It’s amazing to think that we’ve made it through another academic year already. In LIT Clonmel, that means a few things: it’s deadline season, it’s exam season, and it’s almost time for the annual Pen & Pixel exhibition!

One of our assignments in college this semester is to create a 30-second advert for a product of our choice. I picked Zippo lighters; mostly because the product itself is pretty cool, so I found it easy to come up with an strong, visually dynamic idea which would sum up the product well. I'm having a lot of fun with it, and it's starting to come together now, so I figured I might as well start sharing the process involved in it as I make progress. Here's step one: The Pitch! ...Which, in this case, also includes styleframes and the storyboard.

It's been a long time coming, but The Chicken Song is finally here! Ruth Butler and I have been working on this project for a few months now, and we're both incredibly excited to be able to share it! Ruth, always a treasure trove of ideas, developed the story and song, while I've been busy developing the visuals and animation. The journey has been a fun-filled one, so do please press play, check it out, and subscribe to Ruth's YouTube channel or my Facebook Page or other social accounts to keep up-to-date on our musical adventures! And be sure to have a very happy Easter too!

For some time now, I've been thinking about my little pocket watch logo, wondering whether or not I should update that as my icon across social media. I had a few good brainstorming conversations too, which made me wonder if it was time to start using something digital, something more characterful, and/or something closer to a visual representative of me as an artist. With all that in mind, I decided to draw up this little stylised version of myself as a character. I'm not 100% sure that I'll use it as planned (I'm pretty attached to my pocket watch!) but it was a fun little experiment all the same. :)

The weekend before last, I was lucky enough to spend some time in the company of a few incredible people with amazing drive and determination. The musicians, and all those involved in making the first Ortús Chamber Music Festival as successful as it was have been wonderful to work with and an inspiration all around!