Meet Thaddeus Varness

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Thaddeus Varness. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Thaddeus below.

Hi Thaddeus, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?

I think from a young age art and animation weren’t necessarily as accessible as they are now. Often times if I wanted to develop a skill or practice animation techniques, I wasn’t able to do it at school and tutorials weren’t as readily available as they are now. I had to essentially teach myself from the ground up how to do these things, and because of that most of my free time outside of school or family was entirely dedicated to animation, art, and stop-motion. Which naturally gave me a strong sense of resilience. Instead of playing video games or other activities I would force myself to make things and to improve. Which has carried forward as I’ve gotten older into a work ethic that has served me well into my career. On top of that, my parents were both extremely hard workers. My dad constantly bettered himself at home as a carpenter and my mom started her own business from the ground up. While they never pressured me to work the same way, they always inspired me to be like them and to push myself.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I am a Stop-Motion character animator from Minnesota, I recently graduated from college in Georgia and am now working as an animator in Oregon. Stop-Motion is the form of animation you see in films like Coraline, the Nightmare Before Christmas, Rudolph, and others. It is a meticulous craft that requires a lot of individual artists to make it happen, fabricators sculptors, puppet builders, and animators (which is what I do). I slightly adjust the characters poses physically frame by frame, taking a photo for every micro-adjustment, to craft a performance when played back. It’s an incredibly time-consuming but rewarding hobby. I’ve had the opportunity to work on a lot of characters for different films in college and am now just starting my career at a Stop-Motion animation studio in Oregon. I really love my job and the craftsmanship required on all fronts to make it happen. You can see a lot of my work on my website.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

1. Collaboration
2. Patience
3. Humility

I think a lot of artists and animators especially get used to working alone and don’t get the opportunity to collaborate as much. Which can be a great challenge when you are brought onto a project. In an industry as collaborative as animation, you have to be able to be an effective communicator and to be adaptable for the unique projects you’ll face. I strongly urge, as scary as it might sound, to work with other people and other artists. As an animator it is your job to craft a performance that delivers the story the director intends. You need to have a certain level of humility in this respect, to be able to trust the vision of your director, and you also need to have patience. Sometimes something just isn’t working, and it takes many iterations to get right. Which is a wonderful opportunity because you know you will improve with each step, but getting frustrated at this process will only hinder you. Forcing yourself no matter how nervous or scared you may be to work with others with inherently force you to face situations where you will need to develop these skills. And while they may be frustrating at the time in the long term you will be all the more prepared for your career because of it.

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?

I am very fortunate to have had parents who wholeheartedly supported my passion for Stop-Motion animation and pushed me to have a career in art. Despite not knowing much of anything about art or animation my parents put all the faith in the world in me and always cheered me on and pushed me to pursue my passions as a career. Going so far as to send me all the way from the Minnesota in the Midwest to Georgia for school, despite my barely having been on a so much as a plane before. Often times in the most scary and intimidating moments it was my parents’ faith and support in me that pushed me to keep going. I since became aware that this type of support is not a given, and many people have had the exact opposite experience from their parents in the art industry. For those of us that are lucky to have parents like this it is critically that you recognize how fortunate you are and capitalize on that support. It’s on you to prove them right and to take advantage of all the opportunities afforded to you.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thaddeusvarness.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thadimation_art/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thaddeus-varness-29b40424b/