Second Saturday Cartoonist: Armand Baltazar

Armand Baltazar was born 1967 in Chicago’s North Side, not far from the famed Wrigley Field. Always keen on drawing, painting, and creating stories at an early age, his parents encouraged his talents with trips to the Art Institute of Chicago and creative writing classes in school. He pursued formal training first at the Art Institute, then later graduated from Northern Illinois University with a BFA in Advertising & Editorial Illustration.

His quest to grow as an artist led him to California to attend the Art Center College of Design. There he would find a renewed a passion for narrative painting and earn a second BFA in Book Illustration. More simply, pictures that told a story with feeling and design. Unexpectedly, this led him to a path in film.

Armand began his film career in feature animation first as a background artist, then as a visual development artist, and art director for DreamWorks Studios, Walt Disney Feature Animation, Image Movers Digital and Pixar Animation Studio. His filmography includes: DreamWorks Prince of Egypt, Disney’s Princess and the Frog, Image Movers Digital’s Christmas Carol, and Pixar’s Cars 2, Brave, and Oscar Award Winning Inside Out.

Working on these films rekindled his boyhood spark for writing and Armand began work on a personal project in his spare time. What began as a simple illustrated adventure story for his son would become the first illustrated novel in his series. Armand currently resides in Northern California with his family, working full time creating the art and stories for the epic illustrated middle grade adventure series Timeless for HarperCollins Publishing. He is also a visual development artist for Spire Animation, Netflix, KuKu Studios and others…ongoing.

You can visit him online at…

Website: www.armandbaltazar.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArmandBaltazarStudios/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/armand_baltazar/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArmandBaltazar

Email: info@armandbaltazar.com