Florian Satzinger

This Austrian artist has drawn some of the world’s most iconic animated characters. Gary evans finds out more about his ‘fusion cuisine’ art style…

Florian Satzinger worked hard on a background layout: two giant trees framing a little creek. It looked good, and Florian was proud of the piece. The Austrian took it to one of the special instructors at the Vancouver Institute of Media Arts where he was studying hand-drawn animation. His instructor, Ken Southworth, looked at the layout and shook his head.

Every component did look good. They had turned out well. But the composition was wrong because the trees were too similar. The background didn’t look like an animation layout. It was more like a greeting card. “Now,” Ken said. “What’s next? Do you want to go for the greeting card or the animation layout, son?”

Florian grew up on old Disney animated films: classics like The Rescuers (1977), The Sword in the Stone (1963), and 101 Dalmatians (1961). He loved TV cartoons – The Pink Panther Show, Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry. He drew the things he saw on the screen. Many kids do. But Florian was doing something a bit different. His dad was an architect. From a young age, Florian knew all about perspective and other advanced techniques. So he didn’t just sketch cartoon characters, but also backgrounds, vehicles and props. This wasn’t simple copying for the sake of copying. This was something else.

“Drawing, I guess, was a way to make my own ideas somehow ‘real’ or at least manifest on paper. And, equality important, the ideas became shareable. What I’m trying to say is that, through drawing, I wasn’t limited to just dreaming of the ultimate treehouse with a space rocket launch feature. Drawing enabled me to render this very treehouse visible down to the last detail, then share it with others. I think this is what got me into art in the first place. And isn’t it exactly this what I’m still doing today?”

LEARNING FROM A VETERAN ARTIST