More Artwork Surfaces From Tomm Moore's 'Wolfwalkers'
2017 is the year in which Cartoon Saloon's next eagerly awaited film The Breadwinner is expected to arrive on cinema screens. While Nora Twomey has been hard at work on that film, her fellow Salooner and co-director on Secret Of Kells, Tomm Moore is also working on his next. Wolfwalkers, Moore's follow up to Song Of The Sea is still some way off, and it has been a while since we last saw anything new. We're pleased to report that some more precious morsels of artwork have found their way online recently.
Moore himself published recently some beautiful concept paintings inspired by the film (on his personal Tumblr) while home sick. The idea that he can produce such work on one of his off-day would put many artists to shame on their best day.
The artwork was collected together by Dutch language blog Animatie alongside some new concept art (see above) and the beautiful teaser poster, which you can also see here. Cartoon Saloon's films are rare among animated films in that the finished films and the original concept art are often nearly identical. In other words in these images we have a pretty good indicator of how the film will look. And as is only to be expected, it's going to be absolutely beautiful.
Tomm Moore is directing alongside Ross Stewart, and Song Of The Sea's screenwriter Will Collins will be providing the script. It follows a young English girl named Robyn who comes to Ireland with her father during the era of the English Civil War to hunt wolves, only to befriend a local girl name Meabh who has a very close connection to the very creatures that her father has come to wipe out.
The film will (much like Moore's first two films) concentrate on Irish mythology, and in particular the folklore that surrounded wolves. Aside from the fantasy elements, it also promises to present a window into part of Ireland's past that we haven't really seen on screen before.
The artwork gives us a good look at the way the wolves themselves will be depicted. The Celtic mythology around wolves saw them as people in another form, and it seems pretty clear that Meabh is going to be one of those who can take on the form (presumably the Wolfwalkers of the title). The concept art seems to give us a peak at just how this is going to look onscreen.
We still don't know how long we will have to wait to see the film (only that 2018 would be the absolute earliest). We do know, however, that it can't come quite soon enough.
