"Young Comics Maestro" Competition

"Young Comics Maestro" Competition

The Alison Brown "Young Comics Maestro" Competition closes in 11 days, on 30 June.  London's Cartoon Museum is looking for the next big "18 or Under" comic artist.

Send in your best comic strip to the Cartoon Museum, three pages max, to enter the competition and get your work in front of judges from The Beano, The Phoenix, and The Cartoon Museum. The deadline is Sunday 30 June at 6pm. 

Animation Jobs in Games: Webinar Today at 1pm

Into Games is hosting a free live-streamed talk today Wednesday 22nd May at 1pm UK time for animators seeking a career as an animator in the Games Industry. 

The title of the talk is "Animation: Communicating the fundamentals. How to Prove You've Got The Experience".

Today's talk is for animators who are either "pre-games or very early in their games industry career". 

The talk will be delivered by Hannah Kravets a Gameplay Animator currently working with Climax Studios. 

"Wallace and Gromit" in London 12 Sept 2023

"Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers Turns 30"

Opening on the 12th of September, "Wallace &Gromit: The Wrong Trousers Turns 30" will arrive at London's Cartoon Museum just in time for the thirtieth anniversary of Aardman Animation's classic animated film. 

Cartoon Forum Welcomes Back UK Animation

Cartoon Forum - Toulouse 18-21 September 2023

The European film agency "Cartoon", organisers of "Cartoon Forum" and "Cartoon Movie", has announced that UK animation will return to Cartoon Forum this year in a special initiative titled "Animated UK Meets Europe", led by Animation UK, and supported by the BBC, Disney, and other major UK Partners. 

VFX Festival Starts 21 February 2023

2023 VFX Festival is Coming Soon

The VFX Festival is back in London from 21-23 February 2023. 

The 2023 VFX Festival returns to Escape Studios in Central London and, like last year,  will run as a hybrid event, both online and also in person. The event runs from 21-23 February. 

The 2023 VFX Festival will be hosted at Escape Studios at their midTown Campus at 190 High Holborn, and also online. To book your tickets, follow this link to thevfxfestival.com.

Young Cartoonist of the Year Competition 2022

The Young Cartoonists of the Year Competition is back. This year the deadline for submissions is 22 January 2023.

Hosted by the Cartoon Museum in London, the annual competition seeks to reward rising cartoon talent. 

Judges include Martin Rowson (The Guardian), Christian Adams (Evening Standard), Banx (FT), Peter Brookes (The Times), Nick Newman (Private Eye), and Matt Pritchard from the Daily Telegraph.  Entry is free. 

Entries can be mailed in (via old school Royal Mail) to the Cartoon Museum,  at 63 Wells St, London W1T 3PT, or emailed to hello@cartoonmuseum.org.

As always, we encourage all our students at BNU to enter competitions such as this one. 

Return of Graduation Day at BNU

Graduation Day at BNU

Graduation Day is back! After a long hiatus, in-person graduation has returned  to High Wycombe, at long last.  

Graduation Day for our animation graduates took place at Bucks last week from 5-9th September 2022.

Last week we welcomed our newest animation graduates to come and celebrate their achievement.

Young Animator of The Year Competition

Young Animator of the Year Competition

There is still time to enter the Young Animator of the Year Competition.  The Competition, created by Access VFX and supported by Screen Skills, BAFTA and the BAA Awards, is judged by professional animators.

Entry must be completed by September 4th. You can find more about it here: https://younganimator.uk/competition #animation #YAYUK

Paul Hilton External Examiner at BNU

Paul Hilton

We're extending a very warm welcome to Paul Hilton, our new External Examiner for our Online MA in 3D animation.  Paul is a Senior Lecturer on the BA (Hons) in Animation at The Arts University Bournemouth (AUB), making him well qualified to keep an eye on our animation work here at Bucks.

External examiners ensure that standards are consistent across the animation sector. They check our grades, making sure we're awarding marks appropriately, and that our standards are consistent with other universities and colleges in the UK.

Of course, we also second mark all the grades at MA level at Bucks, but the role of the external examiner is to add a third layer of quality control to make sure everything is done right.

Graduation Day at BNU: 5-9 September 2022

Graduation Day at BNU

Graduation Day is back! After a long Corona hiatus, in-person graduation is returning to High Wycombe, at long last.  Graduation Day for our animation graduates takes place at Bucks from 5-9th September 2022.

On that day, we will be welcoming all our animation graduates to come and celebrate their achievement.

VFX Festival in London 9-10 March 2022

VFX Festival 2022

Escape Studios' VFX Festival is back in March 2022, this year taking place as a hybrid event, both online and also in person.

Escape Studios will host the event at their midTown Campus at 190 High Holborn, also streaming the events for a live online audience.

To book your tickets, follow this link to thevfxfestival.com.

Cartoon Museum Opens "The Laughter Lab"

Last night was the opening of a new exhibition at London's Cartoon Museum, titled Laughter Lab: What’s So Funny?, which seeks to "uncover the science behind funniness".  

The exhibition invites visitors to contribute to a science experiment which hopes to find out what makes a cartoon funny. 

The experiment is being conducted in collaboration with Robin Dunbar, Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Oxford. What makes us laugh? It's a complex question, with some surprising science behind it. 

Young Cartoonist of the Year Competition

Deadline 5 January 2022

The Young Cartoonists of the Year Competition is back; the deadline for submissions is 5 January 2022.

Hosted by the Cartoon Museum, re-opened after its long Covid-19-slumber, the annual competition seeks to reward rising cartoon talent. 

Judges include Martin Rowson (The Guardian), Christian Adams (Evening Standard), Banx (FT), Peter Brookes (The Times), Nick Newman (Private Eye), and Matt from the Daily Telegraph.  Entry is free. 

Toonboom Harmony Free Demo 30 Sept at 5pm

Toonboom Harmony with Andy Wyatt and Harry R

Tomorrow Thursday 30 September at 5pm Escape Studios in London is hosting a free Toonboom Harmony Event with Harmony experts Andy Wyatt and Harry Ravelomananstsoa. 

Andy Wyatt is Director of Animation Associates & Toon Boom UK; he will discuss what skills the 2D animation industry is looking for, offer portfolio advice and insights into the Harmony pipeline. 

To sign up, follow this link.

James Baxter Animation Webinar 30 June at 6pm

James Baxter

On 30 June at 6pm Escape Studios is hosting a live animation webinar with legendary Disney and DreamWorks animator James Baxter.  

The event is free, and we are recommending that all our students register and sign up. 

James began his animation career on Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and has since worked on dozens of animated films.  

What Do Recruiters Want? Find out on 25 May

Tiffany Feeney

What Do Animation Recruiters Want? What are studios looking for? Find out on Tuesday 25 May at 12:30pm, when veteran animation recruiter Tiffany Feeney will offer her perspective on what exactly recruiters are looking for in animation talent.

Having recruited for Dreamworks, Reel FX and Blue Sky Studios, Tiffany Feeney knows what studios want and need.  

The event is taking place on 25 May at 1.30pm, with a Q&A to follow. This is especially recommended for all our students graduating this summer, or for any students looking for jobs and internships in animation and vfx.

Cartoon Forum Returns in September

Save the Date! Cartoon Forum is back - Europe's biggest TV pitch-fest for animation takes place in Toulouse, France, from 20 – 20 September 2021.

For all our students and graduates with an idea for an animated TV or web series, Cartoon Forum is the place to pitch it.

The deadline to submit your series project this year is in May. So, there is plenty of time to sharpen your pencils, fill out some forms - and make your pitch perfect.

DA701 Locomotion & Mechanics Starts 28 Sept

Zombie Walk by Amedeo Beretta

DA701 Animation Mechanics is the first module that our new MA animation students (those starting with us in September) will encounter at Bucks.

DA701 is taught primarily in Autodesk Maya, and deals with animation basics, such locomotion and mechanics.

It starts with simple actions such as a bouncing ball, and builds up to more complex physical actions, such as jumps and throws. There are two assignments due: DA701 PR1, and DA701 CW1. DA701 PR1 is due on Friday 11th December at 11pm - don't be late!

Webinar with Disney Writer Evgenia Golubeva

Evgenia Golubeva

Join me on 13th August at Noon for an animation webinar titled "From Animation Student to Disney - How Evgenia Golubeva became a writer at Disney TV Animation".

In this free webinar I'll be asking my former student Evgenia Golubeva some questions about her remarkable animation career.

Evgenia is an award-winning animator, writer and director who is currently working as a writer at Walt Disney Animation in London.

Evgenia has forged a career as a writer and independent film-maker, entering her animated films in festivals around the world and winning international prizes for her work. You can sign up for the webinar here.

"Meet the Scottish Studios" with Animated Women on July 23

The Scottish animation industry is hiring - so it's time find out about job opportunities north of the border.

Animated Women UK are hosting a free online event for recent graduates titled "Meet the Studios", featuring representatives of some of Scotland's most successful animation studios, including Axis, SellOut and Wild Child.  The event takes place online on Thursday July 23rd from 3-5pm.