Satellite Voices

Rome / Italiano

Lorenzo Ceccotti

August 1

Talking to the tireless LRNZ, the prolific and acclaimed Italian graphic designer and comic book artist

• Text by Riccardo Lionello

Lorenzo Ceccotti was born in 1978 in Rome, where he lives and works hard. He's a true exception, trained as a product designer at ISIA in Rome, he made his debut as a graphic designer creating posters and CD covers for many, especially for the label Finalfrontier. While creating a small software company which develops video games, he took part in the workshop on contemporary comics "Territori" in Bologna, starting collaborations with Stefano Ricci.

In 2002 he co-founded Chimp design studio (later Studio Brutus), which carries out multi-disciplinary design projects. In 2003 he returned to self-printing with Dr. Pira. After Studio Brutus, he began his personal projects and works as creative director and designer in the areas of game design, web design, broadcast video/web, graphic design, production design and corporate ID for international customers. He's worked for Lego, Mazda, Fornarina, Sony Pictures, Chrysler, Sky, MTV, Warner Bros, the Rome Film Festival and others. In 2007 with Dr. Pira, Ratigher, Maicol & Mirco and Tuono Pettinato he founded the Superamici collective and created the magazine "Hobby Comics", followed by new collaborations between illustration and comics with the magazines "X-Comics", "Blue", "Rolling Stone", "Bang Art" among others.

On top of this, he's the co-founder of Pic Nic, an Italian comics free-press. He directed and produced about 30 minutes of animation for "The Dark Side of the Sun" a documentary film directed by Carlo Hintermann. He has made numerous short films and videos, been selected by the Triennale di Milano, the Torino Film Festival, the Venice Biennale of Art and Film Festival of Annecy. Yes, I guess you can say he works hard.

Satellite Voices: What is your favorite moment in animation history?
Lorenzo Ceccotti: I would love to answer with a funny response. But I will be super serious about this one. Because I love being serious speaking about funny things, like cartoons. I must say that my favourite moment is with Mirai Shonen Conan and the Lana character. I first saw Conan when I was a child. Lana is the main female character and she probably became my archetypic symbol of all feminine beauties. She is playful and honest and the more she is like this, the more Conan develops his masculine side trying to protect her. I can clearly remember that I was driven to tears of joy when Conan and Lana could meet again after being separated. That gave me the sense of love for the first time in my life, and defined my idea of beauty so I guess it’s pretty important to me.

SV: Do you feel young?
Lorenzo Ceccotti: I felt old when I was a child, but right now I’m pretty sure that I act like I’m six-years-old. The smartest six-year-old guy out there, that’s for sure. Moreover, as you’d expect from a six-year-old, I’m shocked and possessed by the things I like. For instance: it’s hard to find a funny girl (that’s because they usually don’t have cool toys and are too committed to schoolwork), but when I meet one then I can’t help deeply falling in love with her. I strongly believe that 99% of everything sucks. Basically I’m obsessed by the remaining 1%, and if you think about it, it’s quite a lot of things to be obsessed with. People that don’t think the same (and of course it’s a 99% vs 1% thing) are doomed to have nothing to really be in love with. I love adventure, being part of a secret society, having a secret base, long conversations with insects or cats, taking games dead seriously. I hate cars. I don’t have a license, you have to be 18 for that, and I enjoy fast rides on my transformer bike.

SV: Who should we interview next?
Lorenzo Ceccotti: Гарри Кимович Каспаров

here is his sketchblog, where you can find animation stills, considerations as an author and much more.