A DUNMANWAY-based animator will be flying the flag for West Cork at next month’s Children and Family Awards in New York for his work on the Apple TV+ series Wonder Pets: In the City.

Kavaleer Productions has received five nominations for their animated series, and Tom Gray has been nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Preschool Animated Series with the awards being held on March 2nd.

The animation director is originally from Dublin but moved to Dunmanway about 10 years ago with his wife Roisín, who is from the area.

‘This is my first time being nominated for an Emmy so it’s very exciting and I’m looking forward to heading to New York for the awards ceremony,’ he told The Southern Star.

‘Getting the Wonder Pets was a big deal as it was a reboot of a really successful show in America and it’s fantastic that we have received five nominations.

We were working with a studio in New York called Snowflake Films NYC, who are specialists in Adobe After Effects and we had huge support from them.’

A graduate of the respected animation course at the then-Ballyfermot Senior College, the dad of two has been working in animation for the past 20 years while he has been with Kavaleer Productions for the past six years.

‘I wanted to draw and Ballyfermot focussed more on drawing than anything else. This was all at a time too before computers and now that’s all we use in animation.’

Tom joked that he was working remotely from home before it became ‘cool’ during the pandemic.

Tom Gray at work in his garden shed in Dunmanway.

‘I was the first person to use the facilities at the Brookpark Business Centre in Dunamnway and was on my own there for  along time until lockdown. It got really busy then so I went back home to work.’

Tom’s office, complete with two big computer  screens, is now at the bottom of his garden after he purchased a garden office during lockdown.

‘The animation industry more than any other has embraced remote working. A lot of animation is based around Dublin and if you wanted people to move there it would be difficult securing accommodation there now. It was starting to get a bit spicy when we were leaving at the time.’

He added that he’s been very lucky in his career to date and has managed to bounce between different projects and work his way up.

‘AI is also knocking on the door in animation but the problem is that it’s not production-ready. It’s lowered the barrier for making something but not necessarily making something that you want. It’s just not suited for raw creativity.’

His latest project, which premiered last weekend on RTÉ KIDSjr features Late Late Toy Show star Adam King from Killeagh who lends his voice in Adam Loves Adventures.

‘I directed that and was lucky to be involved in this great series. He is fantastic young fellow and so professional and prepared. It’s all centred on him and we put him a spaceship and a crew and he’s flying around having adventures.’