Born in Bologna , Carloni spent his childhood in Urbino , a walled city and World Heritage site southwest of Pesaro , known for its remarkable legacy of independent Renaissance culture and for being the birthplace of Renaissance master Raphael Santi . But , Carloni was not a young artist , at least not officially . Not even though his father worked as an illustrator for magazines , book covers and advertisements . “ I was exposed to his work , but he never pushed me to be part of his studio , ” Carloni says . “ He taught me many things . He wanted me to explore on my own . ” He became an artist almost despite himself . Carloni entered the University of Milan as a literature major , but to earn money , he began selling drawings . “ I got little jobs through my friends to help pay for meals and money here and there , ” he says . “ Small things like invitation tickets for clubs . ” Those little jobs helped change his future . “ It made me understand that my true passion was visual storytelling , ” he says . “ I cared about that more than continuing my studies . ” A friend in Germany suggested he apply to Munich Animation , and soon Carloni was an in-betweener . “ I drew all the tedious drawings , ” he says . But , that led to work as an animator , a story artist , a director , an art director , a character designer , a sculptor , and an animation supervisor for commercials , music videos , and feature films in Germany , Switzerland , and Denmark . Then , in 2000 , he co-directed an award-winning animated short film through Munich Animation with writer-director Gabriele Pennacchioli . The studio envisioned the film , '' The Shark and the Piano '' , as a marketing tool . “ It was still a time when American studios sent portions of their 2D feature films to Europe to produce , ” Carloni says , “ so we decided to make a film to show what we could do . ” But , by the time they approached the American studios , those studios had turned their focus to 3D . Since joining DreamWorks Animation in 2002 , Carloni served as lead animator on '' Sinbad : Legend of the Seven Seas '' and '' Shark Tale , '' an animation supervisor on '' Kung Fu Panda '' , a story artist on '' Kung Fu Panda 2 '' and '' The Croods '' , and head of story on the first two '' How to Train Your Dragon '' movies and as a story artist on the third one . For his work on '' Kung Fu Panda '' , he was nominated in the category Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production at the 36th Annie Awards
36th Annie Awards
36th Annie Awards
Alessandro Carloni