Animation & Motion Design
Ronan Clarke
The Legend of Cú Chulainn
When the hero of Ulster was a boy, it was prophesised that he would achieve more glory than any Irish warrior before him, but live a short life. As Cú Chulainn rode out to battle with the army of Queen Medb he was weakened by a an encounter with the Pagan Goddess of death, The Morrigan. The Morrigan took the form of three hags who shamed him into consuming the meat of a hound (An act forbidden to him due to his namesake, the Hound of Culann). Nevertheless, the hero singlehandedly engaged the army on the battlefield.
While researching the legend, I noticed a distinct deficit of online visual sources. In light of this, I decided to essentially create the kind of reference material I had hoped to come across during this process. By employing contrasting visual styles for the natural and supernatural elements, I endeavoured to maintain the marriage of reality and mysticism so engrained in the culture of the time. Rather than allegorical or symbolic, this is a simple story, in terms of both structure and content. The project relies on clear, realistic dynamic visuals recounting the event as it was told.