Aodh Ó Riagáin, otherwise known as Oreganillo, is a multidisciplinary artist working across illustration, comics, traditional animation, and film. A graduate of English Literature from University College Dublin, he divides his creative life between Lisbon and Dublin.
Rooted in bespoke techniques — brush, pen, and ink combined with watercolour and/or digital colour — Aodh is devoted to the bardic tradition of ancient Ireland, adapting myth, folklore and fantasy across mediums. Notable projects in this line of work include a collaboration with the late Manchán Magan on Ireland in Iceland: Gaelic Remnants in a Nordic Land, a short animation with Manchán, two animations on The Táin Bulls for TG4, and the comic Lochlannach for Inverse. Aodh channels Ireland’s storytelling heritage to create art that bridges ancient tradition and contemporary expression.
Outside of this body of work, Aodh is committed to collaboration. Key projects include animation for theatre projects with Suresh Nampuri of Já Theatre (Nightfall & Já Fest 2023 Trailer); two music videos for Amano Miura (Burn & The Birthing House); a music video for Carstiboy (Heute Ist Der Tag); promotional animations for Sean O'Sullivan of Badly Made Books; a series of illustrations created for No Name Bar & O'Regan's Bar in Dublin; and more.
The continuing solo projects created entirely by Oreganillo include the experimental short film Candlebaths; a range of short comics including Piercing Tire for Carte Blanche and Base Metals & Gold published by WiggleBird Mailing Club; and many more.
Aodh’s work explores themes such as the shapeshifting body; myth, fable, and folklore; the relationship between individual and community; decolonization; mortality and eternity; the spacetime continuum; nature and animism.
Aodh is Irish, genderfluid and is neurodivergent, aspects which continually inform the work.
Aodh (/iː, eɪ/ EE, AY, Irish: [iː, eː], Scottish Gaelic: [ɯː]; Old Irish: Áed) is an Irish and Scottish Gaelic male given name, originally meaning "fire".The family name O'Regan is an Anglicized form of the Irish surname Ó Riagáin, from Ua Riagáin. The meaning is likely to have originated in ancient Gaelic ri "sovereign, king" and the diminutive suffix -in; thus "the king's child" or "big king".
