Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1525032
A LIFELONG PASSION FOR THE ART OF DRAWING INFORMS EVERY ASPECT OF VALERIO FABBRETTI'S ANIMATION CAREER. No matter what his job description may be— Character Designer, Art Director, Creative Director, Illustrator—Valerio Fabbretti is always drawing. In fact, he loves drawing so much, he does it whether he's on or off the job. He's currently working on his own comic book series called Spider and Fly, an ongoing passion project on top of his work as an Art Director and most recently as Creative Director, where he was part of a team designing and art directing new original series in development at Cartoon Network. Born in Rome, Fabbretti's earliest memories include pencil in hand. Just Draw It "I used to draw on grocery receipts, school desks, or the paper tablecloths that usually cover the tables of the pizzerie in Italy," he recalls. In the 1980s, his grandfather was a set builder on a Western movie based on an Italian comic book series called Tex. After befriending the comic book publisher, his grandfather was gifted the first 300 books in the series, and he continued collecting, buying a new issue each month. Fabbretti grew up reading these comics in his grandfather's studio side-by-side with his grandfather reading the newspaper. "I spent hours copying them, trying to learn anatomy and inking," he says. After high school Fabbretti left Italy to study at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. It was a big move at the age of 19 , and he assumed it would be temporary as he improved his English while studying art. He took classes in figure drawing, and learned anatomy, perspective, and how to paint. He hadn't had formal training before, so every class, he says, was a huge discovery for him. While illustration was his major, he became intrigued by the world of animation. As a kid he'd watched countless cartoons, "but I never knew how they were made or that drawing in the animation industry could be a possible career path," he says. Toward the end of his studies, his interest in animation grew, inspired by classmates and meetings with artists working in the field. T H E C L I M B 12 KEYFRAME