Saturday, December 24, 2005

Black Panther
















After Milt Khal's Baghera it is really intimidating to come up with a new design for a black panther. But here I go. I hope you like it.

Thursday, December 15, 2005

The Swordsman


















I like a lot the humor and the style of the old Italian spaghetti westerns. Developing this character I was thinking of Terence Hill in the movie "They Call Me Trinity". Some of my colleagues at the studio (Munich Animation) liked the idea and helped me to developed it. Claudio Acciari did some nice color sketches and Andrea Blasich did some interesting location development.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Oh beautiful Chel!


















Here is a little homage to my favorite Rodolphe Guenoden's character: the exotic Chel.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Two Friends












Bill Peet's stories about impossible friendship between different animals always touched me.
What about a story with an old lion and a huge snake?

People of Munich



































Some drawings from my sketchbook.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

The Three Pigs


















We had this board here in the studio that was left blank for I don't know how long.
So, one day I did a little pig on the corner of it. The next day Andrea did a little pig and the day after Jakob did one too.
After three weeks the board was full of pigs.
We took this picture and then we realized that in the middle of all these pigs there was a bar tender. Now the question here is: who is the artist behind the mysterious bar tender?
The Three Pigs are (from left to right): me, Andrea Simonti and Jakob Jensen.

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Blue the Shaolin Dragon


















In 1999 Munich Animation was looking for a tv series idea.
I pitched "Blue the Shaolin Dragon" together with other two ideas that I developed with the help of my brother, Sauro.

Monday, December 05, 2005

Jester Till














These are the first drawings that I did for the character of Till from "Till Eulenspiegel".
They liked the one on the right but they wanted him less skinnier.

Modigliani














An homage to Amedeo Modigliani. To his graceful elongated women.

Saturday, December 03, 2005

Don Bluth influence


















Andrea Simonti (a colleague of mine here in Dreamworks) told me that the design of this characters shows a strong Don Bluth influence. What do you think?

Friday, December 02, 2005

Greek Vase














Back in Munich I was use to visit the Glyptothek in Konigsplatz. They have a huge collection of Greek Vases. The design of some of them was a real inspiration for me.

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Help I'm a Fish













I helped to design the Shark in "Help I'm a Fish".
The animated movie was produced by Munich Animation/A-film.
I suggested that it could be white and fortunately Stefan Fjeldmark and Michael Hegner (the directors) liked it.

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Country Girl













This country girl was done when I was in Munich.
Big hello to all the people from the old Munich Animation!

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Marvin















Marvin is one of the characters inspired by Frank Capra's "A Pocketful of Miracles".

Lion Tamer














This was an idea for a short movie about an old lion tamer in the ancient Rome.
As you can see the lion can't wait to perform.

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Sinbad Maquette














In 2002 I was in London working as lead animator on "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas".
I sculpted this head of Sinbad that we used as reference for some difficult shots. The head was pretty small, about 4 centimeters.

Friday, November 25, 2005

Frank Capra














Frank Capra's movies had a big infuence on me. Here are some characters that were inspired by Frank Capra's "A Pocketful of Miracles". Instead of apples the old woman sells black roses.

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Me and Sargent














The Huntington Gardens is one of my favorite places here in L.A..
Here I am at the gallery in front at one of the Sargent paintings.
Who doesn't like Sargent?

First post














Hi everybody and welcome to my Blog.