Meet The Masters
Meet The Masters
Your chance to ‘Meet the Masters’ with our set of talks. You’ll hear from industry experts that have gone onto master their craft in the creative industries, working with impressive studios on major films, games and TV shows.
During each one-hour webinar, our guests will share their journey into the creative industries and career so far, show examples of their work and explain their creative process. There'll also be a chance for you to ask them questions at the end using the Q&A feature, so you can get ready to follow in their footsteps.
- Programming Tutor Omar Zohdi on Tuesday 10th June at 6:00pm BST
- Game Design Tutor Nathan Jija on Thursday 12th June at 6:00pm BST
Or you can catch up on our previous talks by accessing our on-demand webinars.
Up next: Meet Programming Tutor Omar Zohdi
Omar Zohdi
Omar Zohdi has over a decade of experience in the tech industry as a software engineer and developer relations manager. Specialising in game development, technical partnerships, and tech ecosystems, he has worked with leading companies such as Imagination Technologies, The Linux Foundation, and Unity.
As a tutor at Escape Studios, Omar aims to leverage his extensive technical knowledge and hands-on experience in Unity, Unreal Engine, C++, C#, and Python to mentor and inspire the next generation of game developers. He is dedicated to helping students master game engines and programming languages, while nurturing their technical and creative growth.
Nathan Jija
Nathan Jija joined Escape Studios as a Game Design Tutor in 2024, bringing nearly 20 years of industry experience. He has developed for AAA, mobile, metaverse, VR, and AR platforms, contributing to acclaimed titles like Until Dawn, Rebel Racing, Deadman's Phone, and the Harry Potter series. Having worked at renowned studios like Supermassive, Hutch, EA, and Sony, Nathan now mentors aspiring designers, bridging education and industry expertise.
Mark Spevick
This event took place on 20th March 2025. Head to Meet the Masters: On-demand to check out the recording.
Mark Spevick has over 10 years of industry experience in film VFX! He got his big break at Peerless Camera, the production house co-owned by Terry Gilliam, and worked on every Gilliam film from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas to The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus, starring the late Heath Ledger.
He also worked with director Martin Campbell on Zorro and Mask of Zorro before supervising on the set of Casino Royale. Mark managed the CG team that worked on the parachute scene in Angels and Demons, on behalf of post-house DNEG, and worked with Framestore on Thor: Love and Thunder.
Daniel Amor
This event took place on 28th November 2024. Head to Meet the Masters: On-demand to check out the recording.
Daniel’s career in the VFX industry started in 2008, first as 2D Generalist working with After Effects and later as 3D Generalist in Cinema 4D. Following his move to London and working as a Motion Designer, Daniel focused on improving his skills in animation by studying 3D Animation at Escape Studios. Since 2018, he has worked on projects like Marvel’s She-Hulk, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and The Marvels. His Motion Graphics credits include projects at NBC Universal.
Alex Williams
This event took place on 27th November 2024. Head to Meet the Masters: On-demand to check out the recording.
Alex Williams has worked as an Animator, Designer and Storyboard Artist on over 40 films for studios such as Disney, Warner Bros. Fox, Dreamworks and Sony. He has more than 25 years’ experience working in the animation industry and some of his film credits include; The Lion King, Robots, The Road to El Dorado, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and The Iron Giant.
He also has 20 years’ experience working and teaching in higher education and is currently the Dean/Director of Animation and Visual Effects at Escape Studios.
Klaudija Cermak
This event took place on 13th August 2024. Head to Meet the Masters: On-demand to check out the recording.
Klaudija Cermak has over 30 years experience on high-end commercials, broadcast programmes and feature films and has worked at all the major post-production houses in Soho including MPC, Mill, Mill Film, Framestore, DNEG and Glassworks.
Her feature film credits include Gladiator that won an Oscar for the Best VFX, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Her most recent credits are Black Mirror, Britannia, Captain America, and Jason Bourne.
Stuart Batchelor
This event took place on 12th August 2024. Head to Meet the Masters: On-demand to check out the recording.
Stuart Batchelor is a Technical Artist and Creative Technologist based in London. With a background in computer graphics, his work spans real-time installations, immersive web/VR, and generative fine art. He has collaborated with prominent clients such as Framestore, Barbican, Tate, Samsung, Ford, IMAX, V&A Museum, Google, and BMW.
Stuart's experience includes directing technical teams across XR projects, leading the development of real-time graphics for interactive installations and working as a fine artist specializing in code-based art. He has exhibited in shows and been published by SIGGRAPH and the British Computing Society, where he has authored papers on the intersection of art and technology.
Glyn Fairweather
This event took place on 7th August 2024. Head to Meet the Masters: On-demand to check out the recording.
Glyn has been modding and designing digital and physical games since 1997. He kicked off his professional journey at Jagex in 2011, diving in just as the company was overhauling its live operations and monetization strategies. Glyn quickly became a key player in an innovative team that broke the mould in Runescape, crafting fresh free-to-play mechanics and systems.
For the past four years, Glyn has been shaping game design as the Design Director at Fundamentally Games. Here, he provided design support and actionable insights to studios and indie developers at various stages of development, helping them refine their games and achieve their creative visions.
Jim Russell
This event took place on 10th July 2024. Head to Meet the Masters: On-demand to check out the recording.
Over the past two decades, Jim Russell has contributed to more than 15 AAA console and PC games, including the epic Total War: Warhammer fantasy game series, where he designed all the architecture and environments.
His experience includes various areas of game development, serving as a Lead Environment Artist and more recently as Principal Concept Artist at Creative Assembly in Horsham, UK.
Tiago Faria
This event took place on 12th June 2024. Head to Meet the Masters: On-demand to check out the recording.
Tiago is a VFX Supervisor and compositor at BlueBolt and VFX Escapee.
He has feature film and episodic credits including Ridley Scott’s Napoleon, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One (Paramount) and Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch.
Tiago recently completed work as VFX Supervisor on HBO’s critically acclaimed True Detective: Night Country and has just completed production on Left Bank’s new six-part drama series Insomnia.
Access Meet the Masters: On-demand
Missed one of our recent Meet the Masters events but still keen to hear the industry insights? Fill in the form below to access the recordings from our previous Meet the Masters webinars, including:
- Tiago Faria, VFX Supervisor at BlueBolt.
- Jim Russell, former Principal Concept Artist at Creative Assembly and now MA Concept Art Tutor at Escape Studios.
- Glyn Fairweather, former Design Director at Fundamentally Games and now MSc Game Design Tutor at Escape Studios.
- Stuart Batchelor MSc Technical Art Tutor at Escape Studios. Previously worked with Samsung, Google, Framestore and more.
- Klaudija Cermak MA Visual Effects Production (Compositing) Tutor at Escape Studios. Her credits include Gladiator, Harry Potter and Black Mirror and more.
- Alex Williams Dean/Director of Animation and Visual Effects. His film credits include; The Lion King, Robots, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and The Iron Giant.