to put in your portfolio? Our tutors are available to help. You can also see what our classrooms look like, what kind of software and hardware we're running, and also find out about current job opportunities in the animation and VFX industries. 

Escape Studios Gets TV Paint - and a Student Discount

We’re excited to announce that Escape Studios has added TV Paint to our software toolkit, giving our 2D animation students even more opportunities to develop professional 2D animation skills. 

Our 2D animation programmes have been running Toonboom Harmony as our principal animation platform, but we've decided to go for broke and add TV Paint as well.  So, from the start of this academic year (2025), our animation students will have a choice of 2D animation platforms to work on.  Plus, we've secured a special deal for our students to get themselves a license for home use if they need the extra flexibility.

"Shapla" Wins Best Animation at Makizhmithran Fest

Many congratulations to the makers of "Shapla", which has won "Best Animation" at the Makizhmithran Film Awards.

"Shapla" was created by our graduating class of animation students. "Shapla" was directed by Ruksar Rowza Aziz and produced by Charlie Seeviour.  Erica Sanches was the art director and Tom Price composed the original score.  

This is its third festival award. 

"Socks To Be You" Wins "Best Animation" in Florence

"Socks To Be You" wins "Best Animation" in Florence

Congratulations to the makers of "Socks To Be You", which has won "Best Animation" at the Florence Film Awards.  

Directed by Josh Popusoi , and produced by Erik Bocsor,  "Socks To Be You" was a collaboration between undergraduate animation students and VFX students at Escape Studios, working together to create an original story.   This is its third festival award. 

Welcome To Escape Studios!

Welcome to Escape Studios!

A very warm welcome to our new animation and vfx undergraduate students who recently joined us to study for their BA/Mart in Animation or BA/MArt in VFX. 

Teaching started on Monday 22nd September - you can find the full 2025-26 Term Dates here. 

Classes take place at our North Greenwich Campus at 6 Mitre Passage. In addition to classroom teaching, we have plenty of other resources to help our students to learn the art and craft of animation and vfx. 

Five Best Books To Learn Animation

The Animator's Survival Kit

What are the key books that our new animation students need to learn the craft of animation?

Books may be a bit old school these days, but a good book is still a great place to start learning about and exploring the world of character animation.

The best books will teach you, immerse you - and inspire you to do your very best work.  Books on animation can be found in the 11th Floor Animation & VFX Library. 

Happy 25th Birthday Blue Zoo!

Blue Zoo 25th Anniversary Party

This past week the BAFTA-winning animation studio Blue Zoo celebrated their 25th birthday with a huge party that brought together past and present team members, collaborators, and friends of the studio.

The event celebrated a quarter-century of award-winning creativity, from groundbreaking children’s TV shows to acclaimed commercials.  

Blue Zoo has mentored many Escape Studios' animation students at both undergraduate and graduate level, and many Escapees have begun their animation careers at Blue Zoo.

"Hubris" Wins "Best Animation" at London Fest

Congratulations to the makers of "Hubris" which has won "Best Animation" at the London Movie Awards.  

"Hubris" was completed as part of Studio Module PR5001, a collaborative module in which second-year animation students work together on short film projects.  "Hubris" was written and directed by Sohaib Mehar and produced by Secander Sadat.  The editor was Gleb Migas, and the art director was Leona Lu.  This is its fourth festival award. 

Why Animators Need To Hold Poses Longer

Animation by Sunny Asadi - hold that pose

One of the common mistakes made by junior animators is the “default face.” A character smiles, frowns, gasps — and then, almost instantly, snaps back to a bland neutral expression.  It’s as if the performance forgets itself. 

This also happens in lipsync; where the character will make a vowel or consonant; then snap back into a default mouth shape much too quickly. Much better to hold the vowel or consonant longer, and really get the most out of the pose. 

"Barkino" Wins Best Trailer at HEI Festival

Mob Boss Barkino wins Best Trailer at HEI Festival

Congratulations to the makers of "Mob Boss Barkino", which has won Best Trailer at the Heart of Europe Film Festival. 

Mob Boss Barkino was written and directed by Leon Lau, and produced by Angharad Mathias.  The lead animator was Maisy Rogers, and the Editor was Tobi Ajibola.  Industry feedback was generously provided by Charlie Tetlow and Felipe De Lanteuil from Industrial Light & Magic.  This its third festival award. 

VFX Core Skills Handbook 2025 Launched

The updated Core Skills of VFX Handbook 2025 has been launched at an event at Cinesite in London. 

Collated by Escapee Saint John Walker and funded by UK Screen Alliance and BFI Metro London Skills Cluster, the Handbook serves as both a blueprint for course curricula in higher education and a practical guide for students learning VFX.  You can download it here. 

"Bloom" wins "Best Animated Film" in Milan

"Bloom" wins "Best Animated Film" at the Milan Gold awards

Congratulations to the makers of "Bloom", which has won "Best Animated Film" at the Milan Gold awards. "Bloom" was completed as part of Studio Module PR5001, a collaborative module in which second-year animation students work together on short film projects.

Bloom was written and directed by Vanessa Marques-Navaratnasingam and produced by Grace Lam. This is its second festival award.

New Euro Scholarship for Undergraduate Students

Escape Studios is proud to announce a new European Scholarship for undergraduate students joining us in September 2026.

This initiative offers a partial fee waiver to all eligible students from EU and EEA countries joining us for any undergraduate degree, with no separate application required.

So, if you’re a student from Europe keen on joining one of the top VFX, games, animation or technical courses, this is the perfect time to apply.

Escape Studios welcome overseas students, who bring with them fresh ideas and different ways of working.

Find out more about our new European Scholarship here at the official site.

Helen Piercy on Grand Jury at Norwich Film Festival

We're delighted to congratulate our external examiner Helen Piercy, who has been selected for the Grand Jury at the 2025 Norwich Film Festival which takes place in November.

Helen Piercy is our External Examiner for our BA 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 the grades awarded are correct and appropriate.

We're honoured to have Helen onboard; she is an experienced animator, published author, education director for Animated Women UK and also animation lecturer at the Norwich University of the Arts. 

Animation Recruiter Tiffany Feeney Returns to Escape

Tiffany Feeney of Talent Outpost

We're delighted to welcome back animation recruiter Tiffany Feeney from the Talent Outpost Animation & VFX Recruitment Agency to help deliver PS6003, our final Professional Practice Module for our undergraduate animation students at Escape Studios. 

Escape Studios VFX Showreel 2025

We're proud to present our 2025 VFX demo reel from Escape Studios, featuring the best work created by our students over the past year.  Visual Effects is at the heart of what we do; it's where we began over twenty five years ago when Escape Studios was first founded to bridge the gap between the needs of industry for studio ready talent, which remains our mission today.

"Dusty Memories" Wins Best Super Short in Paris

Dusty Memories" wins "Best Super Short Film" in Paris

Many congratulations to the makers of "Dusty Memories", which has won "Best Super Short Film"  at the Paris Film Awards.  

"Dusty Memories" was completed as part of Studio Module PR5001, a collaborative module in which second-year animation students work together on short film projects.   "Dusty Memories" was written and directed by Grace Lam, and edited and produced by Max Ebdon.  This is its second festival award.