Cartoon Saloon

**Cartoon Saloon** is the name of the animated studio for the Company.

## History and Milestones

Cartoon Saloon was established in Kilkenny during 1999 by Tomm Moore, Nora Twomey, and Paul Young. The three were all alumni of the Ballyfermot College of Further Education’s animation degree course. Cartoon Saloon began working on a trailer for its first feature film, *The Secret of Kells*, that same year. However, the film did not enter full production until 2005; the company animated corporate work such as advertisements as they searched for funding. Meanwhile the studio of 12 animators relied on commercial and corporate work including web-site design and CD ROM production with Paul Young focusing on illustration whilst Tomm Moore undertook the animation.

Both *The Secret of Kells* and the studio’s second feature *Song of the Sea* were inspired by the *The Thief and the Cobbler* and *Mulan* while the founders were in university. Tomm Moore, the director of both films, said "Some friends in college and I were inspired by Richard Williams' unfinished masterpiece *The Thief and the Cobbler* and the Disney movie *Mulan*, which took indigenous traditional art as the starting point for a beautiful style of 2D animation. I felt that something similar could be done with Irish art." A 2001 meeting with Les Armateurs proved instrumental in the effort to secure funding for *The Secret of Kells*, and the company helped in the production of the final film.

The success and Oscar nomination of the film in 2009 led to major offers for Cartoon Saloon, but the studio chose to remain independent. This led to a difficult time financially for the company for a few years with the partners having to take out personal loans to keep the studio afloat.

Since its founding, Cartoon Saloon has grown into a multi-award-winning animation and illustration design studio.

As of 2019 Cartoon Saloon is in pre-production of its TV series, *Dorg van Dango*, Tomm Moore’s third feature *Wolfwalkers*, and Nora Twomey's second feature for Netflix, *My Father's Dragon*.

## Filmography

* *The Secret of Kells* (2009)
* *Song of the Sea* (2014)
* *The Breadwinner* (2017)
* *My Father's Dragon* (2022)

## References

1. ↑ O’Connell, Mark. Cartoon Saloon and the New Golden Age of Animation (en-us).
2. ↑ Strike, Joe (29 May 2008). The Smell of Success: 'Skunk Fu!' Conquers the World. *Animation World Network*. Retrieved on August 17, 2019.
3. ↑ Keegan, Rebecca (9 January 2015). Animator Tomm Moore lives the dream with a ‘Song’ in his heart. *Los Angeles Times*. Retrieved on August 17, 2019.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Cohen, Karl (16 March 2010). 'The Secret of Kells' - What is this Remarkable Animated Feature?. *Animation World Network*. Retrieved on August 17, 2019.
5. ↑ Template:Cite book
6. ↑ Desowitz, Bill (15 December 2009). Moore Illuminates 'The Secret of Kells'. *Animation World Network*. Archived from the original on April 1, 2019.
7. ↑ Cohen, Karl (16 March 2010). The Secret of Kells – What is this Remarkable Animated Feature?. Animation World Network. Archived from the original on October 16, 2012.
8. ↑ Clarke, Donald (7 March 2009). Book of Kells hits the big screen. *The Irish Times*. Archived from the original on August 18, 2019.
9. ↑ Brady, Tara (10 July 2015). Tomm Moore, Celtic cartoonist with two Oscar nods. *The Irish Times*. Archived from the original on August 21, 2015.
10. ↑ EY Entrepreneur of the Year industry finalist: Paul Young, Cartoon Saloon
11. ↑ *Who We Are*. *cartoonsaloon.ie*.
12. ↑ About