Here is my usual Weekly Round-Up of News, with stories that I have picked up over the past week. If you have suggestions for stories I missed, just drop me a line or post a comment.

Following on from last week's announcement about our Weekly Round-Up of news, here are the stories that I have picked up over the past week. If you have suggestions for stories I missed, just drop me a line or post a comment.

When you ask people about Pixar's early 3D animated films they may answer you Luxo Jr from 1986, but Ed Catmull, Pixar founder, made his first animated film while still at the University of Utah, way back in 1972.

Just over a week ago, our students were treated to a visit by the extroadinarily talented Shelley Page, of Dreamworks. Shelley has been involved with some of the most memorable animation to come out of Dreamworks - titles like 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit?', ‘The Prince Of Egypt’, ‘Antz’, and ‘Shrek’.

Both animation enthusiasts and novices alike, will be delighted by The Barbican Centre's brilliant animation show Watch Me Move. From Winsor McCay's 1914 classic Gertie the Dinosaur, to Steven Spielberg's T Rex in the 1993 blockbuster Jurassic Park, the exhibition educates and entertains in equal measure. 

The Animation Festival ‘Annecy’ invited me to give a talk about my career as an animator and to lift the lid on a few Animation Mysteries as well. As much as I love working at Escape Studios, it was great to talk about my life as a freelance animator and some of the jobs that have shaped my career like ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ and ‘The Lion King’. It was also nice to see that people were interested in this too!

Evgenia Golubeva recently completed our animation course at Escape Studios and has put together one of the best student animation reels we have seen completed in just 6 weeks. Evgenia took full advantage of the Animation course and diligently completed all of the animation exercises, often working late into the evenings, and working relentlessly to improve her skills. Most of the shots on her reel have been taken from in-class exercises, but the way in which she has compiled the shots together into a single well-edited piece of work makes her reel far more entertaining to watch than a mere series of student shots cut together with music.

Our Character Animation Tutor Alex Williams needs little introduction. if you follow the world of Animation, you will have heard of him and his work. He is one of the most talented animators of the decade and has not only written books such as QC Cartoon Series, but also worked on well known titles such as The Lion King, Pocohontas, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, and most notably Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He makes quite an impression on most of the people he meets, and especially the students in his class.

On Tuesday we, our Recruitment Manager, Garreth Gaydon, and I were let out of the office for the day to go and visit Aardman! I have to say, it was awesome! Based in Bristol, it's a bit of a trek but well worth the effort. They are such a brilliant studio and it's every bit as cool as you'd imagine.

It’s not often that I come across a new product that shows me a completely different way of working… We’ve been checking out 3D-Coat and have come to the conclusion that it might just provide something quite special in terms of modelling and sculpting.