Charles Solomon (1) (1950–)

Cartoon Saloon’s latest feature, Wolfwalkers, is one of my favourite animated movies of recent years and is undoubtedly the culmination of their Irish folklore trilogy, so I was super excited to see that they wanted to give the film its due attention with a full “art of” book. Touring us through the various aspects of the film, author Charles Solomon explores everything from the initial inspiration for the film (Irish folklore, obviously) to the unsung heroes of the film’s back end production (final lines, colours, etc) as well as every aspect in between. The film has its own innate magic that is clearly the result of incredibly hard and innovative work from the entire team, so it was a treat to discover the production design details, concept artwork, and individual stories behind the film. Solomon’s text reveals his depth of knowledge in the field of animation (it’s far more complex than we viewers have any real idea), and while it may not always be easily entertaining to read, the section divisions emphasise major themes of note that are unique to Wolfwalkers and cover expected technical details admirably. Expectedly, the visual material that went into the film is absolutely luscious, so it takes the place of honour and easily dominates the entire layout of the book from cover to cover - giving us a taste of the rough storyboards, colour visualisation, and the evolution of the characters. As we revel (once again) in the dichotomous setting of Kilkenny and the wild Irish forest alongside Mebh and Robyn, we’re brought back to the film itself and can’t wait to be fellow wolves again.… (more)