Andy Ristaino is an American artist who is best known as a former lead character designer, writer, storyboard and background artist on the animated television series ''

Adventure Time ''Adventure Time'' is an American fantasy animated television series created by Pendleton Ward and co-produced by Frederator Studios for Cartoon Network. The series follows the adventures of a boy named Finn the Human, Finn (Jeremy Shada) and ...

''.

Life and work

Ristaino grew up in

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

and studied at the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase th ...

where he earned a degree in illustration and animation. Ristaino was friends with Tom Herpich, a character designer and storyboard artist for ''

'' and asked Herpich to tell him if there were any job openings on the show. Ristaino applied to be a storyboard artist, but failed the test required to achieve this position. Eventually, he was hired as a character designer before being promoted to lead designer. During season five, he was promoted to storyboard artist, but changed to working on backgrounds after season six. Ristaino's work on ''Adventure Time'' gained him an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

win for his character designs for the fifth season episode " Puhoy", the first time that the series had won an Emmy Award. In 2013, Ristaino raised over 20,000 dollars on ''

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

'' to fund his graphic novel, ''Night of the Living Vidiots''.

Filmography

Television

References

External links

Ristaino's official website
* American television writers American male television writers American animators American storyboard artists Living people Background artists American character designers Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-animator-stub