Born in 1960, John Garvin grew up in an era when kids still read comic books, mostly superheroes like Superman and Batman, and upstarts by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, like Fantastic Four, Spider-man, and later, Kirby's Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth, but also Dell comics, with their painted covers of Turok fighting dinosaurs, Tarzan swinging through the jungle, and Boris Karloff pimping his tales of mystery. By 1970, cartoons on television were quickly taking over. Saturday mornings soon became a kind of secular church, absorbing hours and hours of cartoon imagery from the 40s and 50s, as well as inane shows from the 60s and 70s, like Scooby Do and H.R. Puffnstuf, made to sell breakfast cereal more than anything else.
Dropping out of junior high in the early 1970s, Garvin found himself married and raising a family while still a teenager, and spent the next half decade working as a gas station attendent, dishwasher, and grave digger at Medford's largest cemetry. None of his family, going back generations, had ever been to college, nor had any of his friends. Escaping poverty in rural Southern Oregon seemed like a distant dream. This might have been his life had fate not intervened. In the mid 1970s, his stepfather bought a used book store that also sold old comic books, which at the time, were just starting to become valuable collectables. In 1977 they took their stock of old comics to sell at SeaCon in Seattle. There, Garvin experienced four life changing events: he saw Star Wars on its first theatrical run; he saw a midnight convention showing of Flesh Gordon, his first X-rated film; he played Metamorphasis Alpha, one of the first pen-and-paper RPGs; and he bought the 1977 issue of the Comic Book Price Guide, which contained reproductions of fine-art Disney paintings by Carl Barks.
He was mesmerized by Barks's paintings. Painted cartoon illustrations were not new. He had seen Topps cards like Mars Attacks and Wacky Packs; Mad Magazine had painted covers and illustration; Dell comics, mentioned above, specialized in painted covers of cartoon subjects, including Disney's summer specials. But Barks's paintings were different: They were finely rendered, with realistic props and settings, and the ducks were "realistically," while still being cartoons. Years later, Garvin realized that was the key: Barks's paintings weren't illustrations, weren't intended for publication; they were works of art, intended to hang on his patrons' walls. Years later, Garvin would realize that, in retirement, Barks, always the workaholic genius, had created an entirely new genre of painting: fine-art cartoons in oils.
That same year, 1977, Garvin started painting and hasn't stopped. He began with copies of Barks's work. Then, in the 1980s when Barks retired to Southern Oregon, just a half hour from where Garvin lived, he got to spend time with Barks and his wife Garé, an accomplished painter herself, and learn the craft of painting from two gifted and hard-working artists. By the 1980s, Garvin had stopped painting Barks copies and was creating originals, first using Barks's Disney motifs, then branching into other kinds of cartoon subjects. Inspired by Barks's work ethic and creativity, Garvin got his GED and went to college, eventally graduating with a Masters in English from the University of Oregon. Then, he had a successful, 30-year career making video games, including the Syphon Filter series, Uncharted Golden Abyss, and Days Gone, to name a few.
During all this time he continued to paint, exploring new ways of thinking about the cartoon imagery he grew up with, while encorporating new technology, digital workflows, 3D props, composition, lighting, and now, AI and machine learning. As he approaches the age when Barks first started painting, 65, Garvin writes: "I feel like I've finally 'grown up,'" but, with apologies to the writers of First Corinthians, I have not put away my childish things, and frankly, never will." What better way to see the world, than through the wide eyes of a child, where fantasy is real, the surreal is commonplace, and every day begins with a sense of wonder.
--John Garvin 2024
