Sandro Cleuzo...The Man...The Legend...The Myth... and my friend!

 Who is Sandro????

We in the Animation industry do not ask that question anymore because we all know who he is. He so well known that when I say I know him people's eyes open wide and they ask "no way!!!".  But he was actually the one who taught me how to animate.

(Sandro and I when we started at Don Bluth Studios in 1990)

Say WHAT??? But you have been in the animation industry for 34 years!! That's right. He has been doing this for over 35 years and I still remember the first day we met at a animation studio agency back in Brazil. They did a lot of commercials and Sandro use to sit in the back of the studio above a garage where they set up a small space for him and potentially a 2 or 3 more people. He was over there by himself, we were introduced and he gave me a scene he has worked on to train me as an inbetweener. It was a struggle at first but he taught me more and more and eventually I start to animate little things here and there.

A couple of years went by and we became really good friends. I use to go to his house, he use to go to mine and the next 3 years were great. We even started to work on our own little movie but something  else came up that changed our lives.

At the end of 1989, being a huge fan of  Don Bluth, he asked me if I wanted to go with him to Dublin, Ireland where the studio was set up. At first I said no because the thought of leaving my family behind was absurd but after a couple of months I said yes and on May 25th of 1990 and with couple of a thousand dollars in our pockets, we left to a strange and foreign country, barely (and I mean barely) speaking the language and trying to find our place in the world.

There is a lot to the story but so I don't make this too long (and boring), he became a household name in the animation industry, working for Disney for years and after that in many other big hit movies like Klaus, Missing Link, Angry Birds, Kung Fu Panda, Enchanted and many others, including Mary Poppins Returns where he won an Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for character Animation in a live Action Production.... (well...DUH!) He also is a fantastic character designer and his work is all over the place including 5... no... 7...wait....maybe 10 books? I don't know...I lost count. But every single one is worth it. 

But most of all of this, despite all his accomplishments and awards, he is my friend that took a chance on me and help me become a good animator and a good designer and a good person. Last year we celebrated 30 years since we left Brazil to pursue our dreams and I can say it worked out well. We haven't seen each other in years but he has always been there for me, even on my hardest times, and no matter how successful one is, that friendship is an award on itself.

The stories are so amazing, he even ended up marrying my best friend from childhood... but that is a story for another time. Maybe I should write a book about it one day. It would be called " Animating a Friendship" ;)

Cheers 

 

Poster Boy....

Hi!

If you are wondering I have never been on a poster or represented a major social or religious group, but I always wanted to create a poster, something that represents many years of work and creation in my career.  

Being a professional animator, I never had a lot of time to create characters as much as giving them life but character design was always something I strived for and besides an opportunity here and there to create something unique, only after I went solo is when I had the chance to have my creative mind flow like never before and come up with hundreds, if not thousands of characters for Children's Books, Games and TV Shows as well as my own original designs.

I enjoy every moment of it and although I am very critical of my work, there are characters that I actually like and want to share with everyone. At first I though of a book, then t-shirts, but then I thought "What if I put some of my characters on a Poster and title it "The Art and Animation of an Animation Artist"?

Honestly, I had no idea how long it will take me to put it all together. Just the composition took me forever but choosing over 150 characters to put in it was a very long process, considering a lot of the ones I liked were older drawings and I just wanted to do them again.

After months I finally came up with something I was happy with and I got them printed in high quality paper and they looked great. I sold out of them pretty quickly, although a couple of people asked me why they should buy my poster if I wasn't famous or anything. I can't say it didn't hurt to hear that, not because I wanted to be famous but because I just want people to get it if they enjoy the designs and would love to have that up on their wall.

I'm now printing a second run with 2 different sizes, 24x36 and 18x24 which will be available in a couple of months...

...BUT WAIT!!!! There's more...

Due to the (mild)success of the first one, I'm also working on my second poster with better and funnier characters. I think I'm a better character designer now and I have a feeling this one will be more fun. 

The thing is, regardless if I'm famous or not, I just wanted to share some of my 30+ years of work in Animation, books, games and TV shows that I had the pleasure to be part of. I'm lucky to do what I love and I still love doing this as much as I did when I started. 

Having said that, I'm pretty sure a 3rd poster will be on its way in the near future..... eventually :)

Cheers

An Animated Year....

 Hi Folks!

Welcome back to my blog.

This year has been a very good one professionally speaking. I was able to work on 3 different movies coming up in the next few months. I had the honor to work with WB on their upcoming new hit Space Jam 2 New Legacy and it was a blast to be able to animate such legendary characters. It also gave me the opportunity to share the credits with some people I have not worked with in many years. 

I also worked as a character designer for the end credits on Hotel Transylvania 4 Transformania. I love those little animations they do at the end of the movie and to be able to be part of this great franchise was a nice addition to my resume :)

I also animated intensely on the second season of Netflix's Green Eggs and Ham. That was an experience I will never forget. The characters were great and I worked my butt off to get the best animation to them as I could. The first season was great but this one will be better specially because of the quality of animation that is absolutely fantastic.

So if you have kids (or just want to enjoy a good movie) make sure to check  Space Jam New Legacy, Hotel Transylvania Transformania and Green Eggs and Ham. I'm also working on a new Tom & Jerry Christmas Special that will be out sometime....well...before Christmas.... so I will keep you updated.

I have been working on the T&J show for a few years now and you

can find it on Boomerang TV as well as a lot of great classic cartoons there too. I'm not sponsored by them but I could.....can you hear me Boomerang? ;)

That's all Folks!

Cheers