Thursday 28 March 2024

Escapee Ben Gardener Storyboard Artist at Wild Child

Ben Gardener
Escapee Ben Gardener has started work as a storyboard artist at Wild Child Animation.

Ben Gardener took our evening class in storyboarding with Blue Zoo Board Artist and Director Francesca "Chess" Adams - and built up a storyboard portfolio over the duration of the course.

Storyboarding is a growing part of the UK animation industry, as studios develop more in-house content for the expanding creative industries.

Many Escapees have gone on to find work storyboarding on animated films and TV series.

Wednesday 27 March 2024

New Copies of the "ASK" for the Animation Library

Animator's Survival Kit
We have new copies of Animator's Survival Kit - our most popular book on animation - for the Animation & VFX Library on the 11th Floor at 6 Mitre Passage.

The ASK is now the standard textbook for animators and the most comprehensive book available for learning animation.  

We have many copies of the Animator's Survival Kit in the 11th Floor Library at 6 Mitre Passage. The ASK can also be bought as an eBook download for the iPad.  

For all our students learning animation, we recommend this book as the principal animation textbook.  And don't forget to make use of our Tutorial Channel - with many hundreds of video tutorials on animation and VFX.

Tuesday 26 March 2024

CMC Wants Animation Series Pitches

Children's Media Conference 9-10-11 July 2024 
The Children's Media Conference (CMC) in Sheffield wants your animation pitches.  

In the "Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is" pitch sessions, animation creatives pitch to the animation industry, much like on the BBC's "Dragon's Den".   The CMC takes place from 9-10-11 July 2024. The deadline for submissions is 13 June 2024. 

Monday 25 March 2024

Blend From a Walk to a Run with Marc Stevenson


In this tutorial students learn how to blend animation From a walk to a run with undergraduate Programme Leader  Marc Stevenson, veteran animator on multiple animated feature films.  Marc's tutorial explains how to take a walk cycle with "Monty" the Green Pea, and also a run cycle, and blend from one to the other effectively. 

Sunday 24 March 2024

Foundry Educational Showreel 2024



We're delighted to be included in the latest Educational Showreel from Foundry, makers of compositing software Nuke, showcasing the best work done by students using their software. Foundry are among our leading industry partners, supporting our students' work, including live industry projects such as "Dead Shot" - a Sky original feature film directed by The Guard Bros. - to which our students contributed around a dozen shots last year. 

Saturday 23 March 2024

Animate a Telephone Ringing in Maya

Animate a telephone ringing in Maya
In this very short (just ten minutes long) beginner animation tutorial we show how to do some very simple animation - animate a Telephone Ringing.  This tutorial is aimed at animation beginners in Autodesk Maya.

Simple exercises are a great way to gain confidence in animation, starting with the basics to gradually build up your confidence and skills.

Friday 22 March 2024

George Caton-Coult Introduces "Pop Paper City"

George Caton-CoultKevin Richards and students
This week we welcomed Love Love Films Studio Manager George Caton-Coult to visit us on Thursday 21 March. The event was hosted by Escape Studios animation tutor Kevin Richards. 

George Caton-Coult is the Studio Manager at Love Love Films, responsible for the TV hit "Pop Paper City"  developed in partnership with Aardman Animation.  Many Escapees worked on "Pop Paper City".  In this in-person visit, George explained how the series came about, and how Escapees might find work at the studio.

Thursday 21 March 2024

"Sea of Madness" Wins Milan Gold Award

Sea Of Madness wins Best Animated Short in Milan
Congratulations to the makers of Sea Of Madness, which has won "Best Animated Film" at the Milan Gold awards.

Sea Of Madness was directed by Maria Freitas  and produced by Ivy Wang.  Jake Hines was the editor and 2D Lead, and Sebastian McKernan was the 3D Lead.  Ian Chavez Zarate stars as The Pirate.  

This is the film's second festival award.

Time to Enter the 2024 Rookies

The Rookies Awards 2024
It's time for our students to enter The Rookies Awards 2024, the international competition for young creatives. The competition is now open and the deadline is 1st June 2024.

However, it's always a good idea to enter early - make a great first impression and get more eyes on your work. 

Wednesday 20 March 2024

Lock To World Tool Stops Feet From Sliding

We're recommending this new animation script "Lock to World", available for download at Gumroad

The Lock to World tool does the same job as the Anchor Transform Tool - which no longer works in newer versions of Maya (since the upgrade to Python 3). 

Sliding feet can be a problem when animating a character walk or a walk cycle.  Fortunately for Maya animators, the Lock to World tool created by Framestore Animator Jesse Ong Pho offers a simple solution. 

Rather than manually tweaking your animation to stop the feet sliding, this script lets you anchor a transform for any given time range in your animation.

Tuesday 19 March 2024

Lipsync Tutorial with Marc Stevenson

Undergraduate Programme Leader Marc Stevenson has created a series of Lipsync Tutorials for our students working on character animation. 

The tutorial uses the free "Twigs the Cowboy" rig which you can download here.  You can also find a copy of Twigs in UG Shares.  This tutorial is aimed at our animation students learning the art of dialogue and lipsync. 

Monday 18 March 2024

Kinetic Type Tutorial with Forge Dynamics in Cavalry


We're delighted to offer a new free tutorial in Motion Graphics from our Motion Graphics tutor Adam Bennett. Adam's latest tutorial is on how to create Kinetic Type with Forge Dynamics using Cavalry, a free animation software package available for both Mac and Windows.  You can download it here.

"Roupell St" Wins Hon Mention in Athens Fest

Congratulations to the makers of the short VFX film "Curiosities of The Ruthless Roupell St", which has won an Honourable Mention for Best VFX at the Athens Film Festival. 

Directed by Oliver Chenery and produced by Victoria Arraez"Curiosities of The Ruthless Roupell St"  was created by our undergraduate VFX students at Escape Studios. 

Milo Marshall was the 2D Lead, and cinematography was by Clement Gharini.

The film has won many festival awards. 

Sunday 17 March 2024

Why Animators Need a Clear Silhouette

Animator need to create great poses.  Part of a great pose is a great silhouette, one that "reads" clearly. 

The image on the left is taken from Eric Goldberg's book "Character Animation Crash Course", (we have a copy in the library), one of the best books on character animation.

Eric shows how a single pose can get an instant "read" from the audience. Even though the images are shown blacked out in silhouette, we still know exactly what the character is thinking and doing.

Always make sure your poses, whether drawn or digital, communicate exactly what the character is thinking, feeling and doing. 

Saturday 16 March 2024

Escapee Daria Zadecka Animator at ILM

Daria Zadecka
Congratulations to Escapee Daria Zadecka who has joined Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) as an animator.

Daria Zadecka took our Master's Degree in Computer Animation at Escape Studios, taught by veteran animator Lee Caller.  During the course Daria put together a strong demo reel to apply for positions in the animation industry. 

ILM is one of the world's leading animation and VFX houses, responsible for ground-breaking work such as Star Wars and Jurassic Park. 

Friday 15 March 2024

"Theseus" Wins "Best Super Short" in London

Congratulations to the makers of Theseus and The Minotaur, which has won "Best Super Short Film" at the London Movie Awards, held at the Close-Up Theatre in London's Shoreditch. 

Theseus and The Minotaur was directed by Mitchell Wright and produced by Ayesha-Ria Jina.  This is the film's first festival award. 

Animate a UFO on a Motion Path

In this brief tutorial we show how to animate a UFO on a motion path - an important technique for animating anything moving through space - UFOs, aircraft, birds, and even fish.  

Motion Path animation is a simple animation technique, and can be learned in a few minutes.  The tutorial starts by searching for a free set and a UFO at Turbosquid - free assets anyone can download.  For Maya beginners. 

Thursday 14 March 2024

Giada Carnevaletti Animator at Brown Bag Films

Giada Carnevaletti
Congratulations to Escapee Giada Carnevaletti who has started work as an animator at Brown Bag Films in Dublin.

Brown Bag Films is a leading animation studio, responsible for award-winning children's TV content. 

While at Escape Studios, Giada worked on two award-winning films: CandleWick and Moon Rockz, both of which have enjoyed considerable festival success.  Giada also worked at Escape Studios as a Studio Assistant.

Wednesday 13 March 2024

"Outpatient" Wins "Best Short" at Int'l Gold Awards

"Outpatient" wins "Best Short" at the Int'l Gold Awards
Congratulations to the makers of the VFX short film "Outpatient", which has won "Best Short Film" at the International Gold Awards. 

"Outpatientwas directed by Charlie Wilson, co-directed by Idris Driver, produced by Harry Symonds, and co-produced by Emmanuel Rahman.  "Outpatient" tells the story of a hospital patient on the edge of survival. Abdoulah M Jones stars as The Patient.  This is the film's first festival award. 

Tuesday 12 March 2024

"Ghosting" Wins Best Anim at Makihzmithran Fest

Congratulations to the makers of Ghosting, the animated short created by our third year animation students at Escape Studios, which has won the award for Best Animation at the Makhizmithran Film Festival.

Directed by Caroline Geddis and produced by Marc Montebon, Ghosting tells the story of a boy who enters a mysterious mansion on a dark night.  

This is its first festival award.