Town gets animated for two days of fun
SOME of the world’s leading cartoonists and animators delighted the large crowds attending the Rathdrum International Cartoon Festival.
Over two days of glorious sunshine, artistic-minded members of the public got the opportunity to engage in cartoon workshops or to have their portrait drawn by caricaturists.
The festival was officially opened by Don Conroy, well known for his many appearances with Dustin, Socky, and Zig and Zag on RTE’s The Den, and his own show ‘Paint for Fun’. He also presented a drawing workshop for all ages.
Fans of 2000AD took part in an exciting three-hour long workshop on comic writing and development delivered by Michael Carroll, John Higgins and Jane Hurst. All aspects of comic creation were covered, from the development of the story to script-writing and pencilling.
The likes of Tom Mathews, Hunt Emerson, Graeme Keyes, Tom Halliday, and Jim Cogan all made a return to Rathdrum.
Hunt seemed particularly taken with the experience and was eager to share all with his fans. He posted up on Facebook: ‘I’ve had a great weekend in Rathdrum, Ireland at the cartoon festival there. I didn’t see much except for children – I’ve drawn the entire under-10 population of County Wicklow this weekend.’
Rathdrum’s streets were lined with visiting caricaturists and cartoonists such as Colm Campbell, Hugh Madden, Norrie Kivlehan and Aidan Cooney. Animators Mårten Jönmark and Fiona Ryan from Brown Bag Films presented ‘Story Doodle’ and ‘Animal Bonanza’ workshops, while Marc Corrigan hosted a human stop-motion animation workshop for children. Children’s writers and cartoonists Fintan Taite, Wee Skribbles, Alan Nolan and Laura Howell from The Beano occupied youngsters with a series of workshops.
There was also plenty of street entertainment, with Mundy and his band closing the festival on the Sunday night. Plans are already under way for next year.