Thank you, man!!!

I met Sandro in 1987 at Briquet Studios in Sao Paulo, Brazil where he was their only animator. The first day I was there he took one of the scenes he animated for a chocolate commercial and took all the inbetweens out and gave me the scene to inbetween. I was very raw at the time but I did it anyway. We became friends and I used to go to his house once in a while which was a couple of hours away by bus. He showed me his drawings and said that one day he wanted to work at Disney Studios. I believed that he would for I thought he was that good and I really looked up to him. We went through a lot of stuff together, including a car accident with his uncle and aunt, and in 1990 he invited me to go to Ireland with him to work with Don Bluth Studios. After a "No way" I changed my mind and decided to go.... On May 25th, 1990 we left Brazil under our parents tearful eyes to pursue our dreams.

After working in Ireland for 4 years and moving to the US to work for Fox Animation for the next 2 years, we finally parted when he got his dream job at Disney as an animator. I was so happy for him because I knew it was going to happen. He turned out to be one of Disney biggest assets and he became very successful not only professionally but in his personal life. He ended marring my oldest friend and it seems that we are all a big family.

Our lives went in different directions and we don't talk to each other as often as we should, but I have a lot to thank him for what he taught me, for all the support we gave each other when we were so far away from home, for helping me develop and grow as an animator when I started and for just being the nice guy he is.

So I want to start this new blog by thank you Sandro,  because after 26 years since we met the first time, I still look up to you today as much as I did then.

Cheers