Meet Scott DaRos and Alexis Deprey

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Scott DaRos and Alexis Deprey a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Scott and Alexis, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?
It’s very important for us to make sure that we’re still having fun! That’s why we started doing this- because we’re passionate about it and we have fun collaborating and creating. There are times during a long or difficult job where we might start feeling burnt out – like we’re completing checklists and doing managerial tasks instead of being creative. To counter that feeling, we make sure that we work on personal passion projects between client jobs. An example is our original claymation short series called Magical Cat, where we’re in complete control of the creative and we’re free to try new ideas and techniques without any risk. It’s kind of like a reward after delivering a project! We can loosen up and have some fun. But sometimes even Magical Cat can feel a little too much like work, so it’s nice to have other outlets for creativity that aren’t tied to our jobs. We tend to be hard on ourselves if we’re not producing the kind of content that people expect from us, and that anxiety can get in the way of our sense of creative freedom. Separate from each other, we have our own creative endeavors like music and illustration. These activities allow us to stay in that creative mindset without any kind of pressure from either external or internal sources.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
We’re Threadwood, a boutique animation studio specializing in stop-motion and clay animation. We started our little animation business back while we were working for the various stop-motion animation studios peppered throughout LA county. During the down time between those studio jobs, we would take on small animated projects in our cramped garage. We were very short on space, so eventually we wound up purchasing a home with a large carriage house in the backyard in upstate New York! We planned to remain in LA for a while longer after the purchase, but the pandemic happened and everything came to a halt. So we took a risk and moved everything to our new home in New York. Here, we have space to take on multiple jobs and larger jobs that will help our business grow. For the past 3 years, we’ve been producing original animated content as well as working with clients creating ads, short films, music videos and effects. We’re capable of different styles of animation including 2D and mixed media approaches, but most of our work is stop-motion and clay animation. We’re inspired by the work of studios like Aardman and Will Vinton, and our focus is creating our own brand of animation that stands out visually and makes our viewers’ days a little brighter, and we think the best example of that is our series Magical Cat. Threadwood projects are unique because there aren’t a ton of clay animation artists or studios in the States. Animating with clay is a technique that doesn’t have any shortcuts and can’t easily be duplicated digitally, so when you see claymation you already appreciate the work that goes into it before you get sucked in by the oddities and imperfections in the movement and textures that dance across the screen.

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?
We’d have to say professionalism, teamwork, and being well-rounded. Professionalism is always important, whether it be when you first start your career or later on when you’re face to face with clients. Early on, you want to show that you’re reliable, a good communicator, and a solid performer. Those kinds of qualities will give you a good reputation, which will lead to more work and more networking which will become very important later in your career. Teamwork is especially important in our industry. We’ve learned this over the years on various large projects where every job is a collaboration between a wide variety of personalities and specialties. Being a good team member has a lot to do with communication. Let others know what you need, don’t dismiss the needs of others, and be willing to compromise.
Being well-rounded has been a key for us. We both have specific strengths, but throughout our careers we’ve always made sure to pay attention to the work of those around us rather than focusing only on our tasks. I (Scott) was always in the animation department while Lex was in the art department, so luckily we were able to gather knowledge and pick up on tips and tricks across many disciplines. Simply ask your co-workers questions if they’re doing something you want to know more about. There’s also plenty of books and tutorials that will help if you’re still not quite grasping a specific skill or need to strengthen a weak area. This is a good idea for anyone who plans to branch out on their own. We knew that we wanted to create our own productions, so we were (and still are) always taking notes while working on larger studio jobs.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?
Our ideal collaboration is with studios and agencies who are looking for unique visuals and need to produce stop-motion animation content but would prefer to outsource that work rather than set it up in-house. Setting up a stop-motion shoot from scratch can be unpredictable and expensive – finding a space, renting equipment, hiring a full staff of highly skilled artists, etc. We see ourselves as an option to help ease that process while producing professional level animation. We feel that Threadwood is in a position to make clay animation approachable and affordable for clients who might be intimidated by or wary of the amount of work involved to complete a claymation project. One thing that makes this possible is that the Threadwood team is usually just the two of us, and we cover the roles of all the specialized staff that are typically hired for an animation production. We’re all set up and ready to go and we’re happy to help figure out the unique creative challenges and tackle the surprises that emerge in every stop-motion project! You can contact us through our website or email us directly at info@threadwood.com.

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