Instead of focusing on his teacher’s boring lecture, then Prospect High School freshman, Gary Montablo doodled on his desk carelessly to pass time during class. Montablo wasn’t specifically concerned with his grades, and he was steered away from doing art, which resulted in his drawings during class.
“It’s surreal because it feels like not that long ago, but it’s actually been well over forty years,” he said.
Montalbano now continues expressing his artistic passion as an animation artist and designer. He has worked with companies such as Marvel, Disney, Warner Bros, and Dreamworks.
He came back to his Prospect roots during homecoming week, being recognized as a distinguished alumni.
After his time at Prospect, Montablo started his further education at Harper College, then continued on at the Art Center College of Design in California. While there, Montalbano was struggling with tuition, because he was not able to obtain a scholarship and keep studying.
He entered an animation workshop, where he met the instructor, Glenn Vilppu, who worked with Disney and admired Montablo’s portfolio. He expressed that he liked Montablo’s work.
“He [Vilppu] is paging through it and he asks ‘where are you working?’ I said, ‘I’m not’… so he writes down his number and says ‘go get yourself a job.” Montablo recalled.
The phone number that he was given was a line to Marvel Studios.
After two failed attempts at reaching Marvel, and rent overdue, Montablo dialed the number one last time, when he was arranged to come work, launching his animation and design career.
Since then, Montablo has worked with big names such as Steven Spielberg, and on projects such as Marvel’s “Iron Man”.
Montablo’s time spent occupied on one of these projects can range from a week to a decade.
The thrill and pressure of working with famous people such as Spielberg, is what keeps him on his toes and prevents him from messing up, because one mistake could cost him his job.
A challenge, though, that Montablo faces when working on designing animations is a blurred starting point on ideas. Sometimes the people that he works with have a lot of ideas for a project, while other times it’s more of a blank slate.
“[For example], we’ve got this idea for this dog and this space station… do something with it!” Montablo said the film makers tell him. “And then I start fleshing out ideas.”
He also said that having a background in writing also helps him generate ideas.
Montablo combined his passion for art with his passion for writing on a recently self-published book, “Memories Within Dreams”, which showcases many of his works along with various stories.
Montablo wrote and published his book in order to keep himself busy and because he loves what he does.
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