Meet Catríona DiNero

Today we’d like to introduce you to Catríona DiNero.

Catríona, before we jump into specific questions about your art, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I’ve known that I wanted to be an artist from the time I could hold a pencil – countless hours of my childhood were spent drawing pages upon pages of doodles and sketches. It’s been as important to me as eating or sleeping for as long as I can remember, and I don’t think that will ever change.

I feel lucky in that I’ve always had the support of my family and friends, as well as my teachers, in continuing forward to pursue art. I think it was around the beginning of high school that I realized I wanted to go into animation for a career, with hopes of ending up in children’s entertainment. I have a little sister who is seven years younger than me, so I would be stuck watching whatever she chose to put on the TV after school. I remember sitting on the couch as a high schooler watching channels like Nick Jr. and PBS Kids, thinking, “Man, I want to make fun stuff like this.” I realized that media for kids is fun and exciting, and make thousands of people smile every day. I knew that if I could take part in making a show that lets kids smile as bright as my sister did, it’d be my dream come true.

With this realization, I began working harder to reach my goals. I had my work featured in multiple Children’s Museums, practiced like there was no tomorrow, and took the next step towards my future by studying animation at Savannah College of Art and Design. I’m currently a Junior and love what I do, with the encouragement and advice of my peers and faculty helping me grow every day. While exploring various types of animation, I have recently found a love for working with 2D puppets in Toon Boom Harmony and would like to focus more of my efforts on this type of work in the future.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I don’t know if I would quite call it an obstacle, but I definitely hesitated in following my path to art. My father has been going blind since before I was born and hasn’t seen me or my work in years. I’ve always done well in school and had a good understanding of other subjects, and I almost picked an entirely different career path when heading into college. I think it bothered me that I wouldn’t be able to share my passions with him, and I figured a ‘safer’ choice would be wise.

With art being such a huge part of who I am, it kills me to pursue something I’ll never be able to share with him. I’ve been drawing for years, and it has never stopped bothering me. The thing I am most passionate about in life is something we can’t share. All of my hours and hours of work; my tears and joy go into each new piece, whether it be a sketch on paper or hundreds of frames of animation, and he will never be able to witness it. He can never see a new character I’ve designed or my latest project I’m proud of, and will never see any of my achievements in the field. This has been an internal conflict for years, and I still struggle to wrap my head around it, but I followed my heart in the end. While I suppose I could’ve combatted this by choosing a more tangible medium, like sculpture or pottery, I feel there is value in pursuing what you love, and thus stuck to my passions.

Even though he can’t see what I do, my dad has always had faith in me and supports my decision to go into animation, and I am eternally grateful for this. The fact that he cannot see the proof of my efforts makes me want to work harder and get better, gaining more skills and techniques, so that one day he can know without even seeing it that my art is worth my efforts and that I made the right choice.

Please tell us about art.
I am a freelance artist, working to make quality animations and illustrations while learning new things each and every day.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Road tripping, hands down. I asked my mom once in elementary school if we could visit all fifty states, and my mom said, “No, of course not.” Ten years later and I’ve been to 48 (Thanks mom). I loved witnessing all the different terrains, driving through corn fields into deserts, into mountain ranges. Sitting in the car and watching movies and eating snacks for hours while playing with my siblings was one of my favorite experiences, and I still love road trips to this day.

Contact Info:

• Website: catrionadinero.wixsite.com/home
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sun.tails/

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