In his early years Darino had no access to a camera, so, inspired by Norman McLaren, his first experiments with animation included scratching and painting on the film stock itself.

He received an invitation to a film festival in Cordoba, Argentina, and, knowing that Jan Lenica would be the jury's president, he traveled to meet him.

Norman McLaren wrote him an enthusiastic letter and left the door open for him to visit the National Film Board of Canada.

He filmed and directed the feature documentary Copihues Rojos[19] for the Consejo Nacional de Ensenanza Primaria (Uruguay), a co-production with Chile about teachers' exchange between the two countries, and social issues, and Orate Frates[20] about the miraculous San Cono[21] festivities in Florida, assisted by Eduardo Terra.

Laurie Anderson asked him to shoot her early animations, and through Bernhard he edited a television spot with the voice of Orson Welles, who called him "a surrealist".

Once the required six months had passed, he left the publishing industry, setting up his own studio, Darino Films, on Park Avenue South.

DC Comics sponsored an American Lung Association[33] PR campaign with a "Superman kit",[34] and Darino was chosen to design and animate the cartoon superhero.

[citation needed] During a slow time in the industry, he got a one-project art director's job at Roger Wade Productions,[35] where Jim Logan had produced animation.

Darino made an offer, bought the Master Series animation stand, and ordered the first Cameraman computer system from Bill Ferster.

[38][39] He produced other animated films: Doble o Nada, Setenta veces siete, La Carreta, Gaucho al galope, Rafa-Javi, and Gaviotas-Seagulls based on drawings by his grandsons Rafel and Javier in Punta del Este.

Barry Rappaport, interviewed by ADA,[41] remembers: "Ed was doing the star fields for our teaser, and he came up with a trick by sandwiching the high-contrast kodaliths on an opal glass under the camera, and …a "glow" came out!!"

This was not yet computer graphics, but a photographic effect where the camera tracked while moving toward or away from a slit, behind which a back-lit artwork passed, exposing one frame at a time.

Autodesk software evolved into the 3D world, and Mark Gerhard, in Petaluma, and Brent Blacken, in San Francisco, showed him the ropes on Animator and 3d max.

During lunch, they learned about Ed's drawing work and invited him to join a fledgling Pixar studio that had released Luxo Jr and was planning its first feature, Toy Story, in 1995.

Thirty years later, when he met Nicolás Peña[43] from MoPix[44] and Juan Jose Lopez from Aparato TV[45] they had turned that dream into a reality.

[50] Maazda had a presence in New York and requested cartoons for Rasna, and Mega Pictures commissioned tests for Raju and Chacha, although these plans fell through due to legislation in India protecting local production.

Goyen interested Robert Allen, who backed a package of three titles suggested by Coe Films for HBO, and Darino prepared the docudrama Guri, the Young Gaucho, starring Eli Wallach[59][60] from a story by Serafin J. Garcia.

[64] Also for producer Sam Simerman he did special effects and animation for Biography with Denzel Washington, Tom Hanks, and Hollywood: The Magic Night,[65] about the Oscar Awards.

As editor for SCTV-Entertainment News he did over 150 TV episodes of Hollywood Talks,[66] combining interviews and motion picture EPK footage (material provided for the press reviews).

Executive producer Rogelio Sandoval said: [Darino] renovates the "runway" into a broadcasting top show, changing the way we see fashion with La Moda al Dia/Fashion Next,[68] hosted by Janene Sumampow.

Responding to the needs of these clients, he created a small archive of ready-made scenes, such as a star field, the earth spinning, or an explosion, which he later expanded into "The Library of Special Visual Effects",[78] a collection of eleven hours of ready-to-use animation, openings and bumpers, licensed in more than 68 countries.

[79][80][81][82][83] Camba Cate writes on Proyecto Cruz del Sur that Darino is one of the few artists who keeps up-to-date with technological changes on a daily basis, mastering film, then video and now computers.

Cate cites Javier Kostura's interview on Midem News when Darino forecast: "the VHS is dead, it's the end of tape and DVD may not have a long life.

He keeps exploring options: the tapeless camera, streaming video, and new ways of doing animation first with Time Arts' Lumena[84] buffers,[85] then with Adobe LiveMotion (precursor of Flash), and recently with particles.

Darino has completed several interactive installations as "Self Scan" about his cancer, helping other patients to learn and consider options, and the series "Irreverent Realities"[86] including animations for the anniversary of Onetti, Figari, Frasconi, Zitarrosa, Paez Vilaro and recently "New York Virtual Tour", exhibited in "It's Liquid", Venice, 2014 and January 2015,[87][88] "Apex", world premiere, Cinematheque, San Francisco,[89] "Seagulls, Gaviotas" Uruguay, New York, 2018–2019 animation dedicated to Norman McLaren,[90][91][92] "Screening Cocktail de Rayas at Red Cat Disney, Ismo Ismo Ismo and Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid.

Film festivals: Annecy, São Paulo, Athens, Bilbao, Lisbon, Nyon, Florence, Cracow, Kenyon, Tenn., Montevideo, Edinburgh, Hiroshima, Washington, Teheran, Helsinki, Bucharest, Rio de Janeiro, and others.