EWAN McILVANEY animation

SHOWREEL (2024)Hi! I'm Ewan McIlvaney, a UK based 2D Animator and Illustrator. Check out some of my work!

where to find me

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POMEGRANATE PLANET

CANDLE MAN

BABY AND TEACHER

ILLUSTRATIONS

POMEGRANATE PLANET (2024)Pomegranate Planet is my final year Sci-Fi comedy short film that premiered at the 2024 MMU Meet The Future degree show.Everything was designed by me, the concept, script, environments, character designs and the animation, except from the amazing music, which was created by Kámea Németh.Backgrounds were drawn in Paint Tool Sai, characters were animated in Toon Boom Harmony and it was edited in Adobe Premiere Pro.

A human traveler lands on a distant, seemingly empty planet in an asteroid's path. Luckily, the fruit there is the best tasting in the galaxy, so the asteroid doesn't really faze her. When the fruit starts coming alive, however, there starts to be problems.The concept came from me eating lychees, thinking they are maybe the best tasting fruit in the galaxy and thinking such a tasty fruit comes in such a weird, spiky container. It must be alien.

Environment Designs

Character Designs

POMEGRANATE PLANETEXT. SPACEA SPACESHIP sputters through the stars.
Inside, MEL GRENADINE is suffering.
MEL pilots the ship, clearly looking for something. There are maps and books around the interface hastily.
With a stern face, she notices it.The SHIP’s landing whirrs escalate in pitch.
While MEL looks away, on a screen the interface displays:SCANNING – UNIDENTIFIED PLANET .
LIFESCAN PROCEDURE INITIALIZING - - - -
COMMUNICATIONS TO HOMEWORLD - - - X – X – X
RETRY ? or CANCEL ?MEL frustratedly cancels the program.HOMEWORLD COMMUNICATIONS OFFLINE .
ALL SCANS ABORTED .
ARE YOU SURE ?EXT. PLANET SURFACEOn a planet with an off-yellow ground, cliff-like floating peninsulas and twisted trees, MEL strolls. The temperature feels welcoming, perfect for her human skin, and the gravity seems just like Earth’s. On those odd trees are bright burgundy fruits.
MEL picks a fruit, and bites it.
In those bites, relief is as prevalent as the perfectly balanced tastes in the gooey seeds.
She rests her head on a hand, relaxed sitting beside the tree and turns her head in thought. She has stumbled into an even greater view.
The segments of the planet become clear to her. At her vantage point, she can see lush white rivers, spiked orange-pink mountains, trees with upwardly protruding leaves like feathered tails from the ground. She is entranced.The many fruits of this world are seen in her palm, one after another, lit by the different colours of the different environments this planet encompasses.INT. MEL’S SPACESHIPThe fruits now lie in a row on a side panel of the ship, near a blender, minifridge, and all sorts of examination implements tucked in the tight space.
PAN from these fruits towards the middle of the ship, where MEL tinkers with some fruit to the right of a large, imposing screen.
On the screen:
METEOR THREAT IMMINENT . EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY .A hurtling meteor shows on the screen.
MEL’s face is hidden. She stares in the shadow of the meteor for a moment. Then she dismisses it.
She turns, sighs, and logs her newest fruit in her personal diary with a weary smile.
“White section: White delicious pearls, like nectar. Similar to the white rivers of life fulfilling refreshing juice. Almost snowlike(?)
Skin: Imposing, spikey, rough, turtle like shell. Rocky burnt ground, yet colour is refreshing. Kinder and softer than it looks. Diggable.”
POV – METEOR
The meteor steadily heads towards the vibrant planet with menace.EXT. PLANET, outside ship
A rotting pomegranate, half hollowed, sits on the ground, like a dropped eggshell.
MEL sees this. She crouches, hands outstretched, to pick it up.
The fruit corpse twitches.
MEL is disturbed.
In the heat of her hands, an almost incubation-like process occurs – and one of the pomegranate’s juice sacs BURSTS, unleashing an intense red and green spray. Roots emerge like spider legs.
HORRIFIED, MEL drops the FRUIT, yet it rises back up unfazed, floating in front of her face.The FRUIT shakes and grows features. An eye, in the middle segment, a slitted mouth underneath, 3 more eyes open up after the main one around the sides. Just when it couldn’t get creepier, the mouth smirks, and then – Sticks out its tongue.
MEL is no longer disturbed.
SHE is enraptured by the silly creature.
Unbeknownst to her, more silly creatures arise behind her. What looks like a banana grows a foot. Some grapes, noses. We shall not discuss what the peach grows.
The footed-banana kicks the back of MEL’s head, and she double takes the commotion behind her, then turns back to the pomegranate with anguish then a grimace, thoughts spinning – if they’re alive, then –SHE points to the pomegranate, then the sky.
The meteor looms large in the horizon.
MEL scrunches up her face. She seems annoyed.
She points again, and traces the meteor’s downward motion to the ground, then spreads her arms quickly outward imitating an explosion. She cartoonishly mimics dying, and smiles. She points to the pomegranate, back up to the sky, traces the motion towards the pomegranate, makes a hand explosion and then exasperated thumbs downs. Her hands claw to her face, and she almost rips it off for comfort.
She gestures for the pomegranate to follow, then picks up pace into a run.
Every subcontinent of the planet is scoured for its crops. She rustles bushes, trees, rivers, then takes the cargo to the ship.EXT. SHIP
A mountain of fruit overflows the ship’s main deck. MEL operates the cockpit. She inserts the space key into the space ignition. The spaceship poots. Not the sound you want, really.INT. COCKPIT
MEL mashes the controls. The fruit, which crowds up almost all of the back of the ship, starts crawling up MEL’s face. The pomegranate notices the commotion and wanders off.
MEL, defeated, starts up, and puts into the console –HOMEWORLD COMMUNICATIONS – REBOOT // . . .
SEND MESSAGE – HELP|The POMEGRANATE runs out of the ship, and other fruits follow.
A dragon fruit crawls like a hand, seemingly searching around. A Golana fruit hobbles and a Hala trundles like a caterpillar.
The pomegranate addresses the rabble and emulates the HUMAN.
It points to the ship with one of its roots and makes a lifting up motion.
The fruits also try this motion, with varying degrees of success.
MEL exits the ship and shoots the fruits with a judging look.
The pomegranate rushes to the ship’s edge and pushes upwards. A fraction of the fruits follow suit and MEL panics as it edges off the cliff. After a hesitation, she also pushes the ship.
THE SHIP falls.
MEL watches it, accosted by gravity... The vertigo intoxicating her.
Then JUMPS.
SHE LANDS, on the ship, Freefalling, hurtling, just like the meteor.
She’s dazed but determined. She clings to the ship, and swings down inside, heading to the control panel.
The ship TILTS, buckling under the weight. Its height stabilizes, no longer being dragged by gravity, but being pushed up by the mass of fruit. Yet it feels clear that this stasis will not last. MEL rushes to the cockpit as balance shifts and objects begin to fall. Including a blender.
MEL catches the blender, filled with juice. She pauses.
She crawls back out the ship and climbs along the side. She finds the fuel tank. She pours the container into the tank.The propulsion jets wheeze and start to flicker their lights on.
MEL laughs.
The SHIP rises.
MEL pulls every lever. The fruits gather in the bottom lifting the ship like a hand. The planet below sinks further and further out of sight.
And the meteor strikes.
MEL and the fruits watch. The ship jitters slightly but regains composure. As the planet dies...
They’re alive.
The pomegranate offers MEL a gift, a root-ful of seeds from its innards, which it grows back instantly. MEL furrows her brow, but still eats the offering.
It tastes amazing.

CANDLE-MAN (2023)Candle-Man was my 2nd year Uni film about a man who finds himself inexplicably set on fire.The concept came from me joking around with friends about stupid superhero origins like what if there was a man who set on fire and made places smell slightly nicer. Then I just kept on thinking about that idea, possibly too much.I wrote, storyboarded and animated it myself.Voice acting was provided by Kian Tinker as Candle-Man, Liam Harris as the Drunk Ruffian and me as Candle-Man's friend.Backgrounds were drawn in Paint Tool Sai, characters were animated in Toon Boom Harmony and it was edited in Adobe Premiere Pro.

Character and Environment Designs

Candle-Man Turnaround
Ruffian Turnaround
Pub Background
Bar Background
Candle-Man Design Ideation
The God of Hot Sauce
Rough Sketch Pub Toilets
Final Design Pub Toilets
Pub Toilets Alt Angle
Rough sketch for tone of setting

Storyboards

Baby and Teacher (2022)
Baby and Teacher was my first year Uni short film about an overworked teacher who has to take his baby to the school he works at.The concept came from me being an overthinker but wanting to appreciate the value in thinking less. Therefore I put a really smart character, a teacher, against a really dumb character, a baby, for antics to ensue but have a mutually beneficial relationship.I fully wrote, storyboarded and animated it myself, with music and sound produced by Ewan Robertson.Backgrounds were drawn in Paint Tool Sai, characters were animated in Toon Boom Harmony and it was edited in Adobe Premiere Pro.