Rathdrum Cartoon Festival to return over bank holiday

AFTER the success of last year’s 25th anniversary Rathdrum International Cartoon Festival, the festival returns this year over the June Bank Holiday weekend.

The original festival ran from 1992 to 1997 and was devised by renowned cartoonists the late Terry Willers and Martyn Turner.

This year’s two-day festival will be officially opened on Saturday, June 2, by Don Conroy, who many will be familiar with from his appearances on RTE’s ‘ The Den’ and his own show ‘Paint for Fun’. Don will also be presenting a drawing workshop for all ages.

Cartoonists Tom Mathews, Hunt Emerson, Graeme Keyes, Tom Halliday, and Jim Cogan will be making a welcome return and will be joined by street artists and caricaturists like Colm Campbell, Hugh Madden, Norrie Kivlehan, and Aidan Cooney.

Workshops and talks will feature heavily over the weekend, with something for all ages and skill levels.

Michael Carroll, John Higgins, and Sally Jane Hurst from 2000AD will be giving a three-hour workshop on comic writing and developing, covering script-writing, layout, and pencilling. They will also host a questions and answers session.

Animation will feature again this year, with Mårten Jönmark and Fiona Ryan from Brown Bag Films presenting ‘Story Doodle’ and ‘Animal Bonanza’ workshops, Marc Corrigan will be hosting a human stop motion animation workshop for children.

Children’s writers and artists such as Fintan Taite, Wee Skribbles, Alan Nolan, and Laura Howell from The Beano will be giving a variety of drawing and storytelling workshops. Eoin Coveney will be giving a retrospective talk on his work and providing tips and advice for career development. Jon Berkeley, whose illustrations are known from the Economist, Time, Newsweek, and The Washington Post, will be holding a caricature drawing class for any and all ages. Other events include children’s pavement art, McFadden’s funfair, craft stalls, dog show, children’s art competition, cosplay, face painting, and a host of live music including Arklow Ukulele Players, Big Digger, with Mundy and his Band closing the festival. For more information, visit the Rathdrum International Cartoon Festival page on Facebook.