Leo Antolini

If people would like to contact you, how would you like to be contacted? (Email, Webpage)

leantolini@yahoo.com
http://popcircus.blogspot.com

What type of tools or media do you use?

I like to sketch really, really loose, so I usually
start with Col-erase blue animation pencil (although
sometimes I’ll use a regular 3B pencil or even a
mechanical pencil for doing loose sketches). Then I
either clean up the drawing, scan it and paint it in
Photoshop or (more often than not) I scan the rough
sketch and work directly over it in Illustrator. I’m
trying to force myself to start using Flash for vector
drawing, since it’s probably better and more
practical, but it’s hard to shake the Illustrator
habit.

Where is the place you would like to work or be an Intern if you had a choice?

Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon are my big dream
studios, either one of those would be great to work
at. However, there’s definitely cool shows to work on
at DisneyTV and WB. Also smaller places like Wild
Brain or Renegade. Then there’s Pixar, of course, but
I’m not even close to being that good yet…

Who do you think are the top character designers out there?

Craig Kellman is absolutely brilliant (and a super
nice guy, too!) I also love Alex Kirwan, Shannon
Tindle, Gabe Swarr, Stephen Silver, Mark Ackland, Rob
Lilly, Ben Balistreri, Teddy Newton, Lou Romano…I
could go on, there’s lots of amazing, inspiring
artists working in the industry right now.

What are some of your favorite character designs which you have seen?

Man, that’s tough, there’s a lot of em…Pretty much all
the characters from Foster’s Home for Imaginary
Friends are really beautiful. Samurai Jack, the
Powerpuff Girls, Kim Possible, Camp Lazlo, the X’s and
the movies Madagascar and Robots all have some great
character designs in them. And of course, older
classics like the Hanna-Barbera cartoons from the
60’s.

What is your most favorite subject to draw? And why?

I really enjoy drawing animal characters, mainly from
my head (although given the choice between doing
figure drawing or live animal drawing, I’ll still go
for the animals) I gravitate towards a very cartoony
style, and animals have such great shapes in their
bodies and features…they make great characters!

What inspired you to become an Artist?

I’ve always loved to draw. Watching way too cartoons
as a kid was probably pretty influential too, but it
was when Cartoon Network came into its own and started
making all those cool new shows (like Dexter’s
Laboratory and Cow and Chicken) it he mid-90’s that I
really made the decision to pursue art as a career.

What are some of your favorite website links that would be relevant to this Blog?

http://www.gruesomestein.blogspot.com/
http://www.dankrall.com/
http://bushiboy.blogspot.com/
http://chrisbattleillustration.blogspot.com/
http://pinkydee.blogspot.com/
http://saltysugar.com/
http://shannontindle.blogspot.com/











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