When beginning your pursuit into a career in Animation, there are so many routes you could take, you may need a little guidance- which is where we come in. Below, we’ve summarised the Animation industry (to give you a quick overview) and just some of the jobs that could become available to you after you graduate.

The Animation Industry

Animation is one of the fastest growing parts of the entertainment industry, having gone from a small cottage industry just a few short decades ago to a multi–billion pound industry with creative centres all over the globe.

The UK has some of the best animation studios in the world, including Aardman Animation (of Wallace and Gromit fame), Blue Zoo, and companies like Framestore (one of our industry partners!) which compete globally to produce some of the finest character and creature animation in the world. Did you also know that at Escape Studios, we teach students how to use Maya - the same software used in the making of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2?

There has never been a better time to enter the animation industry, and bring your own characters to life!

Animation Runner

Description: A runner is a great junior role that can help to kickstart your career in Animation as it will enable you to gain valuable studio experience. You’ll be called upon to maintain studio equipment, clean communal areas, re–supply materials, prep for meetings, work on reception, perform office admin and meet and greet guests.
Required skills: Efficiency, being able to cope whilst under pressure, and to effectively prioritise tasks.

Junior Animator

Description: After the VFX team have passed on the 3D work, an animator will bring the character to life. Each frame will need to be carefully constructed to demonstrate the personality that distinguishes that character from any other.
Required skills: It is important that you have an understanding of anatomy and how things work and move (e.g. the use of quadrupeds for animating animals e.g. Leopard animation)

How can I get there?

The BA/MArt of Computer Animation degree here at Escape Studios will help to get you ready for the working world as you’ll:

• Gain (in)valuable industry insight by being taught by expert tutors with years of experience and who still work on industry projects (their experience spans The Lion King, Dr Strange and Thor Ragnarok - to name a few)
• Get the chance to study Animation, VFX and Games in your first year in order to give you a broad experience of different processes and understand the whole pipeline (this is important as even though when it comes to working you’re likely to specialise in one area, it’s important to understand what everyone else is working on)
• Graduate with a fully fledged show-reel ready to send off to studios to demonstrate your abilities (which is a must!)
• Be provided with excellent after care - you can come back and visit us at any time to help with your showreel, or for any further career advice (our tutors want you to succeed and they, as well as our aftercare team, are there to help our 'Escapees' every step of the way)

What will it really be like?

Although we don’t have any graduates from our undergraduate courses yet (the course only started in 2016 which means we won’t have graduates until 2019) you can take a look at what our short course and postgraduate Animation 'Escapees' are up to.

You can also view our YouTube channel to see our students Animation Showreels.