About Me:
Well, my name is Antonio Pecora. I am a Colombian-Ecuadorian (with some Argentinian in there, somewhere) born in Queens and raised in Long Island since the age of two. For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to work in animation and create cartoons of my own. I was inspired by the many animated shows I would watch as a kid from Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy and Animaniacs to pretty much any cartoon on Nickelodeon at the time (except for Rocket Power) as well as The Simpsons by the time I was old enough to be allowed to watch it (which was eight). I also have vague memories of being three and watching Lilo & Stitch and Ice Age over and over again. Causing both films to be engrained into my subconscious even after all these years. I feel that my fascination for the animation medium may also have come from my childhood summers visiting the Disney and Universal theme parks in Orlando.
In school, I would doodle in my notebooks while still trying to get the classwork itself done. I was a bit of a goody two-shoes as a kid, so what I did was do the work as fast as possible and then doodle around it. Eventually, I would pick out my favorite designs out of the doodles I created alongside drawing up new characters. I would draw them in various cartoony antics lifted from the shows that I would watch in a crudely drawn fashion that only an eccentric yet shy and socially awkward 9-year-old could.
As I grew up, so did my art skills and taste in film. I started getting more into Golden Age animation as well as independent animation ever since I came across a little-known film called Song of the Sea. My social skills have also improved from then as, while I had friends in grade school, I never really hung out with any of them outside of school (until high school, that is). It was there that I met my own group of friends who share similar interests with me and I still hang out with to this day. Originally after high school, I went to Suffolk County Community College where I grew a fascination for paintings and fine art (a current occasional side hobby of mine). This is also where my love for paint texturing came from, especially in animation. Seriously, have the backgrounds look like a painted canvas or watercolor and I'm automatically hooked. Afterwards, I transferred to New York Institute of Technology where I graduated with a BFA in Digital Arts and more recently, a master’s degree in Fine Arts. I spend my time making personal animations and artwork, as well as the occasional commission or freelance job.