My name is Ana Paraiso and I was born in Lisbon, Portugal. I've been drawing since the day I learned to hold a pencil and I discovered my passion for animation at a very young age, 4 years old to be exact, while watching the extras of Disney's Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs. Of course at that age I couldn't understand any of it but I remember being fascinated watching the pencil tests of the film, and listening to the explanations by Walt Disney. I was more excited at that point, to reach the end of the tape so that I could watch that tiny bit of making off, than watching the movie. It wasn't until I was a teenager in secondary school, when Disney started releasing the DVD's of their animated movies with extras where you could see the making off of the film and watch interviews with the animators, that I found out a career in animation actually existed. So I applied to film school. I didn't actually learn animation there but I learned directing, camera, editing, writing which is very useful for planning my own shots. I then went to get my film degree and although again, I didn't learn animation during the course, I had a teacher who helped me on how start to learn animation and where. Because of his support, my final project of the course was an animation short film, and it didn't end there. I started going to all the workshops I could find, buying books and learning by myself at home. Eventually I found Animation Mentor and I took the Character Animation Course. While studying at Animation Mentor I moved to London, where I currently live, and I've worked in retail while studying. When I finished the animation course I decided I needed to just be dedicated to animation so, I quit my retail job and I've been working on improving my animation skills and my showreel. And that's what I'm doing now. Besides drawing and animation I love video games, I love reading and I'm trying to get back into playing tennis.