Tv-series, ads and other work

In an interview in with Tomm Moore in 2009 at the Invest Kilkenny launch, he claimed that their main aim was to produce a main feature film. However since that is expensive and a painstakingly long process, they adapted the work-process of "doing work for other people while trying to develop and create your own projects."
So the studio did a lot of work creating advertisements and doing services for other companies. They have worked with Disney, Cartoon Network, TG4, CBBC and many more so far, and have this way expanded their economy and their work-force little by little, enough to eventually create their first feature.

One of their first personal works that were more than a short film, was their animated tv-series "Skunk-Fu!" which first aired on Cartoon network in 2007. It's not nearly as artistic and sophisticated as their other work, but as it's aimed towards a young audience, it is suitably charming, humouristic and simplistic. So far there are 26 episodes, each being 13 minutes long.

Skunk Fu! - promotional trailer from the Cartoon Saloon's official website

Their most recent series is the "Anam An Amhráin"-series, where 12 old irish song are reworked and animated. The songs are made in different styles, so the mood changes with the style of the song.

Here are three examples from this series:

"Poc ar Buille" has the typical Cartoon Saloon-style, with a humoristic story along with colourful and cheery art.

This one, called "Cailleach an Airgid" is darker and more sinister, yet has the typical shape-inspired stylization. The black-and-white with the crosshatching and patterns resembles illustrations from old folklore-books. 

(Sorry about the watermark. It's possible to skip the first half, as most of the animation is repeated in the second half.)

This one, called "Bean Phaidin" is more like the first one, colourful and cheery. This is also possibly the one work from Cartoon Saloon that most resembles the classical Disney-style. 

They have also produced adverts for a range of different companies like: Invest N. Ireland, Cadbury, Tom Tom, Dept Environment, SEAI and many others. In some of these we see very differenet styles of animation, for example in this one for TomTom:

Or in this one, for Recruit Ireland: 

Although they have different styles, some of the humour, body-language and animation carry resemblance to their better known works. 

Making illustrations and designs for different companies and occasions is another important part of their work. A quick look on such works can be seen here: 

Like most companies, Cartoon Saloon had to start small, and work theur way up. Luckily for them, they have been quite successful on their way, and really made a wide range of very different and impressive works. 

Skunk Fu!-sources:

http://www.cartoonsaloon.ie/2009/06/tv-series-skunk-fu/

Anam an Amhráin-sources:

http://youtu.be/-KsMIJAn5PM

http://youtu.be/sAE-8SGYgrs

http://youtu.be/tTOSx7W1wOQ

http://www.cartoonsaloon.ie/2009/12/tv-series-siog-na-ran/

Advertisement-sources:

http://youtu.be/Ede4SBtRjJU

http://youtu.be/NumFH4eJkDk

Illustrations: 

http://www.cartoonsaloon.ie/category/illustration/