Let's be Frank......
Frank Montagna is a graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Upon graduation in 1993, he achieved his childhood dream of working for Walt Disney Feature Animation (WDFA) when he was accepted into its internship program in Orlando, Florida. He was then selected as a sketch artist on the Pocahontas Animation Discovery Adventure; a 26 city promotional tour. He returned to WDFA and worked as a clean up artist on Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mulan and Tarzan. He also created artwork for the opening quilt sequence of the short film, John Henry.
In 1999, Frank joined MTV Animation as Assistant Art Director on Spygroove. The show was short lived but gave Frank the opportunity to add television animation to his growing list of experiences. Deciding in 2000 to explore a career in illustration, Frank was signed by Arts Counsel Inc.,(now IlloReps) in NYC, a top illustration agency. His illustrations can be seen in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Bridal Guide, Tiger Beat and Sweet Sixteen. He has created artwork for Powerbar Pria, Mattel, Hasbro, KFC, and Wal-Mart. Frank has also illustrated a series of books for both Scholastic and Chronicle Books including the bestsellers, Is Your Straight Man Gay Enough, Travel Yoga and Office Feng Shui.
After several years of success as an Illustrator, Frank returned to television animation in 2004 to work as a Layout Designer for the show, Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi on Cartoon Network. At the end of the third season, he was approached by DisneyToon Studios to supervise Art Direction for a development project called Princess Playdate. The project allowed Frank to discover his passion for creating a world and the characters that inhabit it. He has since worked as an Art Director and Development Artist for studios such as Educational Adventures (Danger Rangers, TV show), Duck (Disney’s Timon and Pumbaa Safety Smart DVD Series), and Toonzone (Action Dad and Rock Raygun) and Disney Junior (Sofia the First, Vampirina and The Rocketeer ).
Frank is currently at Disney Television Animation where he is the Co Executive Producer/Art Director for Alice's Wonderland Bakery. Other projects at TVA have included Elena of Avalor, The 7D and Penn Zero.
Frank lives in California with his wife, Marion and their kids Leo and Marlowe.