Meet Blake Derksen | Stop Motion Animator

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

Hi Blake, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
As both an introvert and an overall cautious person, confronting risk is something that I have often struggled with. I’m not sure how many times my high school sculpture teacher suggested I loosen up while sketching, I lost count. Finally, something clicked in a drawing class during my time at CalArts, I loosened up. Almost instantly, drawing was fun again. I could fail, learn, and try again. What was once a chore now felt like a liberating tool of exploration.

This also gave me a framework for artistic practice in general. My main discipline is stop motion animation which blends many different art forms. Now, instead of being paralyzed by the complexity of a scene I try to sketch out ideas, try something, and take those risks one step at a time. Knowing that failed experiments will teach me how I might proceed successfully allows me to push through that fear and take risks. It allows me to push my animation performances farther as well as tackle more complex scenes like a flying a spaceship through an asteroid belt.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
As a stop motion animator I get to push around puppets everyday to bring them to life. Part of what I love about stop motion is how tangible it is, the viewer can sense the hand of the artist even if they can’t see it. It’s part of what makes stop motion simultaneously easy and accessible, but also difficult to master. To try to keep as much of the action in camera as possible in my CalArts thesis film, The Other Space, I rear projected animated backgrounds behind the spaceship. That way I could get all of the reflections and light interactions practically. Not only does this look cool and save me some time in post production by not having to deal with green spill from a green screen and recreating those reflections, it also adds that extra bit of authenticity that adds to the story.

Inspired by my battle with bone cancer in 2012, The Other Space is about a young child, Otis, grappling with his cancer diagnosis through his imagination. To finish the film in time to graduate back in 2019, my mentors encouraged me to cut about three minutes out of the middle. It was good advice, and thanks to them I finished a four minute version of the film that worked pretty well. The plot was intact, but I felt like I had cut the emotional core out of the film. While working in the industry for a few years I kept debating what to do with the film. When I felt work was going to be sparse for awhile because of the strikes and everything going on I saw an opportunity. So my wife, Meagan, and I embarked on launching a Kickstarter to finish The Other Space.

It’s been a challenge for sure, but I’m really happy to be finishing the film. After 5 years, I feel like I’ve actually been able to tackle the missing scenes, as a lot of them involve some complex special effects shots. In the film Otis imagines himself on a grand sci-fi adventure as he processes what’s happening to him. It cuts back and forth between his reality and his fantasy. I feel like one of the cool things about stop motion is that because all of the props and puppets are physical and actually exist, it helps make Otis’ struggle to understand how to fight and stay hopeful equally tangible. It humanizes his struggle, while also making it more real. Even if people don’t know exactly how the technique works, I think they can feel that human touch. My goal is to use the film to help encourage other kids going through cancer treatment by showing them that they’re not alone, how to be brave, and that there is hope.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Meagan and I have been living in Montrose for nearly four years now, these are some of our favorite local spots. First, I’d want to take them to Black Cow Cafe for brunch (or dinner too). I love their biscuits and gravy and they also have great beef stroganoff and chicken pot pie. Honestly, their menu is very strong overall though, so it’s hard to go wrong. If they’re a book lover it’s fun to stop by Lost Books. We could get boba at 5.2 Patio. Then we’d go to Descanso Gardens and hangout for the afternoon. It’s truly beautiful, I love the way the garden is curated in a more natural feeling way, plus you might be able to spot some frogs which is always fun. After the gardens we’d have to get dinner at La Cabañita for some awesome sit down Mexican food. I’m partial to their Ropa Vieja, but again it’s hard to go wrong.

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?
Beyond friends and family, I have to give a huge shoutout to all of my teachers and mentors. With something as complex and multi-disciplinary as stop motion, I cannot imagine learning to build puppets and animate them well without guidance. In high school my multimedia teacher Mr. Bibo encouraged me to pursue animation as a career, not just as a hobby. He also encouraged me to hone my traditional art skills. My sculpture teacher from high school, Mr. Regalado, was the first one to really encourage me to loosen up and really helped me get my first portfolio together. Between the two of them I got the guidance and encouragement I needed to apply to CalArts and get in. I couldn’t have done it without them.

Website: https://pointblake.com

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

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pointblake

Image Credits
Puppet Family Photo Credit: Meagan L. Rufo-Derksen
BTS_1, BTS_2, and BTS_3 Photo Credit: Vanessa Hsia
All other photos shot by: Blake Derksen