Frank Frazetta, one of the first and most influential fantasy artists in the industry, died last week aged 82.

Really looking forward to next week because it's the start of the games course here at Escape Studios.  So, before the hard work begins for my students, here is a bit of Friday fun! Check out the impossible motion video.

A couple of month's back we conducted a Satisfaction Survey which asked people what it's really like working in the CG industry.  The top prize for three lucky people was having a CG Master Class with Maya master Lee Danskin.  The guy's found it hugely helpful as Lee shared lots of top tips on how to make the most of Maya, dipelling some myths along the way!

If you’re like most of us, and love to get your hands on the latest Autodesk 2011 products but cringe at the thought of paying the total sum up front, then you may want to check this out. We’re now offering prospective Autodesk 2011 users the option of funding their set-up with subscription payment plans from Autodesk Finance.

Hello world!

We nerds are back to get deeper into storage and the various options and solutions out there. We're starting a multi-part blog series to try and help people get a better technical grasp over storage for media and entertainment. There's a vast majority out there that see storage as a mystic and cryptic situation; and we aim to help change that and aid normal people in their battles on the subject. We get a large number of enquiries about this at Escape Studios - and for too long, too many people have been purchasing the wrong hardware and software for the right purpose.

Following the Pixar masterclass, we asked Pixar’s Andrew Gordon to share his tips on creating a fantastic animated sequence and tell us how he came to work in the industry and at Pixar.

We've teamed up with 3D World to give you guys the chance to improve your Maya Skills.  Seth Gollub, senior animator at Framestore New York shares some of his Maya animation tips, letting us in on a few secrets along the way.

The compositing industry is booming right now which is why we were grateful to Tara for taking a couple of minutes out of her busy day to answer a few questions about what it’s like working in the industry since leaving Escape Studios. Tara’s reel shows everything that a good junior compositing showreel should. It includes examples of roto, rig/wire removal, colour correction and some good CG comping.  Each shot is accompanied by a detailed breakdown - which is a great way of demonstrating these skills.

We have some exciting news for aspiring modo artists wanting to learn modo straight from the experts. Luxology's very own expert trainer, Andy Brown will be delivering an introductory two-day course at Escape Studios in June. This course is ideal for artists who are new to modo and want to learn more about the interface and efficient modelling and shading workflows. You will also discover how to accelerate the production process by utilising time-saving modo features like presets, assemblies and kits.

Back in December, Adam Droy became the first winner of our CG Whiz competition for his fantastic showreel. Part of his prize was a 12 week classroom course here, which Adam started last Monday. We caught up with him to see how his first week had gone.