Meet Maro Avramopoulos | Visual Artist, Animator, Designer & Video Editor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Maro Avramopoulos and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Maro, what habits do you feel helped you succeed?
I think persistence and passion are constants without which I would never have gotten the experiences or opportunities I have thus far. I create from a desire to share with others, and better my own abilities, rather than an expectation that I’ll get something in return. As someone who feels like they are not always the best at “selling themselves” or networking, I’ve found that sharing my personal work and expressing my interests and desires openly have landed me most of my opportunities. When I’m not invested in client work, I am creating personal work, therefore there is never a moment in which I don’t have a project underway. I found my first big opportunity working at Havas Creative Marketing back in 2021 because a creative director came across a personal project I had shared on Instagram, and then shared that piece with the teams executive producer. as luck and the universe would have it, this producer was someone who’s email I had gotten my hands on a year prior, and I had been cold emailing them expressing my interest in creating for the company, specifically my love of Fanta (Coke was their biggest client at the time, and I am truly a Fanta Fan.) This chismit combination led me to my first full time role in creative marketing.

Even before this experience, I remember when I was a senior in college expressing that my dream would be to create animated music videos & light shows. I created a couple visualizers for music while in school, and have gotten the privilege of creating over 8 paid projects with musicians since that time. I believe there is massive power in simply saying what it is you want, and not waiting for anyone’s permission to start doing it.

I try to continue these practices and this mindset as I explore the much more daunting process of running my own freelance art business. I was laid off from my creative marketing gig after Coke left the company and the Atlanta office subsequently closed. since then, I’ve had a wide array of freelance opportunities. Some felt less creative and less rewarding, while others felt like they suited me to a T. While it’s been challenging, I’ve tried to let these experiences inform me on where it is I offer the most, and what creative work makes me the happiest. Something I didn’t fully expect was the opportunity to grow my fine arts business. My degree is in animation and post production, and for the most part, these are the creative skills I have employed during my career. After my layoff in 2023, I found myself with the time and opportunity to paint again, and since then I have sold several paintings, and am actively pursuing creating merchandise, and holding a gallery show, which I am incredibly excited for. My advice for anyone pursuing a creative career, is don’t be afraid to say what you want, and if you’re not sure what that is, say yes to all the opportunities that come your way and the path will eventually reveal itself. Change is our only constant, and that is a scary, but beautiful thing.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I have a hard time sometimes expressing the “type” of artist that I am. I like to animate, I like to sculpt, I like to illustrate & storyboard, I like to paint, I like editing video, I like set design, I even like to dance. A lot of time I end boiling it down to “I like making stuff.” but I don’t know that that really does it justice.

When I was 5 my family and I moved from Greece to the U.S. At that time Greek was very much my dominant language, and I was extremely shy and quiet in my new American Kindergarten. I remember one of the first ways I started making friends was that I would sit in the corner of the playground during recess and start crafting dolls and airplanes, tying sticks and leaves together with grass to make skirts and heads and airplane wings. This sparked curiosity in other kids on the playground, who started approaching me, first to ask what I was doing, and then to ask if they could have one. This is the first instance I can think of where art became the way I communicated and navigated the world around me, and my visual language has only grown since then. Creating for me is both a practice, and a way of existing.

For me, finding ways to create or the desire to do so has never been difficult. I find myself full of ideas, honestly sometimes too many. A theme I find myself constantly exploring is our relationship with time, the universe and ourselves. The time that we have on this planet, the way we perceive it and what we are able to do within it. I think this is in part what led me to animation. I think all art tells a story of the human experience, and t0 me, animation was like this door I could open to endless storytelling possibilities.

I think a challenge for me has been reconciling my personal passion and style with the specific styles and goals of the clients I create for. As someone who has no shortage of ideas, sometimes honing in on what a specific brand, business or artist needs for their creative work and marketing can be difficult because it requires embodying them and their goals and applying it the work. While it’s a challenge, it’s also rewarding and helps me to grow as an artist. I think something that is always important in creative work is asking yourself who the audience is, and what the mission and tone of voice of the client is.

While I’m proud of my experiences, I am still not where I’d like to be in my creative career. I continue to put one foot in front of another, and jump into each opportunity that comes my way, but I would like to start more aggressively pursuing what I’ve learned suits me best, as well as truly pursue my larger dream which is to create an original animated series based on my experiences growing up in Baltimore City and attending Baltimore School for the Arts. This time in mine and my friends’ lives was fast, crazy, creative and formative, and I’d love to create something from the ground up that’s both humorous and insightful, that speaks to that time in our lives & the larger picture of what it means to grow up.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I think it’s incredibly important to have time both in nature, and in the city, and the ability to do both is something I really appreciate about living Atlanta. I own 2 kayaks and have a year long pass to Stone Mountain, so I would definitely make time for a mountain paddle one day. It’s a beautiful and relaxed lake and one of my favorite places to paddle in Atlanta so far. We’d probably get hungry during the excursion, so I’d bring with us some Cheba Hut sandwiches (if you know, you know.) Atlanta has a million amazing food and drink options, but one of my favorite areas has to be the Inman Park beltline, so we might stroll into Pure Taqueria in the evening for a margarita, or walk the beltline to Ponce City Market where we could have a our pick of so many amazing eateries. If it were in the spring, summer or fall, I’d also want to take them for a swim at Tallulah Falls. The Falls are an hours drive away, and you have to show up first thing in the morning because they only allow 100 people in all day – but if you’re one of the lucky 100 you get to hike down to a beautiful waterfall and swimming hole in the mountain. I’m from Greece, the home of some of the most beautiful swimming holes in the world, and I was impressed with this spot. I also love the incredibly steep hike back up the mountain that is so rocky it feels like you are bouldering. During our city excursions, we’d definitely need to go dancing. The rooftop of Palo Santo is one of my favorite spots to dance. People of all ages show up to dance it out, the vibes are chill, and the roof is open to the night sky. The DJ always knows what they’re doing, and there are still places off the dance floor where you can hear each other and hang out. If they wanted a louder, younger, sweatier scene, I might take them to Dark Horse Tavern for dancing and Karaoke, or maybe Johnny’s Hideaway if we wanna stay up until 3am, but I would worn them that not everyone keeps their hands to themselves and to stay wary.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My creative community has done the most to inspire and uplift me. My dad is a scientist, and he told me when I graduated that if I had wanted to be a doctor he could’ve helped me, but as it were, I would have to forge my own path, and he was right.

I went to an arts high school in Baltimore, and then to an arts college in Virginia. What I love about art school is the ways in which creative people inspire, and help one another. Working collaboratively in a creative environment is a really special experience. I have gotten several freelance opportunities from my high-school & college peers. I have also gotten many freelance opportunities from my old co-workers with whom I was on a creative team. People that know what you can bring to the table and that celebrate and share that mean everything. I’ve also had creative friends in entirely different fields that have celebrated and encouraged me. One of my friends is a writer and an actor, and she is the one that recommended me for this interview. in my experience Individual success is never without the success and encouragement of the people you’ve worked with, so my shoutout would be to all the wonderful creative teams I’ve had the privilege of being a part of, and the creative friends and peers that have encouraged me along the way.

Website: https://maromation.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maro.mation/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maro-avramopoulos-a23496134/