Originally born and raised in New England, Robert attended Paier College of Art, a private art school located in Hamden, Connecticut. He then transferred to Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, where he earned a BFA in Illustration in 1990. Following graduation he continued to advance his studies in Architectural Rendering, Production Design and Directing for Live Action Film at UCLA, in West Los Angeles.

Prior to his graduation, Robert was approached by recruiters from the Walt Disney Studios, seeking participants for a storyboard-training program. After successfully completing this program he sought out opportunities in the Background Layout and Environment Design areas of production within the studio. This in turn lead to a position in 1993, that involved working on a feature property through Disney’s Paris studio in France. Since then Robert has continued to work as a Layout Artist for Warner Brothers Feature Animation, Disney Direct to Home Videos and Walt Disney’s Feature Animation. He has also freelanced for numerous other studios.

Robert has advanced his career through accepting additional challenges and responsibilities as a Layout Supervisor and Production Designer. Projects have encompassed work ranging from direct to home video, to feature length films. This work has included international projects based in Germany, France and Australia. And the most recent international task involved the making of the movie “9“ in Luxembourg.

In addition to his numerous television credits, Robert’s direct to home video and feature format screen credits include Background Layout Artist on  “A Goofy Movie“, “Another Goofy Movie“, “Quest for Camelot”, and “Space Jam“, Production Designer on “Lady and the Tramp 2“, “Mulan 2“, and Co-Production Designer on “9” and Layout artist on “The Princess and the Frog”. Robert has also worked on numerous projects as a visual development and conceptual design artist. These undertakings range from animated and live action film, to parade float and interior design work. He has also taught part time and conducts lectures and workshops in Layout for Animation, Production Design and Professional Portfolio Presentations.

Currently, Robert is working for Walt Disney Feature Animation studios on their soon to be released “Winnie the Pooh” movie.

In 2007 Ventura was supervising art director on Class of 3000 the Cartoon Network TV Series created by André Benjamin (André 3000, Outkast) and Tommy Lynch (executive producer: South of Nowhere, Romeo!.)  Ventura’s work as a painter is on tour in the UK exhibiting at the Disney Hammersmith offices in London. A one-man-show is coming on December 12, 2009 and more artwork, prints and one-of-a-kind toys by Ventura will be available at CTN-X.

e-mail: valerioventura@hotmail.com
website(s):
http://www.valerioventura.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/valerioventura

Help us welcome Valerio Ventura to CTN-X 2009. Register Now http://www.regonline.com/ctnanimationexpo2009

Title: One on One Spotlight with Mike Mignola
Sponsored by The Creative Talent Network
CTNX09: Filmed Nov 2009; Posted April 2010
Length 47 min

Moderated by animation Producer and Director Don Hahn  this one on one interview  with An American Cartoonist Mike Mignola is a rare moment in time as these two giants in the industry speak casually about the inspiration and career of this legendary talent  Mike Mignola.

Don Hahn began his career in animation working for Disney Legend Wolfgang Reitherman as an assistant director on “The Fox and The Hound.” He worked closely with Director Don Bluth on the production of “Pete’s Dragon” and even worked in Bluth’s garage on the animated short “Banjo”. He later became production manager of The Black Cauldron (1985) and “The Great Mouse Detective” before moving on as an associate producer of Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988).

In 1989, Hahn makes his first mark as producer for the first Roger Rabbit short, Tummy Trouble, producing along with executive producers Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy, and Frank Marshall. He the became the producer for the benchmark animated feature Beauty and the Beast, released in 1991, which made him the first producer in Hollywood to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar for an animated film. His next production, 1994’s The Lion King, set worldwide box office records for an animated film and quickly became the highest grossing traditionally-animated film in history. In 1996 he produced The Hunchback of Notre Dame, in 2000 he was an Executive Producer on The Emperor’s New Groove.

In 2006, Hahn was interim head of Disney’s animation division during its successful merger with Pixar Animation Studios. Hahn received his second Academy Award nomination that same year in the category of Best Animated Short for The Little Match Girl, an adaptation of the classic Hans Christian Andersen tale which was originally intended for inclusion in a version of Fantasia.

Hahn just finished Directing “Waking Sleeping Beauty” and will produce tbe remake of Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie.

Mike Mignola was born September 16, 1960 in Berkeley, California and grew up in nearby Oakland, the eldest son of a tough and leathery cabinetmaker.  His fascination with ghosts and monsters began at an early age (he doesn’t remember why) and reading Dracula at age 12 introduced him to Victorian literature and folklore from which he has never recovered.

After graduating from the California College of Arts and Crafts in 1982 (hoping to find a way to draw monsters for a living) he moved to New York City to begin a career in the comic book field.  Starting as a bad inker for Marvel Comics, he swiftly evolved in a not so bad artist on comics like Rocket Raccoon, Alpha Flight and The Hulk.  By the late 1980’s however he began to develop his own unique graphic style and moved onto higher profile commercial projects like Cosmic Odyssey (1988) and Gotham By Gaslight (1989) for DC Comics, and the not so commercial Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (1990) for Marvel.  In 1992 he drew the comic book adaptation of the film Bram Stoker’s Dracula for Topps Comics which led to his working (briefly) with Francis Ford Coppola on the film.

In 1993 Mike joined several other comic book creators (John Byrne, Frank Miller, Geof Darrow, etc.) to form the Legend imprint at Dark Horse Comics and there he created Hellboy, a tough and leathery occult detective who may or may not be the beast of the apocalypse.  The first Hellboy story line (Seed of Destruction 1994) was co-written by John Byrne, but Mike has continued writing the book himself and, as of this writing, there are 8 Hellboy graphic novels (with more on the way), several spin off titles (BPRD, Lobster Johnson and Abe Sapien), 3 anthologies of prose stories, several novels, 2 animated films and 2 live action films starring Ron Perlman.  Hellboy has earned numerous comic industry awards and is published in a great many countries.

Mike has also worked as a production designer for the Disney film Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and was the Visual Consultant to director Guillermo del Toro on Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy 2: The Golden Army (2008)

In 2001 Mike also created the award winning comic book The Amazing Screw On Head (recently adapted into animation) and in 2006 co-wrote with Christopher Golden the novel Baltimore: or the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire, published by Bantam Books.

Mike lives somewhere in Southern California with his wife, daughter and cat.

See the work of and contact Mike Mignola … Click Here.

Title: Production Design: A Look Inside the Process
Sponsored by Dreamworks Animation
CTNX09: Filmed Nov 2009; Posted August 2010
Length 45 min

KATHY ALTIERI is Production Designer on one of DreamWorks Animation’s upcoming 2010 releases, “How To Train Your Dragon,” based on the children’s book by Cressida Cowell.  Prior to “How to Train Your Dragon,” Altieri was Production Designer on “Over the Hedge” and “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.”  When arriving at DreamWorks Animation in 1994, Altieri worked as an Art Director on “The Prince of Egypt.”  She was the first artist hired when Dreamworks was formed.

Before joining DreamWorks, Altieri worked at Disney Feature Animation as a background supervisor on “Aladdin,” the featurette “The Prince and the Pauper,” and the Roger Rabbit short “Tummy Trouble.”  She was also a background painter for such animated successes as “The Lion King,” “The Little Mermaid,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” and another Roger Rabbit short, “Roller Coaster Rabbit.”  It was this opportunity at Disney, working directly with Jeffrey Katzenberg that made her talent and work ethic known.

Kathy attended the University of California at Los Angeles as an Art Major and also studied Illustration at Pasadena’s Art Center for three years.  She frequently teaches and speaks at conferences, festivals and at various schools about art, animation and hard work.

Join Kathy Altieri as she lectures on “Production Design:  an inside look at the process, the latest Dreamworks art, and the career path.”

The presentation will be focused on illustrating the production design process using artwork from How to Train Your Dragon (to be released March 26,2009), plus examples from other films.  In addition, Kathy will be talking about the career path to Production Designer, the kinds of skills we look for, and how to get your foot in the door.   I’ll be showing our trailer for “How to Train Your Dragon” as well!