David Calcano

David Calcano is the creative director of the Fantoons Studio based In Los Angeles. He works with world renowned rock bands developing cutting edge animation, books, documentaries and original stories. Fantoons animated shorts have won awards in film festivals around the globe. Fantoons clients include: RUSH, Frank Zappa, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, Ninja Sex Party, Motörhead, and Simón Díaz amongst others. Fantoons also works with Disney Channel, for whom they created a series to promote healthy habits with original quirky characters through mini-musicals that include blues, hip-hop and punk rock. In addition to animation, Fantoons also works with musicians to publish high quality graphic novels and art books based on the bands. David recently signed a distribution deal with Simon & Schuster that will put Fantoons’ books on retailers’ shelves worldwide. Titles include RUSH: The Making of a Farewell to Kings, Motörhead: Where is Lemmy?, Life Behind the Score: Henry Mancini – The Graphic Novel, Tío Simón ABC: A Bilingual Children’s Book and many more! David has written and supervised as art director on all of Fantoons’ books. Fantoons’ first book was a 180-page cartoon book about the band RUSH, that David successfully funded on Kickstarter to publish in 2016. Thanks in part to the book’s success, Fantoons became an official licensee of the band, helping launch the rest of Fantoons’ publishing arm, and creating officially licensed art prints, coloring books, comic books, cereal boxes and many other merchandise items. Fantoons also worked with RUSH to develop an animated series of cartoon documentaries about the band’s history. The first episode debuted in cinemas in late 2016. In 2019 David did all the art direction of the definitive Brian Wilson documentary, as well as, directed almost half of the animation shown in the new cutting edge Frank Zappa holographic touring show, The Bizarre World of Frank Zappa. David developed and directed all of Mr. Big’s visuals for their 2014 Japanese tour, including sold out shows at the majestic Tokyo Budokan. Instead of an opening band, the concerts started with a Fantoons short that David directed, which received rave reviews, captivating the demanding eyes of the Japanese fans. The short was featured in the industry leading animation blog: Cartoon Brew. David has many projects in development, including an animated series that tell stories of rock ’n’ roll in unique way, narrated by the artists themselves and brought to life with the endless canvas of animation and his roster of top notch artists. David was born in Caracas, Venezuela and has been watching Disney, Warner, and UPA cartoons ever since he was inside his mom’s belly. As an adult, he moved to the UK where he worked as a systems engineer—at least until he went nuts and dropped his career to pursue his dream: to build an animation and art studio, which evokes the cartoons and music that he loves so passionately. In addition to working in the Fantoons studio in Burbank, CA, you will find David and Fantoons at comic conventions worldwide exhibiting both his animated work as well as his books.