Best Animation Studios in Dublin (2026)

Introduction

Dublin has 12 animation studios worth a close look in 2026, ranging from Brown Bag Films and Boulder Media, which make series for global streamers and broadcasters, to small shops that build stop-motion commercials and short explainers. They were chosen for recent work, awards and the range of what they make.

Animation is one of the stronger parts of Irish screen production, and Ireland offers a tax credit of up to 32% on eligible animation spend under Section 481. Dublin studios did well at the most recent Irish Animation Awards, held in Galway in May 2025: Turnip + Duck took four prizes for Maddie + Triggs, the highest tally of the night, and Kavaleer Productions and Brown Bag Films took two each. The next ceremony is set for May 2027. The industry body Animation Ireland criticised Budget 2027 in October 2026 as a failure to deliver for the sector, so incentives are worth checking when a project is being financed.

Every studio here has a Dublin address or a stated Dublin base in 2026. Well-known Irish names based elsewhere, such as Cartoon Saloon in Kilkenny, are left out. The list is unranked, since the right choice depends on format, technique and budget.

The best animation studios in Dublin

1. Brown Bag Films

Scholastic, through 9 Story Media Group · Smithfield · brownbagfilms.com

Brown Bag Films was founded in Dublin in 1994 by Cathal Gaffney and Darragh O’Connell. 9 Story Media Group bought it in 2015, and 9 Story became part of Scholastic in 2024. Its Dublin studio spans three buildings in Smithfield, with animation, picture post and audio post in house, and it also has offices in Toronto and Bali. At the 2025 Irish Animation Awards it won best script for a feature or special with Lu and the Bally Bunch, along with the Sustainability Champion award.

Its recent slate includes Dr. Seuss’ The Sneetches and Horton! for Netflix, plus a second season of RoboGobo, Sam Witch and the CG special Dasher for Disney. Earlier series include Doc McStuffins, Peter Rabbit, Vampirina and Ada Twist, Scientist. Two of its shorts, Give Up Yer Aul Sins and Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty, were nominated for Oscars.

2. Boulder Media

Founded 2000 · Hawkins Street, Dublin 2 · bouldermedia.tv

Boulder Media has been making animation in Dublin since 2000, across kids’ series, adult comedy and features. Its credits include My Little Pony: A New Generation, which the studio describes as Ireland’s first full-length CG feature.

The adult work is a point of difference, with Krapopolis, Grimsburg, Captain Fall and Cat Burglar on its slate. Kids’ and family credits include The Amazing World of Gumball, Danger Mouse, Go Jetters and DC Superhero Girls. The studio publishes an AI usage statement on its site, which is useful for clients with a policy on the subject.

3. Giant Animation

Independent · Phibsborough · giantanimation.ie

Giant Animation is an independent CG studio making TV series, films and commercials. It marked 15 years in business when it opened its first office outside Ireland, in Barcelona, under CEO Alex Sherwood.

Giant produced all 40 episodes of The Fairly OddParents: A New Wish for Nickelodeon and Netflix from its Irish studio, along with ten episodes of Legends of Evergreen Hills for Chick-fil-A’s Play app. Its first CG family feature, Milo, was planned to enter preproduction in 2026, and Rachel’s Pet Parlour is an original series for ages five to seven.

4. Kavaleer Productions

Irish studio with a Manchester arm · The Liberties · kavaleer.com

Kavaleer is a 2D children’s animation studio with a creative team of about 100, including BAFTA-nominated production crew. It opened Kavaleer UK in Manchester in autumn 2024. Boy Girl Dog Cat Mouse Cheese won two prizes at the 2025 Irish Animation Awards: best kids’ series from the jury and the kids’ choice award from young voters.

Other credits include Pablo, Kiva Can Do! and Lifeboat Luke, and the studio says its programming airs in more than 140 countries. It offers script-to-screen service work as well as originals, can help close finance using the Irish tax credit, and runs pipelines in Harmony, Adobe Animate, After Effects and CelAction.

5. JAM Media

Founded 2002 · Kevin Street, Dublin 8 · jammedia.com

JAM Media makes animated and live-action shows for children, built around comic characters, under the motto “Animation with Humour and Heart”. Animators John Rice, Alan Shannon and Mark Cumberton founded it in 2002, and it works across Ireland and the UK, including a Belfast operation that ran an introductory 3D animation course in March 2026.

Isadora Moon and BeddyByes are listed as in production, with Delivery Dan and Maki Sign in development. Earlier work includes Jessy and Nessy, Becca’s Bunch, Nova Jones, Tilly and Friends, and Little Roy. The mix of animation and live action suits franchise projects that may need both.

6. Turnip + Duck

Founded 2016 · Dublin · turnipandduck.com

Turnip + Duck calls itself a writer-led creator studio. Colm Tobin and Aidan O’Donovan set it up in 2016, and it led the 2025 Irish Animation Awards with four prizes for Maddie + Triggs: best preschool series, best original song, best new IP and best innovation. The studio also lists a Kidscreen Award for Best New Series in March 2026.

Maddie + Triggs follows a vision-impaired girl and her dog, and runs as both a 2D series and a podcast. Other titles include Critters TV, Atom Town and Brain Freeze, across 2D and mixed media. The studio has made its shows with 2D houses, 3D specialists, nature documentarians and puppet builders, so ask which partners would handle a given project.

7. Treehouse Republic

Founded 2010 · Amiens Street, Dublin 1 · treehouserepublic.com

Treehouse Republic is a 2D studio focused on comedy and action, founded in 2010. It reports more than 2,100 minutes of content to date, and describes itself as able to take on co-productions, commercials, service work, shorts and TV shows.

Named work includes Atom Town, Cozmo & Friends!, Ballybraddan (about a primary school hurling championship), Hungry Bear Tales and the adult series Hey Fuzzy Yellow. Clients listed by Animation Ireland include RTÉ, Mattel and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

8. Paper Panther

Founded by Carol Freeman · Upper Leeson Street, Dublin 4 · paperpanther.ie

Paper Panther specialises in hand-crafted stop-motion, using felt puppets, paper cut-outs and hand-painted animation. Founder and director Carol Freeman runs it as a small team, working across film, advertising, television and online content.

Commercial and commissioned work includes Dulux’s Colour Your Home, Eason’s Christmas, the Texaco Children’s Art Contest, TED-Ed films on the Táin and Ulysses, and a BBC Ideas series. Its own films include The Bird and the Whale. For commercial work it is represented by Assembly in Ireland and Noble600 in the US.

9. Igloo Animations

Irish studio · Harold’s Cross · iglooanimations.com

Igloo Animations works in 2D digital and mixed media, on TV series, short films, commercials and explainers. Its series Tales From Dun Draiochta won best TV series for ages six and over, along with the best script prize in the same category, at the 2023 Irish Animation Awards.

Its TV work has aired on RTÉ with funding from Screen Ireland and the BAI, and its shorts have screened at Cannes, Galway, Cork and Tampere. The studio’s client logos include the British Council, ESB, Enterprise Ireland, University College Dublin and Bord na Móna, so it is a practical choice for public-sector and corporate explainer work.

10. Studio 9

Founded 2017 · North Great Georges Street, Dublin 1 · studio9.ie

Studio 9 makes branded content and short-form animation, combining stop-motion and 2D. Joe Coveney and John O’Connell set it up in 2017, and they build each project with a changing network of specialists.

Featured work includes Navigating the Rough Seas for RTÉ (2022) and Science on Screen for the research centre CÚRAM. The studio’s focus is on explaining a topic clearly in a short film, which suits science, public-sector and brand briefs better than long-form series.

11. Wiggleywoo

Founded 2012 · Killiney · wiggleywoo.com

Wiggleywoo is a family animation studio in south County Dublin, founded in 2012, with Gilly as creative director and Susan Broe as producer. Its preschool series The Day Henry Met has aired in 192 countries, including on Nick Jr International and RTÉjr, and won a Pulcinella Award at Cartoons on the Bay.

Its short Ceol, funded by Screen Ireland with Animation Ireland and the National Talent Academy for Animation, screened at the Irish Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka and was selected for several festivals in 2026. The preschool series Farmer Mo is in production, and the feature Tea with the Dead has Colm Meaney in its cast.

12. Piranha Bar

Led by partner Richard Chaney · Fitzwilliam Square · piranhabar.ie

Piranha Bar is a Dublin creative studio listed in Animation Ireland’s studio directory, organised around Studio, Directors, VFX, Broadcast and Originals. Richard Chaney leads the studio as partner and creative head, and develops original IP alongside commissioned brand work.

Clients named on its site include Heineken, Three, Virgin Media, Citroën, Juventus and Takara Tomy. It sits closer to commercials and brand content than the series studios above, so ask to see animation work specifically when briefing it.

What to look for in a Dublin animation studio

Start with technique, because Dublin studios tend to specialise. Giant works in CG, Kavaleer and Treehouse Republic are mainly 2D, and Paper Panther and Studio 9 build by hand with stop-motion. A pipeline chosen to suit the look will usually cost less than asking a studio to work against its habits.

Separate service work from original IP when you read a credit list. Many Dublin studios do both, and a credit might mean full production, a share of a co-production or episodes supplied to another company. Ask what was done in Dublin, and who led it, on the two or three credits closest to your project.

Finance often shapes the studio decision for longer projects. The Irish tax credit runs up to 32% of eligible spend, and larger studios such as Kavaleer say they can help close finance on service work. Commissioners should take their own tax advice on what qualifies. For a 30-second commercial or a short explainer, the deciding factors are more likely to be design, turnaround and the size of the team.

Ask how review runs from animatic to final delivery. Animation accumulates versions quickly, with storyboards, layouts, renders and sound passing between artists, producers and clients. A studio with a clear habit for version control and frame-specific notes will usually spend less of the schedule on retakes caused by misread feedback.

How Fabric helps animation teams

Fabric gives an animation studio one workspace for its production files, reference and client feedback, with AI search across all of it. A studio running several productions can keep scripts, boards, designs and call notes for each one in a shared folder, so everyone sees the latest version.

Renders and picture files can sit in Fabric’s cloud drive, which streams files on demand so they take no local disk space, and opens heavy files without a full download. There is more on this in a home for your rendering files. Search works by meaning across documents, images and transcribed audio and video, so a voice session or a past design can be found by describing it, and colour search helps when matching a palette.

Early development fits well on a canvas, an infinite whiteboard for storyboards and style frames with Figma, YouTube and Vimeo embeds. Once shots are moving, Kanban turns a folder into a board whose cards are the files themselves, which suits a pipeline of boards, animatics, animation and final.

Client feedback runs through sharing. Share an animatic or cut with the client as a commenter, with no sign-up needed, and they can leave timestamped comments on video and audio, draw on the video frame with a comment, or draw on a still image and attach a comment to the drawing. The team marks each comment completed as it is dealt with, so a round of notes works like a checklist.

For final delivery, any file or folder can be published as a web page, which is view-only with optional download, and password protected where a project is under embargo.

Password protection is included on Pro and Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best animation studio in Dublin?

It depends on the format. Brown Bag Films and Boulder Media have the longest records on international series, Turnip + Duck led the 2025 Irish Animation Awards with four prizes, and Paper Panther specialises in stop-motion, including commercials.

Why is Cartoon Saloon not on this list?

Cartoon Saloon is based in Kilkenny, and this list only includes studios with a base in Greater Dublin. The same applies to Moetion Films in Galway and Studio Meala in Roscommon, which also won at the 2025 Irish Animation Awards.

Which Dublin animation studios make commercials?

Giant Animation, Paper Panther, Igloo Animations, Studio 9, Treehouse Republic and Piranha Bar all list commercial or branded work. Paper Panther and Studio 9 lean towards handmade techniques, and Piranha Bar works mostly with brands and agencies.

How does the Irish tax credit apply to animation?

Ireland offers a credit of up to 32% on eligible animation spend under Section 481, and several studios on this list use it to help finance service and co-production work. Eligibility depends on the project, so it needs checking with a tax adviser and the studio early on.

Where can I find other production specialists in Dublin?

Animation projects often need separate finishing, so it can help to see the lists for post-production in Dublin and VFX in Dublin. Some studios here, including Brown Bag Films, keep picture and audio post in house.

Related lists

Animation studios in other cities: New York · London · Los Angeles · Chicago · Toronto

More in Dublin: Creative agencies · Video production · VFX · Editing · Post-production · Content studios

Run your studio on Fabric: Fabric for creative teams · Fabric for motion design teams · Review and approval