ABOUT ME
Valentina Grasso is a 2D Character Animator, Stop Motion Animator, Animation Director, Illustrator, Storyboard Artist, Character Designer and Graphic Designer. And of course an Animation Educator. She is a very versatile artist, who likes to portray the world through her imaginative eyes, giving a touch of magic and enchantment to all things around us.
She attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, Italy (her home town), where she achieved a painting degree. She then worked for two years as an Illustrator and Graphic Designer for an Italian publishing company specialized in children books and publications. In 2007 she moved to London to attend a Post Graduate Course in 2D Character Animation at the London Animation Studio (Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design) and follow her dream, graduating in 2008.
Since then she settled down in London to continue her animation path, still working in illustration too.
In the last ten years she worked in many London studios and for a large amount of clients as a freelance Animator as well as a Designer, Storyboard Artist and Illustrator, for both commercial and more independent projects.
Since 2010 she has also been working as an Animation Educator, running Animation workshops and courses in primary and secondary schools, for various organizations and in many venues across London and beyond, such as Ewav Works, Hackney Youth Centre, Royal Academy of Arts, BFI, Chiswick Holiday Courses, Camden Gallery, BFI, Pickled Pepper Books, Press Play Films, Cartoon Museum, Secret Seed Society, The Mall – Walthamstow, Spine Festival, Lewisham Library, Petersham Scout Group, Walthamstow Council, Summer Reading Challenge Festival, Ealing Broadway Central Library and more...
She also recently lectured at Central Saint Martins over the short course Traditional Animation for Beginners, held at the College’s premises in Kings Cross, London.
One of her latest big achievements has been participating to the Sharjah International Book Fair 2017 -November Edition as an Animation Workshop Leader, where she was invited to hold her colorful, engaging and fun-packed Animation Workshops with local school groups in the children’s section of the fair’s premises in Sharjah, Dubai (UAE).