Fabio Carmona:From the UPV to the Minion films

Gentle and innocent, grumpy or annoyingly chatty are the personalities that define the most familiar minions, who star in the Minions film. Bringing to life an animated production involves months of meticulous work from a team of graphic artists, modellers and animators like Fabio Carmona Antoñanzas: “The main challenge of a character animator is to create a realistic character with credible movements and facial expressions”, he says.

Originally from Valencia, Fabio finished his computer science degree at the Polytechnic University and continued his studies to specialise in animation. His first collective work was a funny short film called “Smoke Seller” that was nominated and a winner of a Goya Award for Best Animated Short Film in 2013.

His training and experience gave him enough knowledge to start working in small animation companies in Valencia making series, shorts and advertising, and soon his dream was coming true, when he was offered the opportunity to be a member of the largest animation study in Europe, Illumination MacGuff.

During the last 5 years, Fabio has given life to characters from films like Minions, Despicable Me, Pets 2, Sing and The Grinch, and worked on the sketch to present the nominated animated short films at the Oscar Awards 2016.

Currently working on the second part of Minions, which will be launched in 2020, he recognises it is a very hard profession, but highly rewarding: “To create a film of these characteristics, over a hundred animators need to collaborate for more than one year”.

The result of the effort comes when you finally see your creation on the screen: “I usually feel a little uneasy at the premiere and I get nervous. Although, in the end, you feel very proud to see the result”, he acknowledges.

Now, with experience in film productions Fabio is eager to accept new challenges and keep learning from the best. “The most fulfilling thing is working on well-thought out films, the kind that make you feel or touch you in some way”, he says, and the truth is that everything can be expressed through animation.