Storyboard images from The Juniper Tree. Work in progress.
Some work-in-progress on my storyboard/asset building for The Juniper Tree. Love the detail I can achieve using the Silhouette Cameo 4 cutting machine. The house cutout is all one piece of black paper. I’ve been experimenting with different papers for a tonal range and discovered that coloured vellum has the right level of translucency and cuts beautifully.
Trailer for The Music of the Spheres. 7-minute short animated film.
Coming later in 2026. Stay tuned.
Delighted to announce that The Music of the Spheres is an official selection at @femtasiafestival in Los Angeles, a fantastic festival which showcases films directed, written, or produced by women, femme, and non-binary experimental and independent filmmakers.
These past few weeks, I’ve been working on a grant application for a new animation project: an adaptation of a very dark and gory fairytale by the Brothers Grimm entitled The Juniper Tree (1812). Features child death, cannibalism, ghost-birds and violent revenge. In short, precisely my sort of thing. The proposed film will be created using paper cuts and articulated paper puppets, all done in a backlit, silhouette style perfect for this early 19th-century dark fairytale. Below is some concept art of the paper cutouts and puppets, shot on my light box.
The red is coloured acetate (actually lighting gels for photography) and the grey is achieved by using regular white, 50 lb. sketching paper. The black silhouettes are 90 lb. black drawing paper. These images are “proof of concept”, and not necessarily final art.
I’ve surprised myself by completing my short animated film, The Music of the Spheres, ahead of schedule. At just over 7 minutes long, this is my longest and (I think) best animation to date.
Here’s the synopsis:
Three celestial beings contemplate a post-human Earth where newly hybridized lifeforms have evolved out of the debris of the Anthropocene. Combining references to the art of alchemy, Catholic liturgical art, and the iconography of the Tarot, this film blends cosmology with an urgent message of ecology.
And now, on to film festival submissions.
Two more scenes left to complete for my Music of the Spheres short film. I seem to be on track to make my target deadline. Here’s a shot from the start of the end credit scene. Took me a while to draw all those stones in the isometric perspective tower. Worth it, though.
Two more scenes to go until my animation project is complete. Here’s a sneak peek at what I’m currently working on.
Did you know that hermit crabs are not “true crabs”, since they don’t possess a hard exoskeleton? They need to scavenge cast-off sea snail shells to protect their soft, vulnerable abdomens. Unfortunately, with people removing shells from beaches around the world for souvenirs, hermit crabs are left with little choice but to use plastic garbage as substitutions for shells.
Another scene for The Music of the Spheres completed. This one features our first glimpse at the hybridized crustaceans who have inherited the post-human Earth. Even though it’s a brief scene with only a rigged lobster puppet and spinning golden haloes, it’s one of my favourites thus far. The doily-looking background upon which the hybrid lobster sits is, in fact, an altered scan of an early 20th-century Catholic “paper lace” prayer card. I just love the intricate, cut paper borders.
Below are a couple of examples of paper lace prayer cards found on Pinterest. No information found on their origin.
Finished scene 14 at last. Animating water is a challenge. Not going for high realism here, so happy enough with this. Above is a short clip. On to scene 15.
Lobsters walk on the ocean floor, but they can’t walk on land. Their spindly legs can’t support the weight of their heavy exoskeleton. I wanted a scene with a lobster walking on the beach, however, so I devised an insect-like walk that isn’t technically correct for a lobster but does the job. SO MANY LEGS. Not finished yet, but it’s coming along.
Lady Lazarus 