Gabriele Pennacchioli is a very talented dude originally from Italy and now working at Dreamworks. His list of credits is impressive: Shark tale, Shrek the Third, Flushed Away and Balto to name a few. Check out an interview with him below that he was kind enough to grant me.

You can see more of his work at his work on his blog.

-Mike Milo

Who are you and where are you from?
My name is Gabriele Pennacchioli and I’m Italian. I was born in Origgio, a small village near Milan, and grew up loving comic books. I had a classical art education at the Liceo Artistico and Accademia di Belle Arti, and it was there
that I had the chance to work with different media like photography, video, Super 8, and the computer. I’ve always been interested in everything visual.

After school I worked as a Comic book artist for many years then fell in love with animation and my whole life changed. I moved from Milan to London, then Munich, Copenhagen, London again and finally
to Los Angeles.

Now I work as an Animator/ Story Artist/ Designer at DreamWorks.

What have you worked on?
As a comic book artist I worked on “Diabolik”and “Dylan Dog”. These comic books are pretty popular in Italy (on my Blog you can see some examples).

As a 2D Animator I worked on: “The Fearless Four”, “Tobias Totz”, “Help I’m A Fish” and “Jester Till “, these are all European animated films produced by Munich Animation.

For the American Studios I worked on: “Eight Crazy Nights” (Sony) and “Sinbad:Legend of the Seven Seas”(DreamWorks). I also animated the opening sequence on the Sinbad DVD special “Cyclops Island” were Sinbad was “trying” to rest on his hammock.

My first 3D animated movie was “Shark Tale” were I had the chance to animate to the voice of Robert de Niro who was playing the shark godfather, Don Lino. And on “Flushed Away” a new challenge was
waiting for me: learning the Aardman style!

I’ve also worked as a Character Designer on: “Help I’m A Fish”, “Jester Till”, and a little bit on “Flushed Away” the Jerry Seinfeld’s upcoming “Bee Movie”. And as a Story Artist I worked on: “The
Fearless Four”, “Jester Till” and “Shrek the Third”.

While I was working at the Munich Animation studio I had the great opportunity to make a short film, “The Shark and the Piano”, which I wrote and directed. It’s been screened in many animation
festivals all around the world and won many awards.

How did you get into the business?
I simply fell in love with animation.

Don Bluth’s stuff is what got me at first, especially “Dragon’s Lair” and “The Secret of Nimh” I read “The Illusion of Life” and rediscovered the old Disney movies. I learned about all these
amazing talented artists that worked in Animation and I was so fascinated that I decide to give it a try.

I had a brief stint in London on “Balto” (which was produced by Steven Spielberg) and loved it. I went to work in Germany at Munich Animation where I worked on three animated feature films. I then went to A-Film in Denmark, and later to Stardust in London. After that DreamWorks offered me a job in Los Angeles, which is where I am now.

Do you have any personal projects your working on?
I’m having a lot of fun working on an illustrated story for my Blog. It’s about a young lonely hunter armed only with a big bone that is trying to rescue a pilot woman (whose starship crashed into
the forest) from a huge cyclops.

Why do you do what you do? Passion? Talent? Making people laugh?
Since I was a child I liked to draw and tell stories. I guess it comes naturally to me.

Where do you see the business in 10 years? Yourself?
I believe people will always want to be entertained, and that animation is a very powerful tool for achieving this goal. I hope in ten years I’ll still be here trying to come up with new stories and
new characters.

What are your influences? books? films? art?
I have plenty of influences. When I was a child I loved the Marvel comic books and my favorite one was “The Silver Surfer” by Stan Lee and John Buscema.

Later on I became a comic book artist myself. Sergio Zaniboni was my mentor and a big influence in my work.

At the art schools I got exposed to a large number of styles and artists, both classic and modern.

Sculptures are also a big source of inspiration to me. Bernini is one of my favorites as well as some animal sculptors like Antoine Louis Barye, Rembrant Bugatti and Anna H. Huntington.

I’ve also been very interested in illustration, especially illustration for children’s books. Quentin Blake and Bill Peet are two of my favorite ones. In Munich I discovered the amazing talent of
the illustrators of the satirical magazine “Simplicissimus”: Eduard Thony, Karl Arnold, Henrich Kley, Olaf Gulbrassons, Rudolf Wilke and Paul Bruno.

Movies have also been a big part of my life. De Sica, Leone, Capra, Ford, Wilder, Chaplin, Curtiz, Hitchcock, Disney, Ridley and Tony Scott, Spielberg, Coppola and the list could go on and on.

What kinds of tools do you use? special Pencils? paper? computer? brushes? desk? Be as specific as you can. Anything else?
When I draw I work on copy machine paper. I use pencils (Staedtler 2b-4b) and markers. I love the Copic sketch markers and sometimes I use pastels. I like to draw on a flat desk with a little light
and some music.

Click here to subscribe to Channel Frederator or go to iTunes. Please send your suggestions to promotecartoons@gmail.com.