Me & 'Varo!

This is my buddy, Alvaro Cervantes. I've known Alvaro for over 20 years now, since soon after first moving to the Toronto area. This rascal was working at the time for "Lightbox Animation Studio", run by my friend, Greg Duffell. He was a real talented kid even back then, and he was always keen to show me what he'd been recently working on. Some years later, when I was going to be leaving my job as a character illustrator at Disney Canada in order to transfer down to WDW in Florida, I recommended that they hire Alvaro as my replacement. They did, and he ended up working there for about the next 10 years.

One thing that Alvaro brought to the job in addition to drawing skill, was a real talent for sculpture. He'd been dabbling in it for only a short time, but he really developed that ability in leaps and bounds. As a result, that department became far more involved in the design and development of dimensional toys for its various licensees, primarily due to Alvaro's initiative.

We've stayed in touch all through the years, including one time when Alvaro came down to visit me in Florida, where I got to introduce him to a bunch of the guys in the WDW art department, as well as several of the guys over at Disney Florida Animation (sadly gone now, having been shut down a few years ago.) Last week, Alvaro and I got together for lunch at Montana's and I suggested we should draw each other and post the results on our respective blogs. Here are our funny looking mugs for your amusement.

(Psst, don't tell Alvaro but, I only hang out with this tough looking hombre because it gives me street cred...)

Such a handsome lad...

I'd like to also give a plug to Alvaro's blogsite, which may be found here. You'll find all sorts of great sculptures on there that he's done for various clients including Disney, as well as stuff that he's sculpted simply for his own pleasure. Here's a photo showing many views of Alvaro's sculpture of "Wolverine" getting a colonoscopy. Hey, fighting supervillains can take its toll on a guy...