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Award-winning animator Robert Brown is soon to release his latest work, inspired by the famous folktale of The Green Lady of Caerphilly Castle.

Robert, born in Somerset, has lived in Caerphilly for the last 22 years, and told Caerphilly Observer how his love for animation began when he was just 12.

“I started off making things on Super 8mm films then moved onto hand-drawn animation, as well as shaping all of the models I used myself.

“Drawing soon took over so I decided to give it a go and enrolled in Newport film school before landing a job in London in 1986 where I worked on When the Wind Blows.”

From there, Robert went on to make four short films – winning 13 awards – with his work featuring on BBC, ITV, Channel 4, as well as animating a music video for Sir Tom Jones.

In 2018, Robert wrote and Illustrated his first children’s book ‘Hafwen and the Egg’ and his latest book ‘Hafwen and her Butterfly‘ was published in 2021.

Keen to work on a ‘darker’ tale however, Robert decided to bring the infamous Green Lady to life for an upcoming short film. He explained: “I consider myself half-Welsh so came up with the idea of doing something on the Green Lady. It had been staring me in the face really.

“I still like to do things the old fashioned way, so I’ve spent 14 months on this one, that includes over 1,000 drawings, as well as all the colouring and everything else involved.

“It’s painstaking at times, not many people do it these days with everything moving to digital platforms. I still had to go digital when doing professional work, but not so much anymore.”

According to folklore, The Green Lady of Caerphilly Castle is a ghost story about the haunting of Alice of Angouleme, the wife of Gilbert de Clare – who built Caerphilly Castle.

It’s said Alice had an affair with Prince Gruffudd the Fair, and when De Clare found out, he banished her to France and ordered his men to kill Gruffudd. Alice died of a broken heart, and her ghost is said to haunt the castle in green robes, waiting for her lover’s return.

Robert continued: “It’s a great story, and it’s due to premier for free in Chapter MovieMaker, Cardiff, on Monday February 3 at 6pm.

“It’ll then tour a few film festivals before eventually being released online for free.”

Robert added: “The film stuff is what I’ve really enjoyed and has pretty much taken over now as I’m semi-retired. I’m looking forward to this next one.”

A trailer for the three-minute short film can be found on Robert’s Facebook page, with more of his work available on his website.