Making a charcoal animation is immersive and exciting – seeing your image begin to move and come to life is wonderful. For David’s animations, he gathers sticks and bakes driftwood charcoal. Driftwood charcoal gives a deep, soft black and is ideal for animation as it erases easily.
In this workshop David will explain how to bake charcoal and set up your drawing for stop motion animation recording. He will discuss how to create a storyboard, an animatic, and plan an animation, choice of paper, using a digital camera to record your drawings, lighting, frame rates, editing, software, and sound design. This workshop makes charcoal animation accessible for all levels.
David Begley
David Begley is an award-winning Irish artist, filmmaker, charcoal maker, and arts educator. He works across drawing, painting, monotype, video, sound, and animation. He has exhibited widely in Ireland and internationally.
His work moves between figuration and abstraction and is often inspired by invented mythologies. To make his large drawings and animations he gathers driftwood along the Wexford coast and bakes it into charcoal, producing a deep, soft black. Flame, smoke, and breath recur throughout his monochrome works, where elemental processes become part of the image itself.
Begley has facilitated workshops at IMMA, Chester Beatty, Mermaid Arts Centre, Butler Gallery, and Garter Lane Arts Centre. He contributed to Making Charcoal for Artists by Kate Boucher (The Crowood Press, 2024).
David is currently working on an animation commission based on the life of Frieda Belinfante. See animations by David Begley at:
https://www.davidbegley.com/animation
Date: Sun 8 Nov
Location: Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray
Date: Sat 5 Dec
Location: Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray
Date: Sat 6 Mar 2027
Location: Cullen’s Cottages, Roundwood, A98 CY83
Date: Sat 14 Nov
Location: Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray
Date: Sat 28 Nov
Location: Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray
Date: Mon 26 Oct + 16 more
Location: Charleville Mall Library, Dublin 1
Date: Mon 26 Oct + 16 more
Location: Cabra Library, Dublin 7
Date: Mon 26 Oct + 16 more
Location: Marino Library, Dublin 3
Date: Mon 26 Oct
Location: Dublin Pottery Making Studio
Date: Tue 27 Oct
Location: Phibsboro Library, Dublin 7
Date: Tue 27 Oct + 16 more
Location: Cabra Library, Dublin 7
Date: Tue 27 Oct
Location: Cabra Library, Dublin 7
Date: Wed 28 Oct – Sat 31 Oct
Location: Howth Castle, Howth
Date: Wed 28 Oct + 16 more
Location: Walkinstown Library, Dublin 12
Date: Thu 29 Oct
Location: Trim, Trim
Date: Thu 29 Oct
Location: Charleville Mall Library, Dublin 1
Date: Thu 29 Oct + 16 more
Location: Inchicore Library, Dublin 8
Date: Thu 29 Oct + 16 more
Location: Coolock Library, Dublin 17
Date: Thu 29 Oct + 16 more
Location: Kevin Street Library, Dublin 8
Date: Fri 30 Oct + 16 more
Location: Finglas Library, Dublin 11
Date: Sat 31 Oct + 16 more
Location: Coolock Library, Dublin 17
Date: Sat 31 Oct
Location: Balbriggan Public Library, Balbriggan
