JJ Pastore

Born in 1972 in Northeastern Ohio, JJ Pastore has created many art works, ranging from refrigerator crayon drawings to original films. Moving fluidly from traditional to digital, and from still images to animation, he has established himself as a versatile and confident story artist.

During the past 18 years, Pastore has been creating traditional and interactive learning tools to communicate strategic business imperatives for some of the world's largest and most successful corporations. He has also facilitated strategic conversations with many senior leaders using in-the-moment visualization techniques and exercises. He has worked with hundreds of clients, including Macy's, Syngenta, Microsoft, First Gulf Bank, PepsiCo, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Novartis and Proctor & Gamble. Pastore also has a passion for animation. Yes, cartoons! He has worked with Sony Pictures Imageworks as a character animator on the film Green Lantern, released in theaters worldwide in June 2011. He also animated with Reel FX on Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas, a direct-to-TV animated special. Pastore got his start as an illustrator and designer in the newspaper industry. He created editorial illustrations for feature pages, researched and developed informational graphics, and designed and co-wrote daily comic strips – in addition to his formal position as an editorial designer. During his tenure in news design, he served on scholarship panels to critique and judge student art works. Pastore earned a B.S. from Ohio University and a B.F.A. from Bowling Green State University. He also holds an Advanced Certification in Character Animation from AnimationMentor.com. Pastore considers himself a lifelong learner, because he screws up a lot, and is always seeking courses and experiences that broaden and sharpen his knowledge and talents. He enjoys family, drawing, storytelling, film, animation, reading, music, hiking, skiing and good conversation. He frequently needs a haircut and a shave, and loves to wear blue jeans. Pastore is married to Sarah; they have two sons, Jackson and Jonah. The Pastore family resides in the southwestern United States.

Posts by JJ Pastore