Today we’d like to introduce you to Peter Ditoro.
Hi Peter, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’ve always loved to tell stories. Even when I was a really little kid, I was gathering scrap paper, drawing, and writing my own picture books. That passion remained a hobby for a very long time until, in my sophomore year of high school, I decided to pursue animation as an actual career. It was not a particularly easy decision. For many years my plan had been to teach history, but one night my parents and I were watching the behind-the-scenes episode of a David Attenborough documentary. I watched these people, surrounded by noisy penguins, holed up in freezing filming locations, and following animals through the jungle for hours, but what stuck out to me was how happy they all were despite the arguably horrid conditions. After that, I realized that was what I wanted, a career that I could smile through and enjoy no matter what. Teaching history was not that. Animation wasn’t my choice because of a particular affinity for it. I had always liked cartoons and I have a great passion for them now, but, at the time it was the most logical choice. I wanted to tell stories, and for the stories I wanted to tell, animation was the most effective medium. So I started reevaluating my decisions for college and I settled on two options, UAH in Alabama and SCAD here in Atlanta. An interview and a generous scholarship later, and I was off to SCAD. I’m beginning my fourth and final year there. As an artist, I have grown and changed so much throughout my schooling. Art school isn’t for everyone, but it was definitely for me. I am starting work on my final senior film now and am very excited for it to be finished to finally be let loose into the world.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I discussed some of the struggles in the previous question but to expand on them further, I’ve always felt at a disadvantage to my contemporaries in that I was wholly self-taught in my artistic endeavors before college. I had no grasp of basic drawing principles, anatomy, rendering techniques. All of that was new to me, and for a while when I first started learning those things in a professional capacity, I felt very much like an imposter. There was this looming idea that I shouldn’t be where I was and that someday soon. Everyone would realize. That feeling isn’t entirely gone, but as I’ve really come into my own as an artist, it has become easier to manage.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a preproduction animation artist. I work in storyboarding and character design as a main focus, but have experience in environment design and writing as well. Among friends, I am known for bizarre creatures and amusing little fellas. While I am a more than competent storyboard artist, I sketch little guys a lot in my free time, so it’s become something of a brand. As of now, what I am most proud of is a short film a team of five and I completed last spring called “Meowdy.” It was a super fun project with an awesome team as well as my first time directing, producing, and storyboarding something that became a full-out finished product. It gave me a lot of confidence for directing my senior film which may supplant “Meowdy” as my proudest work. Check back with me in a year. As for what sets me apart from others, I think that it’s my ability to generate good ideas quickly and repeatedly. Not to be too full of myself, but I can really churn out stories, characters, and worlds like no one’s business. I have a lot of acting and improv experience so that probably helps.
What does success mean to you?
I think that success is defined by happiness. Not just your own but how much you can generate in other people. Art, especially any kind of filmmaking, is useless if it can’t have an effect on people. That would be my marker for success, that something I make can have a positive effect on people. Whether that is a horror fan enjoying something dark I create or an average viewer enjoying being along for the ride. The more experiences like that I can provide that more successful I will be.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.cubetortoise.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cubetortoise/?hl=en
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/cubetortoise
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH9d7V6k7S0mK3eMOskfoNA
