Armand Serrano

The Filipino artist tells Gary Evans how he went from failed civil engineer to successful Disney animator, and why it’s time to go freelance…

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Armand Serrano spent 13 weeks, without much sleep, working up a new portfolio. He made three copies. The first, he took to Warner Bros. – the California studio that had just finished 1996 film Space Jam. Armand sat down with the man who “filtered” portfolios. This man turned the pages, closed the book, and then shook his head. “Sorry, kid,” he told Armand. “You don’t have it.”

Armand emailed the other portfolios. After a week, DreamWorks phoned. The company liked his work. But because Armand worked mainly in TV  – at Philippine Animation Studio and Hanna-Barbera’s studio in Manila– DreamWorks wasn’t sure if he’d cut it in film. So it invited him in for a test. The phone rang again a couple of hours later. Armand had sent the third portfolio to Disney, who loved it. Disney offered him a job in Florida, and because of his TV experience, it wasn’t an entry-level role, but a position as key assistant. “I guess,” Armand says, “the rest is history.”