Professor Ian Palmer joined Escape Studios in 2015 to lead the development of its degrees in VFX, animation and games. The studio-based approach at Escape Studios was the ideal place for him and build programmes that have the industry focus at the heart of their pedagogy. Working with professionals at the top of their field and current and recent students, he has developed and tested new approaches to supporting learning in this area, sharing the practice both internally and externally through invited presentations and papers. Ian was appointed Principal at Escape Studios in 2022 and is in charge of the overall day-to-day management and strategic direction for the institution. 

Jake is a Director from London and an alumnus of Escape Studios. Since completing his course, he has directed two award-winning short films for festivals. His most recent film Am I Dreaming? is an animated musical with an original soundtrack composed by Lilianne Coeverden. The film is currently doing the film festival circuit. It is half-way through the campaign and currently has 7 wins and 15 nominations. Jake has worked at Escape Studios since 2021 and is currently the Community and Events Officer.

As well as returning to host Escapeverse Live 2026, Jake will also be sharing what goes into making an animated short film for the festival circuit in How to Direct an Animated Short Film for Festivals on Thursday 26th February.

Rebecca Meilak is a Feature Animator currently working on her sixth feature animated film with over 10 years of industry experience. She is a passionate storyteller dedicated to creating emotive compelling character performances through body and facial animation in order to captivate the audience and is always seeking challenges to advance her skill set.

Feature titles include: Netflix's The Twits, DreamWorks' Dog Man, Paramount Pictures' Under the Board Walk, Universal Pictures' The Addams Family 2, DreamWorks' Spirit Untamed.

Charmaine Chan is a BAFTA-nominated & VES Award-winning Visual Effects Supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic, bringing over 19 years of experience in the industry. She offers a unique blend of leadership, technical and creative skill sets that she’s honed in post and on-set supervision. Charmaine served as ILM VFX Supervisor on Gareth Edwards’ features Jurassic World: Rebirth and The Creator, and also served as both ILM VFX Supervisor and 2nd Unit On-set VFX Supervisor for Michael Sarnoski’s A Quiet Place: Day One.

Ellie Koorlander-Lester is Technical Art Director at Creative Assembly on Total War projects and has been with the studio for 18 years, working on the multi-award-winning Total War series. She studied Computer Visualisation and Animation at Bournemouth NCCA and worked for 2 years in the film and advertising industry working on projects like Jim Henson’s MirrorMask before establishing her career in games.

During her games industry career, Ellie has worked in the fields of Cinematics, Environment Art, Lighting and VFX.

Roberto is the Core Technology Director at Creative Assembly, responsible for building the engine on which all Total War games are released. The team consists of graphics, tools, infrastructure, technical art, technical animation and core gameplay teams. Prior to Creative Assembly, Roberto worked as a Project Manager for more than ten years with clients such as Marvel Studios, Disney, Bacardi, the NHS and IKEA.

With over 18 years of experience in the creative industry and a background as a Freelance Illustrator, Simon has held key roles in talent development and learning across visual effects, games, television, and commercial radio. As the current Head of the Framestore Talent Development Team, he is also the Founder and Director of ACCESS: VFX, a global industry movement uniting over 75 leading studios, industry bodies, and educational institutions in visual effects and animation. ACCESS: VFX champions inclusion, diversity, awareness, and opportunity through its four pillars: Inspiration, Education, Mentoring, and Recruitment.

Emma joins us as an E-Mentoring Lead for the From Access to Opportunity: Real Mentoring Stories from VFX and Animation panel talk hosted by ACCESS:VFX.

Amy joins us as a Mentor for the From Access to Opportunity: Real Mentoring Stories from VFX and Animation panel talk hosted by ACCESS:VFX.

Harry is a BA Visual Effects Escapee working for Cambridge-based studio, Vine FX. He started at the studio at the end of 2023, during his third year of studying at Escape Studios. Once graduating and joining Vine FX full time, he has been earning opportunities to pursue compositing, picking up credits on shows like Netflix's 'The Witcher: Season 4', Amazon's 'Paris Has Fallen' and 'The Rig: Season 2' as well as being set to receive his first feature film credit on a Disney/20th Century Fox Production in April 2025.

Harry joins us as a Mentee for the From Access to Opportunity: Real Mentoring Stories from VFX and Animation panel talk hosted by ACCESS:VFX.

Sid joins us as a Mentee for the From Access to Opportunity: Real Mentoring Stories from VFX and Animation panel talk hosted by ACCESS:VFX.

Kamil joins us as a Mentee for the From Access to Opportunity: Real Mentoring Stories from VFX and Animation panel talk hosted by ACCESS:VFX.

Josh joins us a Mentee for the From Access to Opportunity: Real Mentoring Stories from VFX and Animation panel talk hosted by ACCESS: VFX.

Chris Jestico is the Managing Director at Goodbye Kansas, where he leads the studio’s strategic growth and global operations, bringing more than 17 years of experience in the visual effects industry. He has worked across both post-production and on-set environments, championing the development of Virtual Production techniques on major productions including Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One and Matt Reeves’ The Batman. His career spans both the client and vendor sides of the industry, having collaborated with leading studios such as ILM, MPC, DNEG, Framestore and Passion Pictures, and has contributed to over 50 feature film credits, bringing a rare combination of creative, technical, and commercial expertise to his leadership role.

Daria began her career in 2010 at the Film School in Łódź, Poland, coordinating students short films and later worked at Wajda Studio, supporting educational programs for emerging filmmakers. Before moving into the world of VFX, she worked as a project manager and producer for commercials, documentary, and feature films. She transitioned into cinematics and VFX at Platige Image, producing projects including live action short series Polish Legends directed by Tomek Baginski and cinematics such as: Metro Exodus, The Division 2, Rainbow Six, and CrossfireX. She then joined CD Projekt Red as Senior Producer on Cyberpunk 2077 and Phantom Liberty. For over three years at Goodbye Kansas Studios, she has produced cinematics for clients such as Bungie, Bloober Team, Bethesda, and Rocksteady.

Mikael set out for a career in VFX at a young age, after watching the making of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He joined Goodbye Kansas full-time in 2016. At that point he had finished his studies in Computer Graphics at gscept in Skellefteå, Sweden, and worked in the Scandinavian VFX- and video game industries for nearly a decade as a Concept Artist and Digital Matte Painter.

Mikael’s main focus as an Art Director at at GBK is game cinematics, and he has been involved in some of Goodbye Kansas' most successful cinematics trailers like Cyberpunk 2077, Helldivers II, Assassin’s Creed as well as The Outer Worlds 2 episode of Secret Level.

HaZ Dulull is a Director/ Producer known for merging cinematic storytelling with real-time technology. He made his debut with the live action indie sci-fi feature films The Beyond, and 2036 Origin Unknown (both licensed on Netflix), followed by Disney’s Fast Layne (where he served as Director + Exec Producer), Universal’s prequel animated short - 47 Ronin: The Samurai Spirit, and Disney’s Under the Sea: A Descendants Story.

In 2024, he directed / produced MAX BEYOND, an animated feature made entirely in Unreal Engine (with co-financing by Epic Games Mega Grant) before hired to be the Cinematic Director for Chapter 1 of the in-game cinematics for triple A game - Dune Awakening (Funcom / Tencent).

His Fortnite project The Rap Game with BBC/Fremantle was nominated for a 2025 Webby and Digital Broadcast Award. He is the founder of Beyond The Pixels focused on Transmedia projects leading with games that are re-igniting the retro scene for today’s gaming generation with Film and TV verticals. Astro Burn is the studio’s first game to launch in April 2026, along with an animated series in production.

Working in the industry since 2015, Jess started in 3D for children’s television before moving into VFX for film and TV. Since then, she’s worked primarily as a Lead Lighting TD, but has spent time as a Generalist TD and Groom TD.

Throughout her career, she’s contributed to projects at studios including One of Us, DNEG, TV, MPC, Blue Zoo, and now Vine FX. Her credits include The Witcher (Seasons 1, 3 & 4),The Lion King (2019), Bridgerton (Seasons 1 & 2), and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, among others.

Simon Carr is a Creative Director at Vine FX with over thirty years of experience in the visual effects industry, including two decades dedicated to on-set and post-production VFX supervision. His portfolio includes major credits such as Amateur, Lazarus, Star Trek Into Darkness, and Mank. Simon also served as the overall VFX Supervisor for The Man Who Fell to Earth, earning him an Emmy nomination. Simon has worked at major studios including Animal Logic, Framestore, Method Studios, and The Magic Camera Company.

At Vine FX, he brings his wealth of expertise to guide the creative direction and ensure high-quality VFX output. Simon's leadership and experience continue to support Vine FX's reputation for delivering outstanding visual effects.

Daniel has taught at Escape Studios since 2009 and brings 32 years of industry experience across the visual effects and immersive sectors. Notably, he designed and built the off-world installation with Framestore for the Science Museum’s science fiction exhibition in London, and co-created the EEG driven installation Harmony 2.0 with Light Artist, Ela Hawes for the Observatory in association with CALM. Daniel has produced live visual content for various artists such as Pendulum, Iron Maiden, Way Out West and even produced content and VJ'd at events such as Glastonbury, Boomtown, Coachella and Noisily Festival. 

Andy Ellis is a UK-based Live Visual Artist and VJ working across large-scale music venues, underground electronic spaces, and international festivals. Performing under his FIFO visual practice, he has created immersive, reactive visual environments at Drumsheds and The Warehouse Project, as well as major festivals including Glastonbury Festival and Burning Man.

He has performed live visuals alongside artists such as Koven and Dimension, and has also brought large-scale branded visual experiences to life for PlayStation, Nokia, Ford, and Three.

His work draws on the fundamentals of graphic art to create experimental and procedural visual moments that explore sound in real time - building environments that feel architectural, cinematic, and expansive. Increasingly, he is exploring how AI and generative systems are expanding the language of contemporary VJ culture.

Sara is a touring VJ and Content Designer, specialising in real-time simulation based content.

Matt founded More Eyes, a multi-award winning audio-visual production studio based in Deptford, South-East London, in 2018 with Pete Thornton.

More Eyes specialises in tour visuals, content creation, interactive installations, XR/live streaming, stage and show design, audio-visual programming and live playback.

Will Hughes is Escape Studios' Talent Development Manager. He has been with the company for nine years and services studios with industry ready talent. Will is pivotal in ensuring Escape Studios graduates are getting the dream jobs they've worked so hard for. 

An alumni of Industrial Light & Magic Singapore and London, DNEG VFX, Weta and Framestore. She began her career working outside VFX in Los Angeles as a large-scale sculptor, painter and stop motion puppet maker for film and TV. Her passion to work in a story driven industry keeps her excited each day to find like minded people and then talk their ear off about great films! 

Harriet joins us as part of the panel for 'How To Break into the Screen Industries: Advice From Creative Professionals'.

Kevin joins us as part of the panel for 'How To Break into the Screen Industries: Advice From Creative Professionals'.

Kim was born in Auckland, New Zealand in 1954, and grew up in Kohimarama. He was educated at Auckland Grammar school, and the University of Auckland - graduating with an Honours degree in Architecture.

After a period as a builder, he began working as a set designer in 1982. Since then he has art directed movies for the directors Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Bob Zemeckis, James Cameron, Zack Snyder and Peter Jackson - amongst others.

He has production designed the New Zealand feature films: The Dark Horse, the western Slow West, and most recently M3GAN. As well, he worked on The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (directed by Steven Spielberg).

Kim has also art directed many large feature films, including: The Meg, Pete’s Dragon, Man of Steel, The Legend of Zorro, The Last Samurai, Beyond Borders, Castaway, Vertical Limit and Willow. Kim has worked with Weta FX as a VFX Art Director on films including The Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and The Hobbit: the Battle of the Five Armies.

In 2006 Kim started work on the first Avatar movie, receiving a BAFTA, and an Academy Award for art direction in 2010. He started work on the sequels in 2017 - and this work remains ongoing. . .

Dave is a highly experienced, award-winning senior 3D Artist and CG Supervisor with feature film and episodic credits including Robert Egger’s Nosferatu, Star Wars: The Last Jedi and The Last Kingdom (Netflix).

Dave joined BlueBolt in 2021 as CG Supervisor on Amazon sci-fi series The Peripheral. Since then his credits have included The Great season 3, two seasons of The Last Kingdom and Nosferatu, for which he received a VES Award nomination. Most recently Dave was CG Supervisor on Downton Abbey: the Grand Finale. Dave has also spent time lecturing on VFX and animation at Escape Studios.

Henry Badgett is an award-winning VFX Supervisor with credits spanning major feature films and episodic productions including Ridley Scott’s Napoleon; Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One (Paramount) and The Great (MRC/Hulu). Henry is also a partner of BlueBolt and is responsible for leading the studio’s creative vision as co-Creative Director.

Henry has been a core member of BlueBolt since its inception, when he joined as 2D Supervisor, leading the team to win a BAFTA Television Craft Award for Great Expectations. Henry was also part of the team that won two VES Awards for Game of Thrones and since then has overseen numerous high profile projects. He was nominated for a BAFTA for special visual effects for Ridley Scott’s Napoleon in 2024.

Oliver was part of the Wheel of Time world for all three seasons and was a trusted partner of the client-side VFX team throughout. He is well known for his work on films and series including The Jungle Book, The Mandalorian, The Lion King and Alien: Covenant.

Adam is a CG Supervisor with specialist lighting knowledge and was key to the environment achievements in The Wheel of Time. His other notable work includes Wicked: For Good, House of the Dragon and The Lion King.

Lisa-Mae is a Senior Look Development Artist within Blue Zoo’s ZooLab team, where she works to define and establish visual styles in 3D from the earliest stages of pre-production. Her role spans texturing, shading, grooming, and lighting - bringing 3D characters and worlds to life across pitches, productions, and short-form content - while driving R&D and innovation in tools and production workflows to support the creative process.

Mark is a social entrepreneur with over two decades of experience in policy advocacy. A lifelong comic fan, he founded Comic Book UK to ensure that the UK’s comic industry is recognised and supported as an essential part of the UK’s creative industries.

With a focus on talent development, supporting creative entrepreneurs and promoting UK comics around the world, Comic Book UK’s mission is to make the UK the best place in the world to create, publish and sell comics and graphic novels.

Elena is an award winning UK-based Italian Manga Artist and Storyteller, and 2018 winner in the Grand Prix at the Silent Manga Audition; the first European Artist to publish a manga one shot on Shonen Jump Plus with Miriam of the Skulls, now available in English on Manga Plus. She also teaches on our Mastering Manga Storytelling evening - online short course at Escape Studios.

Andrew Mark Sewell is a former BBC Creative Director and now multi-award-winning radio drama Producer/Director, Publisher and Indie Filmmaker. After a long association with the comic book industry, in 2021 Sewell launched B7 Comics, a new publishing division offering new comics spanning science fiction, mystery and adventure.

Lyndon is a UK-based Comic Artist, Writer, Letterer and Designer whose work has been published by Image Comics, Top Cow Productions, Titan Comics and Blue Fox Comics, as well as through over 60 successful Kickstarter campaigns.

Paul is a comic creator, illustrator, animator and designer currently working out of Northamptonshire, UK. His major projects include art for Freakangels, which has been adapted into an animated series by Crunchyroll, and The Tempest, a manga-influenced adaptation of Shakespeare’s play. As well as working as Art and Design Director for The Phoenix, his clients have included the BBC, NASA and Marvel.