Pro Close Up: Ricardo Nadu
Ricardo Nadu recently lead ACME’s last telecast video conference session, speaking to rigging. Recently, Ricardo worked on “Arthur Christmas” as Character Technical Director, Cloth and Hair. He enjoys martial arts and told us a bit about himself.
Q. What is your favorite drawing tool?
A. Pencil, Paper and Photoshop.
Q. What do you listen to when you are working?
A. That will vary depending what I’m doing. 80% of the time I don’t listen to anything. I get so focused that sometimes I feel like I’m inside of the computer. When I want to listen to some music, I do like to listen to anything from Bossa Nova to Heavy Metal. When I’m not working I listen to much more music.
Q. What’s your favorite thing to animate?
A. Action scenes, martial arts and funny shots.
Q. Where did you go to school?
A. I’ve studied electrical engineering at CEFET-MG (in Brazil). I learned animation and visual effects at the Academy of Entertainment and Technology (Santa Monica College CA). After that, I went on to take classes at Gnomon VFX School and Studio Arts.
Q. What is your favorite animated feature?
A. That is a hard question to answer. I have a few favorites that I’d like to list: “Arthur Christmas”, “Ratatouille”, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meat Balls”, “Kung Fu Panda”…
Q. What animators or cartoons influenced you as a kid?
A. “Woody Woodpecker”, “Tom and Jerry”, “The Smurfs”, “Dungeons & Dragons”, “ThunderCats”, “The Flintstones”, “The Simpsons” and a lot others.
