Saoirse Mc Evoy Duque
Spiorad na Báistí directed by Samira Sikder is the story of a young girl Síofra who decides one day to explore outside when its raining. Although hesitant at first, she comes to realise the rain isn't so bad after all. As the lead animator and co-producer of this project, working with Samira we wanted to highlight the beauty of what is often a dreaded but frequent occurrence in Ireland by showing it through the eyes of a young and curious character. Our aim was to depict mundane scenes that thrive in the rain through design work and character animation.
My objective was to depict clearly the progression of emotions in Síofra's character throughout the film through her expression and body language. As an animator, this pushed me to to evaluate a scene and try and simplify and condense the main emotion or thought the character was having in order to properly convey a message. The premise of the film is quite simple, but our main goal was to do the simple things well. With Síofra's shape being so simple it was a focus for me as an animator to play with this shape to bring to life the characters youthfulness.
On a design front, I worked on background character and prop designs that would have small and simple animation sequences to bring scenes to life. The overall design of the film that Samira created has quite simple and obvious shape language which emphasises the idea that we are exploring and learning about a world through Síofra's young eyes, and it was important for us to carry this through all design elements.
From working on this project and working on a bigger team than I was used to, I definitely grew as an animator. I have a much stronger understanding and appreciation for how subtle movement, expression, and shape language can communicate emotion and personality in animation. Through simplifying Síofra’s actions and expressions, I learned how to make emotional storytelling clearer and more effective without overcomplicating the animation. This process also strengthened my ability to analyse scenes critically and focus on the core feeling or message that needed to be conveyed.
From a design perspective, the project helped me develop a more cohesive approach to character and prop design by ensuring that every visual element supported the film’s tone and storytelling. Being able to adapt to someone else's art style can be difficult, but it was also a good exercise in getting out of your comfort zone and viewing work more objectively. I think our finished film successfully used simple animation and design choices to create an engaging and expressive world that reflected Síofra’s youthful perspective.
My name is Saoirse McEvoy Duque and I am an animation student in my final year at IADT. I am based in Dublin and am half Irish half Spanish.
I have a strong focus on animation and character design, in particular character animation which I do on ToonBoom. Along with Samira Sikder, I have worked on various creative projects as an Animator and a Producer, including our film "Die for a Pie", directed by Samira and animated by me, that was screened at Dingle Animation Festival, and our fourth year project "Spiorad na Báistí" directed by Samira where I worked with a team as the Lead Animator, Co-Producer and on some design elements.
I am excited to continue growing as an artist and keep on learning within the animation industry.
