GETTING TO KNOW:
VARYA YAKOVLEVA

Hi Varya!
Congratulations on being shortlisted
for the Cluster Illustration Residency 2021!

How would you introduce yourself to the Cluster readers?

Hi. I am an illustrator and animation director based in Moscow.

How did you get here on your creative journey?

I spent 6 years at The Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography,
a film school here in Moscow, then 2 years at the SHAR School-Studio with leading directors and animators.
From 2013 I worked with Andrey Khrzhanovsky for a stop motion film called The Nose or the Conspiracy of Mavericks.

Nowadays I do my own stuff, mostly animation films.
In the last year I illustrated a book and I do regular commissions
for magazines, online publications, advertising companies and websites.

What drew you to illustration?

So to start with I illustrated two books here in Russia: You'd better fly. Project No19, published by Samokat and Feeling of the island published by Fom.
Everything came from this.

Tell us about the work you submitted…

I submitted a series of sketches for animation. This is a direction
I want to explore and further develop. The idea is something
between illustration and animation.

I believe that we’re more and more attracted to the moving image, especially in the way that people now consume media.

My research on the subject focuses on the properties and techniques
of graphics, but also on the inertia of vision that allows us
to read movement, starting from the basic fundamentals of animation.

How would you describe your creative style and way of working?

My tools are the spot and the line. My main approach
is to have no fear of making mistakes because it’s only through making mistakes that you can find
a way to create something new and unusual.
Guided by plastic expressiveness, I aim to depict
the real world. I love form and composition,
especially multi-figure composition..

Key words to define your imagery?

Sketch Animation

What gets you out of bed in the morning?

A cup of aromatic coffee.

Social media and you: the good,
the bad and the ugly. Tell us all…

I love Instagram, it's my bridge to the world.
I only use it for creativity, it opens my eyes to other artists. On the negative side I can get frustrated if my art
doesn't resonate with people; positive affirmation
can be like an addiction. But I'm sure that it’s the same |for everyone who is active on social media.