A day in the life of a Concept Art student at Escape Studios

Hi, I’m Sheilja, I have just completed my first year of Concept Art here at Escape Studios, and I’m here to tell you about my daily life as a student living in the heart of London. 

On days where I have to attend my classes in person, I wake up early, as I currently live in private accommodation in Wembley. The commute is not too difficult, and I tend to enjoy the journey. I review the slides on the topics for the day, giving me an insight into what lies ahead. Once I reach North Greenwich, I pop into the Greggs at the station for a small breakfast, before making my way over to the campus.  

My friends and I come together in the breakout spaces in the morning or at the end of lectures. This is where students can take time to sit and chill or work on their own respective projects. My friends and I come into Escape on different days and are on different courses, but we make use of how nice the breakout spaces feel to spend time in before heading out separate ways into class. This is one of my favourite times as we can chat about our projects and share things that could help another person’s work, due to us all studying different disciplines.  

During the first year of my course, many of the classes are centered on helping you master the basics of programmes such as Unreal Engine, and on helping you understand Adobe Photoshop on a deeper level as an artist. Typically, the tutors will teach for the first hour of the day, discussing the theory of a certain art technique (such as colour theory, perspective, and lighting). When listening to the tutors talk and present the slides, I tend to make notes for future references as well. After the teaching portion of the day, the tutors also will give demonstrations, guiding us alongside them and offering support throughout, allowing us to grasp the previously taught concepts. I have enjoyed this way of working as it means that we can freely ask questions, if need be, alongside having real-time advice on what is expected of us within industry. After classes have ended, I often stay in the studio to continue my project work. I find that working in the high-quality studios at Escape motivates me to continue working and focuses me greatly. 

Something quite unique to Concept Art is the ‘Life Drawing sessions’ that take place every other week. For this, once classes have finished we take the commute to Waterloo. This part of the week in particular is really exciting as it allows us to focus on a different art medium and challenges our abilities as artists to play with the human form.  

In my personal time, I enjoy having get-togethers with friends. A lot of the time I enjoy hanging out with friends over the weekend where we explore the little corners of London - for example the markets found in smaller places like Brick Lane are always such a pleasure to visit. Sometimes, my friends and I cook a meal and eat together as a group - the social events we have can be quite small, but we enjoy the time together nonetheless. Afterwards, I continue on my commute back to Wembley where I enjoy my free time before hopping on a game with my partner to wind down.  

I like this overall structure to my day; my time at Escape allows for me to have that equal student life versus social life balance and often, the two are intertwined. It allows me to further connections to my peers and friends within my classes as well as those who study at Escape and are part of different classes. I have friends across the different courses as well as those who are on my course, a good balance to have. I find that I have enough of a balance between being with friends as well as working in my own time, either alongside my friends or alone. I enjoy the work-life balance that Escape allows, with the freedom to use spaces within campus as well as the overall timetable.