Thank you to all those who came to my Illustration Workshop in the South Tipperary Arts Centre last Saturday! I hope everyone enjoyed the day as much as I did!

I'm delighted to have some of my work in on display in the County Library during the month of October as part of the Cork Comic Creators exhibition! The exhibition is part of the Children's Book Festival, and features work by plenty of local artists. The work I have on display is part of a children's book I'm illustrating at the moment, written by Emmet O'Brien and Jessica Healy. If you're in the area, stop by and take a look!

After a fantastic trip to Italy in September, I'm getting back into the swing of reality. But before I start writing about my work again, I wanted to share a little photo blog of the trip! 

Today I want to share something different; an analysis of one of my favourite sequences in animated storytelling. The Married Life sequence is part of Pixar's 2009 animated feature film, Up, which was directed by Pete Docter. Although the sequence is less than four and a half minutes in length, I think most of us can agree that this series of shots is deliver in a way which has a powerful impact and leaves a lasting impression on its audience. 

This past year has been one of the busiest years I've ever had in college, and although I'll miss a few aspects of student life, I'm quite content to be closing that door and moving on to the next chapter of my life.

Happy Valentine's Day! It seemed appropriate to share a "photograph" capturing a moment in the lives of Albert and Lilly, the fictional couple from my final year film. Several photos like these will appear throughout the film as cinemagraphs (like the one below!). 

Back in September, I started developing an idea for a short film. The story is now called The Clockmaker and by the end of next May, I hope to be able to show the world a charming little story about an elderly little gentleman as he closes up shop. 

Recently, I was asked to design a logo for a local DJ group called LoopTown. Dealing mostly with late teen audiences and house music, I had some fun playing around with styles and symbols that I thought would resonate with that audience. I wanted to create something fresh and distinctive for the group, mixing between simplicity and complexity to create an image they could build a brand on. 

Carrying on from last week, I've been looking forward to sharing this little character. 8-year-old Lucy is one of the main protagonists in Burn the Biscuit. She's the youngest in the family, and adventurous in spirit. Light and agile, she's quick thinking, full of energy, and very focused. Here's a little collection of development for her; including colour studies, a turnaround, and an expression sheet. :)

Now that I'm a fourth year animation student, I have two significant projects - amid a sea of smaller ones! - to concentrate on over the next few months. And I'm excited about both! I can't wait to share some of the ideas I've been developing for all of those, but first, I've been wanting to share an older story pitch that I developed last year! 

I can't believe it's August already. 2016 seems to be rushing past at record pace! It's going to be a crazy busy few weeks though, with a few adventures and projects I've been very excited about for some time now! :)

Earlier this year, I was invited to join a project that got me excited immediately. The Guards, an independent comic with a brilliant creative team behind it, is finally ready for the release! Act 1 will be launched at Dublin Comic Con this year, and I promise you it's worth picking up a copy! Written by Shane Ormond, with art by Kevin Keane, and working with editor, Colin O'Mahoney; I was delighted to provide comic lettering and design for the book. I think the team did an incredible job, and I am so proud and delighted to have been a part of it. 

I had so much fun with this one! None Shall Pass, created by John Murphy of Bold Puppy and pushed a step further with LS Comics, was of those projects that really makes me fall in love with graphic design all over again. A great team of talented people came together to work on this teaser-version of the book, and I was utterly delighted to have been a part of it. Many thanks to Eoin of LSComics, John of Bold Puppy, Robert Carey, Dee Cunniffe, and Cormac Hughes! 

Last semester in college, I studied Previz and Comp, and I very much enjoyed it! I don't know quite why I waited so long to share this - I'm delighted with how it turned out! Set extension is an interesting project to undertake; much more common than I ever imagined in the film and TV shows you see every day, and an incredibly satisfying result when it works well. One of my favourite things about this project in particular was being able to combine so much of my own personality and my own adventures into one little scene! I used photographs I had taken from a few of holidays and day trips I've been on, went on a few new shoots, and I even included myself in the scene - all wrapped up in a fantasy, Alice in Wonderland (my namesake, which I absolutely take after!) theme. Can anyone recognize any of the places that feature here?

Click to play! This project has been a long time coming (you can read about Update 01 and Update 02, if you like), but I'm finally sharing the final render. It was something of an experiment, which meant it came and went with a whole bunch of challenges, but I did have a lot of fun with it! 

For the past three weeks, I've been kept busy with full time work placement in an animation studio in Dublin. It was fun, I was able to develop my skills, and I met a few wonderful people along the way. I gained so much more from the experience too; discovering what it was like to live and work in the biggest city in Ireland. I'm incredibly thankful to have had that opportunity, but it did take some getting used to... and I was exhausted from it. When I got home, I spent an entire day just sleeping, thinking, writing, and drawing in an effort to get my energy levels back up to usual. So, to kick this blog into its usual routine again, I thought I'd share one of the pieces I did that day, which helped me get back to my usual self again. :)

The latest release from Ruth Butler and I! Two of a Kind is the May installment of our monthly musical adventures, which you can see here! Enjoy!