First and foremost, I am a driven and expressive visual communicator. My goal is to paint purposeful beauty in motion by employing careful design and diverse technical skill sets in order to achieve world class sequences.

Ultan Courtney graduated from the National College of Art & Design in Dublin with a passion for graphic design and film. A career in motion graphics afforded the opportunity to draw inspiration from both fields simultaneously. After a short time in post-production, he joined RTÉ as a broadcast designer. There he had the opportunity to work on a wide variety of projects from packaging TV shows to 360 marketing campaigns and also a channel rebrand. He continued to sharpen his skills outside of work, exhibiting alternative movie posters with the Brainbelt Collective and upskilling with a variety of creative courses and masterclasses from photography to visual effects. This collection of experiences formed the basis of his video entry that won a Full Scholarship Competition and a bursary to study at the Vancouver Film School. 

Moving to study in Canada was a life-altering experience and served as a platform to redirect his motion design skills towards the types of problem solving required by the visual effects industry. In 2018 he returned to Vancouver, working on the Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. In less than a year he serviced seven lighting teams to contribute to over 80 shots in Sony Pictures Imageworks as the show’s dedicated in-house motion graphics artist. He then returned to Ireland to continue his work with the RTÉ Marketing department whilst undergoing specialist professional training in animation, cinematography and more advanced tools for 3D design, before spotting a unique opportunity for all these experiences in the 2021 IBC Accelerator program. Ultan was given priority enrolment with Epic Games’ Unreal Fellowship Program and in collaboration with the EBU, he co-led the Accelerator team: Smart Remote Production for Real-time Animation.

Smart Remote Production For Real-time Animation is an affordable virtual production pipeline tailored for broadcasters so that they can create animated content more easily.