We recently had a chance to catch up with Ognyan Zahariev an aspiring games artist and Escape Studios graduate. Ognyan is heading to Codemasters to start his career next month and has taken some time to share his thoughts on life after Escape Studios and joining the workforce in the games industry.
Robert Holmes takes time out to talk about his career to date
It’s always great to find out how escapees get on after their training and enter the world of work. Last week, we met up with ex-student Robert Holmes out at SIGGRAPH. Since his time at Escape, Rob’s gone on to work on some amazing projects at The Mill. He took time to tell us how he got his break and what’s needed to be successful in this industry.
Graduated but still looking for a job?
The BBC recently reported on the struggle faced by graduates to find a job after leaving university. Unemployment amongst grads aged below 24, rose by 25% last year.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Our New Animation Tutor
Meet our new animation tutor, Alex Williams who comes from a rich tradition of 2D animation. With over 20 years of industry experience that includes work as a storyboard artist, character designer and animator on more than 20 feature films for Disney, Universal, Warner Bros, Fox, DreamWorks and Sony, his film credits include animated masterpieces such as 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit?', 'The Lion King' and 'The Iron Giant'. His most recent work includes animation for the Oscar-winning 'Monster House', as well as 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'.
Fancy winning an iPod or an online 3D course?
Then take a look at Escape Studios’ Graduate Survey. If you’re a student or have graduated from a UK university we’re keen to hear how you got on finding a job, and how well you think your university prepared you for the world of work.
Framestore Senior Animator shares his Maya Tips
We've teamed up with 3D World to give you guys the chance to improve your Maya Skills. Seth Gollub, senior animator at Framestore New York shares some of his Maya animation tips, letting us in on a few secrets along the way.
Register for your Free Tutorials
Make sure that you're registered to receive our free monthly tutorials because we have some amazing ones scheduled over the coming months. The tutorials are different every month and cater for all levels of ability; some will be for those just starting out in the industry and others will be professional level, designed to help fine tune skills.
We’re in the money
As you probably saw, the Chancellor has awarded the games industry its much deserved tax break. Following Wednesday’s budget, game developers that create profitable games will be able to use the relief to pay less tax on profits, while unsuccessful games will be awarded a cash tax credit to reduce losses – which must be a nice surprise for all you developers out there.
Animation Course: Life Drawing Class
I thought I’d give you all a sneak peek at what’s currently happening on our Animation course. The students have just completed a day of life drawing lessons to help with their understanding of composition, staging, silhouetting and several other traditional art skills vital for 3D animators.
Escape this Spring
For those of you considering working in this thriving, dynamic industry, we’re offering a taster into the world of computer graphics with a range of three-day short courses. They’re a great opportunity to get a better understanding of the career opportunities out there while gaining valuable insight into the industry.
Survey - Graduates find a long term home in CG industry
You might have read that we recently surveyed people working in the industry for their thoughts about their jobs and the world they work in. We’ve now taken this one step further by asking graduates about their expectations of a career in this field.
Latest work from the Skillset VFX Course
The Skillset Visual Effects Course is now underway and the work which the guys have produced after just six weeks is incredible!
Survey - State of the CG industry
You might have read a couple of weeks ago about the winners of a prize draw we held for those who completed our survey. We wanted to see what people in and around the CG industry thought about their jobs and the world in which they work. We had a fantastic response, with over 2,800 professionals, hobbyists and students answering questions for us, and the results make for interesting reading.
Top Down Animation - Work in Progress - Step 1
I am currently working on (amongst other things) a simple animation in order to demonstrate the Top Down Animation Technique. The animation I am going to do is of a character walking up and sitting down in a chair then tipping backwards. I thought it would be interesting to demonstrate the steps that I would go through in doing an animation this way, so I'll be posting my progress as I go.
How to Become a World-Class Animator
Thanks to everyone who attended my "Becoming a World-Class Animator" webinar last night - it was great to get a chance to speak to all of you! We're going to make the presentation available in the Escape Studios Free Resources section of our website soon - so make sure that you keep an eye out for it.
Online Maya courseware at The Arts University College at Bournemouth
Hi all,
I recently caught up with Paul Hilton, Senior Lecturer BA (Hons) Animation at The Arts University College at Bournemouth. AUCB recently purchased our online Maya coursware for themselves and their students, so I asked Paul how they were finding the experience:
