ROBOTS are taking over a college - as part of a new animation.

Jake Wallis, a BA (Hons) Digital Animation student at South Essex college in Southend created a design which is now being used on every student’s computer as a screensaver.

Jake, 20, created the artwork which involves his character Ardi the Android posing with the college logo.

He studied an interactive media course at the college before progressing onto his degree and Ardi has been with him all the way.

He said: “I first created Ardi to experiment with movements and techniques such as walking and expressions and have just kept on honing him. He’s turned into his own little character, in fact you could say that he has pretty much grown up with me since being at South Essex College as he has featured in almost each and every aspect of my work, whether that be as a main character or as a cameo.”

Some of the work includes Ardi in student digs, resting with fellow robots, Ardi paying homage to the film Tron Legacy and also Ardi taking up part time work at a space port in a cameo role in Jake’s latest video.

He added: “It’s great to see him everywhere around college and is a nice feeling that my work is going to be seen by every student, which is thousands of people.”

Jake is heavily influenced by the special effects in blockbuster films like Transformers and after graduating he’d love to go and work for a company like Industrial Light and Magic - famous for their work on the Star Wars films - to work on modeling and animating characters or creatures.

Watch Jake's latest video here: