Interview: Sandro Corsaro, Animator, Los Angeles, CA
Name
Sandro Corsaro
Creative field
Animation & Digital Media
Location
Los Angeles, CA
Website
Describe yourself in three words…
Enthusiastic, fun, storyteller
Tell us about your background…
I grew up outside in a small town called Stoneham, just north of Boston, Massachusetts and loved to draw as a kid. I made my way out to Los Angeles and studied Animation and Fine Arts at The University of Southern California. While in school, earned an amazing internship on The Iron Giant. With a lot of hard work I was able to get my foot in the door and start working in the animation industry.
I worked in creative development for Sony, Warner Bros. and MTV Networks. With the advent of digital tablets, I found my niche and began specializing in Flash animation. The immediacy of paperless animation was fascinating. Within a few years I was creating projects for clients such as Intel, Mattel, and MCA Records. Among my personal endeavors have been two published books: The Flash Animator and Hollywood 2D Digital Animation.
In them I shared distinctive techniques for applying traditional animation principles in the Flash environment. As an author and animator, I have been fortunate to travel around the world speak at conferences such as Siggraph, NAB, Flash Forward and on G4Tech TV. It has been a lot of fun meeting different artists and hearing various perspectives on creative.
Tell us about what you do!
As the creator of Kick Buttowski – Suburban Daredevil for Disney XD, I work with an incredibly talented team of people to develop stories and characters that help shape the world. The show is about a little boy who has big dreams to become the world’s greatest daredevil. He is extremely determined and doesn’t let much get in his way. The show is full of great comedy and action. I also work as the Creative Director for Disney Online. It’s pretty fun to immerse myself in the world of digital media and figure out unique ways to infuse the world’s greatest stories and characters across new digital initiatives.
Who or what inspires you?
Innovation inspires me. Imaginative leaders at companies like Disney, Apple and Google prove what can happen when creativity pushes technology.
What has been your proudest moment so far?
Celebrating the premier of Kick Buttowski with my close friends and family was very rewarding. Against all odds, they supported and believed in me from the very beginning. It was a surreal moment to be surrounded by these special people and think back to the first drawings I made back in 2002. It has been a long but gratifying road.
And your greatest project?
It certainly wasn’t 'my' project – but working on The Iron Giant as my first foray into Hollywood was pretty unbelievable. It was directed by Brad Bird, who went on direct The Incredibles and Ratatouille for Pixar. While it was my first project, I knew there was something special about the people around me. I was still in college at that time and merely an Art Direction intern, but observed how a good director extracted unique talents through pitching a compelling creative vision. I gained a deep appreciation for passionate storytelling and elegant craftsmanship that I take with me into every project.
What do you hope to be doing in five years time?
Telling more stories...
When you aren’t being creative, you are…?
Observing. I constantly observe people – their mannerisms, speech cadence, the way they walk – all sorts of things. You never know when you might find a kernel of a great character within somebody.
Anything exciting ongoing or in the pipeline?
More Kick Buttowski!
Finally, any words of wisdom to other creative people?
Be passionate about your work. Immerse yourself in your creative vision and tenaciously follow through!
