In 2021-22 I had the pleasure of working with Kinsale Spirit Company to produce a series of animations, promoting their new Irish Whiskeys through the story of the Battle of Kinsale and The Three Earls; The Red Earl (Red Hugh O Donnell), The Great Earl (Hugh “The Great Earl” O Neill) and Spanish Earl (Juan del Aguila).

Kinsale Spirit Company said:

Lead creative at Kinsale Spirit Co, Becky Hatchett, has created a striking animated film about these three bold, defiant, and fearless heroes who fought together bravely for Ireland at The Battle of Kinsale.

Speaking about the launch of the series, Director of Kinsale Spirit Company Ernest Cantillon says ''We were delighted to work with talented West Cork creative Becky Hatchett to tell the story of The Three Earls, as her animation for our series of whiskeys mirrors the passion we have for the historic inspiration behind The Battle of Kinsale Series and where the idea originated from.

Scroll on to view the animations and my process:

The Red Earl Animation (1min)

The Great Earl Animation (1min)

The Spanish Earl animation (1min)

The creative process:

Initially I met with the lovely folks at Kinsale Spirit Company to get an overview of their project and run through ideas and aims. I then worked up the scripts and initial storyboards, giving the client a chance to feedback on my ideas and make suggestions:

Initial storyboards for each of the earls:

Once the initial storyboards were signed off, I worked up the final artwork, using paper cut and collage as well as digital drawing techniques (on an iPad). Producing each of the scenes with multiple layers to allow for animation and effects.

This is an early process video for the Red Earl castle scene:

All the artwork was then presented to the client for feedback and sign off before moving to animating.

The final stage involved working with a wider creative team to produce the animations, including composer Patrick Hatchett (my husband) who created the amazing music and overall soundscape, George Hanover our voice over artist (recorded in our recording studio in our home in Westcork), and George Roberts, who supported the motion graphics.

(This project came to me through my partnership with Think Visual).