An tEarrach Thiar

An tEarrach Thiar (2016) was a short film, directed by Eimhin McNamara and produced by Paper Panther in Dublin. It was commissioned by Irish language television station TG4 as part of a series called Tobar. I was asked to be involved from the preproduction stage where I worked on the colour boards and then the final backgrounds for the animation. All the backgrounds were hand-painted in watercolour and edited in Photoshop.

Colour Boards

I first worked on the digital colour boards with the director (and legendary one-man animation power house) Eimhin McNamara to establish the colour and mood of the film. It was mainly a 

Watercolour Backgrounds

Eimhin is serious about his real media when it comes to making animation and wanted all the BGs painted in real watercolour. I painted on average of four a day for just over a week. In the end we tweaked them a lot in photoshop but tactility of the paper and water has a big bearing on the overall finished look. 

For me this was a dream project. The subject and the art direction I could get behind straight away and it was an honour to work for an Irish animation hero that I'd looked up to since college. While it was tough working to the perfection he was seeking, it was a huge learning curve and he was very patient when I didn't quite hit the mark and give me absolutely tons of notes and reference material. I would immediately clear my schedule if there came a chance to work together again. You can buy prints featuring this work on the Paper Panther Online Shop HERE.