Early in 2017, I was approached by Simon O'Neill (www.simononeill.org) to work on a short film for the Irish Film Board's Frameworks programme. The project was shortlisted for funding, but ultimately was not made.
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This is the design for the central character in the film. He is a cockchafer beetle.
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/7d3a3dac096f8803fc0b40bf5f8a717e/3b4e4c9317e6acd8fed67cdc3f8abd4657467f30df9a2418c2bf36c6bd60a0818f74a02b3f14265f_rw_1200.jpg?h=cfe2c2bb7731ec5c2993af4088369997)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/7d3a3dac096f8803fc0b40bf5f8a717e/ad9d7a71b5842a203686988675c74188c6c925099cf5ec38dbccd3499459f4ec57914073c7936b9f_rw_1200.jpg?h=49f220e0c257d3edecf0b9705b2fb9dd)
Below is a background scene I prepared for the film. All scenes in the film would have been presented in this style - The foreground and background elements are drawn separately in ink and watercolour and composited together, enabling parallax and depth of field effects.
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I designed, painted and inked the environmental elements before putting them together in Photoshop. My partner Niamh Gill did the lighting for the scene.
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/7d3a3dac096f8803fc0b40bf5f8a717e/807d2bf51745cfd6e509c44e4294bec0516134d43009cc470620ce8143a293ad28ab46a53cd534da_rw_1920.jpg?h=28eeac78ef5a4a42b2f781888bcf1a64)