Featured Friday: John Vavir

Posted by on Friday, November 5th, 2021

John Varvir

● Q: When did you first realize that you wanted to work in animation?

○ When one of the teachers at the daycare I attended told me the cartoons I was watching were hand drawn by people and not filmed by actual ninja turtles; my life was changed forever!

● Q: Who is your biggest inspiration?

○ The mixture of Jason, Ralph Steadman and Glen Keane. From the steady, the abstract and the animted; these three feed the furthest spectrums of style and movement for my mind.

● Q: What is your favorite animated movie/show?

○ Movie, ‘The Great Mouse Detective’. Show, ‘The Simpsons’. Both for amazing character design, animation, voice actors and just being well written!

● Q: What would you say to those who are not getting hired by a studio or having trouble finding a job?

○ Just keep going! If not for a job, for yourself. There is no wrong in continuing of what you love pursuing!

● Q: What are some stories of your path to art and animation?

○ I remember there was a walk cycle that I broke my back over and was satisfied with the outcome. Then my college professor told me to add one more frame to brake up the timing and have the walk cycle become unique. After that, he told me to do one more. Then told me to do one more. Until I ended up adding 7 more frames of animation that made it better than what I originally created. It was a great lesson on taking constructive criticism in what i thought was already satisfactory.

● Q: What type of equipment/software do you work on?

○ Animation for Toon Boom and the illustration for Clip Studio and Photoshop.

● Q: Any educational advice/sources you’d like to share? Books, websites, blogs, videos…

○ The internet. It’s a great source for everything I’ve ever needed.

● Q: What is the best part about your job and working at Powerhouse?

○ The range of styles and artistic freedom I would have not explored on my own! I have managed animating characters, effects, and styles that have grown my appetite for challenging myself artistically!

● Q: What is your favorite Powerhouse Project that you’ve worked on?

○ Oh man! So many! Possibly the tops would be the shorts for Magnum Ice Cream. It was artistically challenging and the animation was beautiful from all that got their hands on it!

● Q: Most challenging part of working at Powerhouse?

○ The constant differences in style and expectation between each project. I enjoy the challenge of keeping up with the brake neck speed and exploring all types forms of animation that i would not have done myself!

● Q: Any cool little known facts about production (funny stories/cool animation tricks/etc)?

○ Everyone shares the 411 on what is being done in the animation world. So I’m fed constant updates on everything I could have ever dreamed growing my knowledge and skill set for animation!

● Q: If you could be any anime/cartoon character who would it be and why?

○ Skips from Regular Show. An immortal yeti that can take on any obscure challenge and not shed a drop of sweat when tackled head on. Also, dry humor, a quick wit and being voiced by Mark Hamill is a plus!

Social Media Handles: insta: @johnvarvir    twitter: @the_varvs