Meet Davy Stoces | Animator

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

Hi Davy, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
To put it simply, because I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

Throughout my life, all of my interests have been creative. When I was five I started playing piano, first arduously learning the notes on the staff, then tapping out my own melodies on the keyboard. In grade school I went to ‘art class’ in a local woman’s basement, where I would endure a quick art history lesson before beginning the wonderful process of crafting a new project. My bedroom quickly filled with small clay figurines and nature paintings. During the summers of middle school, I looked forward to writing camp at my local university. There I learned how to get the stories I so often imagined out of my head and onto the page. And in high school I discovered my love for film and media analysis, enjoying scouring the depths of YouTube for video essays on my favorite movies, and even writing analyses of my own.

All of these pursuits have stuck with me through the years, and for that reason it was rare for me to imagine doing anything else with my life. The challenge, for me, was picking something. In truth I am at once an artist, a musician, a filmmaker, and a writer. But for the purposes of explaining my career aspirations to others, I am an animator.

I mostly say this because my degree is in animation. But the reason I chose animation in the first place was because in the process of creating an animated film, I could still be involved in everything from writing, to design, to shot composition, to animation, to sound design and music. It just happens to be everything I’m passionate about wrapped into one. But that’s a little more difficult to explain than “I’m an animator.”

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
The animation industry–and entertainment in general–is rough right now. I don’t think a single person I know from college had an easy time finding a job post-graduation, and many people (including myself) are still struggling. Last year, my partner and I wrote a grant proposal for a film, and we were lucky enough to be accepted by Voices with Impact. With their help, I was able to direct and animate “The Spinning Wheel,” a six minute short film exploring mental health themes involving coping mechanisms and self-care.

“The Spinning Wheel” is about a strange bug-like creature that follows Grey, a human. A purple mist flows from Grey’s head every day, and the bug creature–the Spinner–takes the mist and runs it through a spinning wheel, turning the purple smoke to golden thread. As Grey’s life begins to fall apart, the Spinner must deal with an influx of purple smoke, spinning and spinning–until the spinning wheel breaks, forcing Grey and the Spinner to confront their situations.

I am extremely grateful to Voices with Impact for taking a chance on a small animator, fresh out of college with no real work experience, and my partner Max Wasserstom, a new writer bound for law school. Their support meant that I could make my first professional film–and also technically have a job for six months. But I think what I am most grateful for after this experience was the ability to assemble a team to make this film.

Because of our budget, we were able to hire three artists also fresh from graduation, and give them an opportunity to do the work they love in a professional context. It is my hope that their work on “The Spinning Wheel” will help kick start their careers, and lead them to more opportunities in the future. We are already going to be featured in a local film festival, the St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase, in July! Hopefully there will be more to come.

After this experience, Max and I were inspired to make our own media studio, where we can hopefully continue to uplift the careers of beginning artists. We are particularly inspired by stories with themes of mental health and finding one’s place in the universe, and we intend to continue exploring those themes in our future work. For now we intend to remain primarily an animation studio, but because of our wide scope of interests, my dream is in the future we will be able to produce a wide variety of media, including comics and live action.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I am currently based in St. Louis, and I’ve shown multiple friends around the city recently! For food, my go-to restaurant is Asian Kitchen Korean Cuisine. Delicious food at a very reasonable price! I also have to take any friend to Imos, where they serve St. Louis style pizza. It’s a controversial pick, even among St. Louisans, but I love it, and love seeing people’s reactions.

For drinks, I take people to the Grove, where there are a variety of great bars to choose from. We also have a lot of great breweries, my favorite being Urban Chestnut’s outdoor biergarten in Midtown.

There are a lot of great activities to choose from here, but I love taking visitors to Forest Park. People are often surprised by the amount of free activities there, including the St. Louis Zoo. During the summers, Forest Park also puts on a free Shakespeare production outdoors, with great actors and a custom stage.

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?
I want to dedicate my shoutout to all the other beginning professionals who worked on “The Spinning Wheel” with me. Emily Knoppe was my wonderful co-animator, without whom this project would have never finished (@mimitay on Instagram). Teddy Rosen did all the amazing background illustrations for the film (@tedro.art on Instagram). And finally Julian Carroll was the editor for the project, who turned something serviceable into a beautiful finished product.

And of course to Max Wasserstrom, my amazing partner, both in creative pursuits and in life. He has encouraged me to be the best person and artist I can be, despite all the challenges we’ve both faced. He always believes I can go further and believe in myself more, and should learn to listen to his advice, because normally he is right.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stocieee/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@anigator3089

Image Credits
Personal Photo – Max Wasserstrom

Work Photos – from “The Spinning Wheel”