Who I Am

According to the dictionary, the word talent means, "a special natural ability of a superior capacity or a marked innate aptitude for achievement or success".

Ancient Greek asserted that this capability is one of those hidden qualities that you never really know you have until you suddenly discover it. If you do not try, you will never find out. The only way to know what gift you have is to try them all.

For instance, when I was a teenager, I had an internship with the Air Force Academy in Naples in order to become a fighter pilot. I love airplanes, but my personality don't match military-lifestyle.

tony coccaro pilot
Few minutes before i took off piloting a cessna. Phoenix, 2005

Although I had few exciting flight hours piloting a civil airplane, I realized that such professional figure would never match my future life.
At about the same time, I painted several works and entered them in a competition. To my astonishment, I won first price, which paid a cash award, and 200 serigraphs of these works were printed. I also got my picture in the local newspaper.

tony coccaro painter
Naif city painting, serigraph. Salerno, 2003

I remember the mayor of the city and the promoters congratulating with me, specially after visiting my class room at the high school

tony coccaro graffiti
Doing Graffiti in my high school class room, 2004

From this, I said to myself that drawing would come fairly easy to me. Once I discovered my capability, I had to meet two conditions.

First, I had to choose where to pursue a degree in higher education concerning art subjects. Second, I had to plan how to have a successful creative career as a professional digital artist.
After I graduated at the Academy of Fine Arts and the European Institute of Design with two majors in Digital and Virtual Design, I became more and more conscious that Computer Graphics is what I was absolutely looking for.

In order to focus on it, I had to ask myself two simple questions. First, do you like doing it? Second, are you good at doing it?

One answer, one sentence: I've got a fever and the only prescription is more Computer Generated Imagery.

Even though anybody can use a software to make something that looks like a group of geometrical objects, it takes art to make numerous thoughts look like a reality. I have got skills and know-how to achieve that goal. So far I went to the United States where CGI matter has developed in several and incredible ways. It gave me more strenght to become an industrial professional.

My name is tony and I live in rome where I'm improving my knowledge about Interaction Design related to Mobile and Web Development enviroments.

tony coccaro aka ispartakos
Self-Portrait, 2018

Bio Pills

I tend to keep myself to myself a lot. I'm not on social media in any shape or form (except for one I was forced to 😅). I prefer to keep all my activities of a personal level ... personal and private. Just coz I find it more relaxing.

I find the whole concept of social media sort of un-relaxing, so I'd rather not doing. Reason why I'm releasing this pills about myself down below

Caracas, Mariperez

Venezuela

Yes, I was born and raised in Caracas, the city where the latin rhythm make people smile. Nowadays the world itself is my home

My niece

Family

is spread out all over the world with the result of mixing cultures. We travel a lot and communicate in different languages

ASU Cards

Sun Devil

I applied to the Arizona State University several times where I could face people from endless countries and party hard

San Diego

Air Force

As teenager, I had an internship with the Air Force Academy to become a fighter pilot. I quit. I got a private training in the U.S

Manguzi, Free market

South Africa

I ate fried chicken at the free market at the border near by the area of Manguzi-South Africa

Waterfall

Awareness

Creativity is not only related to a job but also it has to be considered as a crucial player of your building life cycle

George Carlin

Comedy

Comedians say what most of the people would really like to say. What a fun :)

Jimmy Spicer

Music

Can't get enough of the rare Ol' Skool Jams even Salsa & Merecumbia and more starting from 70s trhough 80s 'til 90s

Eating Be Like

Health

Fruit, vegetables, legumes, iodine, alotta ice-cream and donuts plus walking for fitness improve your health

Suzuki Santana SJ410

Jeep

Santana, she's 3 years younger than me. My SJ-410-genuine to rhyme for '88 ... coz I'm so smooth!


Professional Skills

Speaking of my professional figure, I'm actually responsible for app design planning with over a decade of experience. Passionate, emphatic, friendly, gentle, knowledge-hungry learner, eager to assimilate new concepts.

My artwork stand out for combining creativity, use of artistic and composition techniques, knowledge of printing and the web. Many things in fact, possible only if we consider the approximately 18 years of experience in the subject. None of this can be improvised and is only possible with a lot of study, a lot of practice, a lot of experience gained in many projects and still a long way to go.

Have a look at some of the following skills, qualifications and expertise best developed at present! Yes indeed, fueled by artistic curiosity, I had chances to span, explore, even excel, in multiple digital fields or areas. As of today, I'd rather being strong in app development. In fact, as a former front end developer, my deep technical background and analytical skills allow me to turn concepts into practical working design solutions. Here I plan and produce projects using app design system.
So far, Step off, coz imma let my flow do the talkin' and let the music play, How ya like me now ?!

I started a journey that no one would give a credit for. No one was doing what I was doing with so much fun. In fact, the digital design industry wasn't even born. but I was there believing it, unlike the most. I was able to turn the passion of genuine drawing into a digital designer's goals so far. From painting graphics on the walls to conceiving virtual artworks on computers

User Experience

30%

Interaction Design

99%

Motion Design

50%

Printmaking

50%

3D Production

20%

Front End

40%

Back End

10%

.

The goal of my portfolio is to collect and present the amount of projects I did over a period of very long time, between 2004 and 2022. I used alotta softwares along the way. In fact, considering the period in which I've been active, I can tell I have seen a lot going on in the field of Information Technology, like drawing software and different programming code languages. Some have evolved across the years, while others have become extinct. In my experience I could use these technologies for studying and working reasons according to the design or programming needs. In any case, the important thing was always to have a method strategy to create and produce, because everyone could be able to use a software; however, it takes art to transform a sequence of thoughts into reality.


Why Spartacus?

In the first century BC, a slave named Spartacus threatened the might of Rome. Spartacus (c. 109 BC-71 BC) was the leader (or possibly one of several leaders) of the massive slave uprising known as the Third Servile War.

Under his leadership, a tiny band of rebel gladiators grew into a huge revolutionary army, numbering about 100,000.

Despite his well-deserved fame as a great revolutionary leader and one of the most outstanding generals of antiquity, not much is known about Spartacus the man. It is always the victors who write history and the voice of the slaves throughout the centuries can be heard only through the accounts of the oppressors.

However, ancient sources claim Spartacus was probably a native of Thrace. At that time Thracians used to call their sons Sparatokos (inspired by their first King Sparatokos I). Based upon this theory, Spartacus name was given to him at the ludus. As he was a Thracian it made sense to the romans.

kirki douglas as spartacus
K. Douglas as Spartacus, the 1960 movie

There were other leaders of the revolt whose names have come down to us: Crixus, Castus, Gannicus and Oenomaus – gladiators from Gaul and Germania.

Their goal was not to destroy their former captors. They aimed to leave Italy, either returning to their homelands, or by making a new life in a land of their own.

Final battle by Hermann Vogel, 1882
Final battle by Hermann Vogel, 1882

However they were never able to achieve the freedom they'd fought and struggled for, as Rome was finally able to crush the revolt.

Plutarch writes:
And seizing upon a defensible place, they chose three captains, of whom Spartacus was chief, a Thracian of one of the nomad tribes, and a man not only of high spirit and valiant, but in understanding, also, and in gentleness superior to his condition, and more of a Grecian than the people of his country usually are

This little detail reveals something far more important than weapons and equipment: a growing confidence, the rejection not only of the servile state but also of the servile mentality

And yet, two thousand years later, Spartacus remains a figure of courage and inspiration.

In the 1960 movie Gladiator, "Spartacus" starring Kirk Douglas, there is a scene toward the end, which takes place after the Romans have finally conquered Spartacus' army: a Roman General demands that Spartacus reveal himself from among the surviving ranks. But before he can, one of the former slaves stands and declares, "I'm Spartacus" upon which another man follows suit, and so on until they all claim to be Spartacus. In this way, they are not only taking the fall with their leader, but they are claiming his cause as their cause. There is no leader. They are in this together. They are all Spartacus.

While people from the first Information-Technology Revolution consider themselves pioneers as they were putting their creativity out there with their commodor 64,

I see myself, like many other Millennials, as follower living the next technology revolutions

On one hand internet born and raised back, in the late 80/90s, which has been followed by the Digital Transformation Era (Handset & Desktop Apps), in the beginning of the 21st century (when computer generated imagery was not taken seriously yet, specially in countries like Italy)

On the other hand, Smart Things (IOT) spreading all over the world as I'm writing ( in case you're curious I recommend you reading - Digital Innovation)

Many actual life experience stories and or actual meetings you might perform are interwoven into the metaphors of Gladiatorial ages and battles in general.

After all, we can consider ourself warriors or gladiators in our chosen fields of endeavor

tony coccaro aka iSpartacus
trademark, gold version

Reason why I got the i Spartakos meaning: I am Spartacus, besides the prefix for app technology. It has come to mean that moment of making a stand, no matter what conventional job position i've been proposed to or sacrifices I had to face. Graphics Design was my mission in the first place.
Thus, based upon Spartacus legend, I've got inspired and I conceived and created my own trademark & logotype design.

tony coccaro aka spartacus
Running in Mozambique, open jungle — photo by lucia-coccaro

In fact, iSpartakos stands for going against the habit of practicing the usual conventional jobs (doctor, lawyer, etc.) in a country, Italy, where the mass imagination is still behind in terms of information technology, especially in terms of Design.

That's why I found myself, to all intents and purposes, in carrying out innovation in the first person, when a Design industry wasn't even defined yet. For example, the Academy of Fine Arts that I attended was the first in the country to combine old and new. In fact, I could practice the art of chalcography of the 1400s and immediately afterwards work in three-dimensional modeling with the very first software. My creativity coupled with this combination of historical events allowed me to advance ideas and techniques ahead of the times. As today, looking back along the path I took, I wasn't aware of the change I was making as a single person either like a participant and a protagonist. After all, the characteristic that best described me was the innocence of experimenting with new techniques and methods with the pleasure of having fun in order to always do better, and thus in fact bringing with me the vision that few had.

I created a blog at this page, not only to tell about myself, but also to explain techniques and methods of my invention. For example, I put my innovative thesis into practice as a service that I offered in the United States as a freelancer in the field of printing. Also during the thesis, I had the honor of confronting F. Fontana (collaborator of Tim Berners Lee in the creation of the Internet) at his ENEA laboratory, and discussing the imminent advent of new technologies in our daily life. In short, at that time, there was a lot of excitement and a lot of creativity. I can tell I lived years of experimentation, not so different from those in which great artists created a genre that did not exist and thus defining themselves over time the founding fathers of Hip Hop culture. It was something genuine and intellectual. It is no coincidence that the old school Hip Hop motto has always been Peace Love Unity and Having Fun