Duncan Studio

12/13/2023

.
Inside Duncan Studio

1- Visual Development Artist Alger Tam did some great design work on the LOW feature film 2019-2020

2- Production Designer Pablo Carpio came over from Spain to work with us on the LOW film(unreleased), in 2019.
Spain began experiencing the severe effects of Covid so Pablo headed back to be with his family. Like everyone else he would ultimately work remotely. His paintings are fantastic!

3- Layout Supervisor Lorenzo Martinez quietly working away.

4- "Next Gen" Production Designer and ultimately the film's Director having one of those days. Another wacky Canadian. 🍁

5-Story Artist David Boudreau entertaining us with his custom made "Fozzie Bear" muppet. Yet another Canadian. 🍁

6- Animator and buddy Shane Zalvin timing out his scene, for a Coke commercial I think.
Oh, yeah, another Canadian. 😬🍁

7- CG Animator Mike Ryan had some fun with this gag, while working on "Minion Mayhem". 2012

7- Programmer Joe Majer working away in our original studio location. 2008

8- Our first coordinator Justin Horvath putting together disks, during the first year of our studio. circa 2007.

10- The studio just gearing up for Poppins. 2017

12/11/2023

.
Inside Duncan Studio

1- "Poppins" director Rob Marshall visited the crew. This visit was part way through the production so there always only 1/2 the crew where than worked in the studio.
Rob is in a blue shirt just above the center of the image.

2- Animator Frans Vischer working in a penguin scene.

3- CG Supervisor Jason Stovall reviewing the plan art of where the scenes take place on and in the bowl...

4- Animator Rick Farmiloe making a choice at a Christmas gift exchange.

5- Christmas at our original studio location, with Pasadena City Hall in the background.
(The same City Hall shown in the "Parks and Reaction" TV series).

6- Halloween

7- 2D Effects Supervising Animator Phil Vigil.

8- Friday the 13th, March 2020.
I took this photo in 2022, a snapshot in time.
The 13th is when I told the crew to head home and maybe we'll back in a couple of months. About 3 of us came in for another 4 days.
We'd been working a company in China and been informed of what was occurring with Covid over there for a couple of months, so we were aware of how it was affecting people.
An American producer was returning from China to work in our studio in January 2020 and we requested they stay home for 2 weeks and get tested before coming in.
In late February I went to NY for a few days for work, and made it back only to find out it was ground zero for Covid in the U.S.
At the end of February a production person called me to say he was in the parking structure and was coughing horribly. He asked if he should come in. I said "no, head home". It turned out he had Covid and would recover, but I wouldn't see him in person again for almost 2 years (or anyone else).
Before closing down we'd spent a couple of weeks ensuring everyone was setup to work at home. And things haven't been the same since.

9- Server stiff; 2016.

10- My office, unusually clean; 2016.

12/10/2023

.
Inside Duncan Studio

2017-2018

1- Shelf in my office;
-Maquette by Kent Melton from a Freddy Moore sketch drawn in 1040s
-Scupt by Shane Zalvin of "Pi", a villain for an unfinished Duncan Studio cg short film.
-Maquette by Kent Melton of "Jane"
-An original oil painting by Mia Araujo of "Cosmic Mermaid" (love that painting)

2- Author Mindy Johnston came by for a book signing of her book "INK & PAINT; the Women of Disney's Animation".
Animation assistant Michael Nahen in the foreground.

3-Animation Supervisor James Baxter and Sequence Director Jim Capobianco celebrating the successful launch of his intial scenes (while Lin -Manuel looks on).

4- Animation Supervisor Sandro Cleuzo animatin' away.

5- Clean-Up artist Helen Michael working in a Stork family scene.

6- Character Designer James Woods discussing the style for the Poppins show.

7- Animator Tony Bancroft concentrating as he animated on of the dance scenes.

8- Super talented animator Hanna Abi-Hanna came down from Northern California for a few weeks, and ultimately worked with us remotely.

9- CG vehicle animator Peter DeSalvo getting some notes...

10- CG vehicle animator Michael Ryan "bothering" a programmer...😉

11/30/2023

.
Inside Duncan Studio
#5

1- Layout Supervisor Lorenzo Martinez suggesting camera angles during a sequence launch. "Poppins"

2-BG Artist/Art Director Travis Ruiz inspecting a painting...

3- Animator Bill Waldman receiving an award for getting the production's first animated scene approved by the director!

4- Animator and Assistant Stephanie Alexander waiting for a shot; "Poppins".

5- A studio party.
P.A. Gwen Arreola chatting with production manager Brett Salinas (hat).

6- Layout Artist and BG painter Emil Mitev, always in a good mood.

7-A portion of our "morgue" where we store the 2D animation for all our completed projects. The cup of tea for scale...

8- Chris Sauvé discussing Lyle Nagy's storyboard work for the feature film "LOW".

9- Ink/Paint Artist painting the Wolf in Harmony software; "Poppins".

10- At the end of "Poppins", for fun, we painted a few cells of the penguins, which we gave away as gifts.
Veteran Ink/Paint Artist Staci Nichols used her skills from the past.
They linked beautiful!

11/29/2023

.
Inside Duncan Studio

1-Animator Andreas Wessel-Therhorn on "Poppins"

2-Background artist/Art Director Travis Ruis.
Travis painted many of the "watercolor" styled bg's on "Poppins".

3-Owner of a studio in Nepal, Kiran Joshi came by for a visit.
We worked at Disney together 20 years ago. Kiran setup his studio "Incessant Rain" around the same time I started mine and we've recently collaborated on a couple of projects...

4-Art Director Kevin Adams liked to make people cry 😉. This was during the early design/story pjhase of "NextGen" (aka "7723").
Kevin would ultimately become the director of the film, the first animated feature purchased by Netflix.
(Note: This was all a joke, no one is crying).

5- Pizza Party lunch during a Disney Barneys of NY project.
Clean-up artist Ginny Parmele holds the box open.

6- Filming some practical fx for "KFP2: Secrets of the Masters". Standing is FX Supervisor Phil Vigil; Compositing Supervisior Richard Ramazinski on the right, and Compositing Lead Jason Stovall ion the left.
The wire would eventually comped in as smoke.

7-Hangin' out.
Chris Bailey, who was directing a Minion project we helped swing by and is chatting with visitor Floyd Norman, who began at Disney Animation back in the 1950's....and he's got stories!

8-Studio Halloween party; Debbie Forster dressed as Princess Leia. IT Supervisor Mark Handler and Chris Sauvé are rockin' on...

9-A serious production meeting; IT Sup Mark Handler, compositor Lauren Kaczor and Production Supervisor Dana Goldberg.

10-In my office bein' goofy;
"I'm workin' here!"

11/28/2023

.
Inside Duncan Studio
#3

1-Chris Sauvé, Animation Supervisor, story artist, designer, director, he does it all. Chris has been with the studio for its 16 years, and at the previous studio I'd set up. We met at Disney in Pocahontas... he was also a Supervising animator on The Iron Giant, Ren and Stumpy(first seasons), etc.

2-Ray Morales dressed as Georgie...(Halloween).
Ray has been part of the Production Management team on and off for 11 years.!

3- Digital Supervisor Jason Stovall has been with the studio for most of the past 3 years. He is key in achieving the look of any project, while designing the digit pipelines needed.

4- After Effects Compositors; Ami Goff in focus, and Jeffrey Shroyer looking at camera.
During "Poppins".

5- Layout Artist Evgeni Tomov, during "Poppins". Evgeni was the art director for "Triplets of Belleville". Super talented.

6-Amazing animator Matt Williames working on "Poppins". His draftsmanship, timing and acting are impeccable.

7-AE Compositing Supe Nick DeMartino giving notes during "Poppins".

8-My office; 2017.
The 1947 desk was designed by Raymond Loewy, who also designed streamlined trains, Apollo space suites, the Avanti car, etc. One of the most prolific industrial designers in the U.S.(born in France)

9-CG Animator Mike Ryan during our work on "Nut Job" or "Nut Job 2". We animated several sequences, about 25 minutes of NJ2.
Mikes work is always entertaining!

10-"Happy Birthday" Duncan Studio🎉

11/28/2023

.
Inside Duncan Studio
The first year
2007-2008

After helping set up the Reelfx studio in Pasadena, I went off and started my little studio.
Our first project was the film "9". Producer Jinko Gotoh brought it to the studio.
We housed the director, producer, editors, story artists and art director while the film was being boarded/edited.
The production would later move to Canada (Arc Studio) while we animated a few sequences.

1- Our 1st anniversary lunch, May 2008. (Not full crew here).
I was fortunate that former Disney production person Sue Blanchard(now a designer) joined the studio at the start. She recommended finance person Delia Fance (far right, leather coat), Producer Lisa Poole and others.
In order from left to right;
-Jason Horvath; coordinator
-Ken Brain; digital/tech supervisor
-Chris Sauve; creative supervisor(anim/story/design)
-Me (heavy)
-Oskar Urretabizkaia; character supervisor
-Joe Majer; TD/tools, pipeline
-Drew Edwards; animator
-Sue Blanchard; coordinator, overall support
-Lisa Poole; Producer
-Juliet Duncan (at Disney)
-Aaron Kirby; Animator
-Delia Fance; Finance

2- For the first location the studio was the full top floor of this building; the 9th floor.

3-This was the view from my office, a mountain view. The conference room had a similar view.

4- "9" Editor Nick Kenway and assistant.

5-Animator's Chris Sauve, and Drew Adams

6-With the bulk of the film moving to Canada at some point, Jeff Bell from Arc, came down and worked with Ken Brain to go over the pipeline(we'd be animating sequences too).

7- A story meeting. Director Shane Acker at right with glasses.

8- Story artist Jamie Oliff showing work to Shane Acker.

9-Art Director Christophe Vacher.

10- Producer Jinko Gotoh always making calls.

The film "9", on the 9th floor, released in 2009!

11/26/2023

.
Inside Duncan Studio
The visitors: folks who visited the studio...

1- Syd Mead; 2014
Syd lived nearby in Pasadena. I'd met him at the hospital gym after my heart incident. (Former patients could use the gym).
He came by the studio, signed some books; a few of us headed to lunch with him. A kind man.
(Director Mark Baldo to his left).

2-Kobe Bryant; 2019
Kobe had been talking to us about doing a 2D feature film based on an idea of his.
He came by and watched animators drawing on paper and was like a kid in a candy store, he loved animation! The deal didn't work out at the time. (I'd even been looking at a building nearby with a helicopter pad).
A producer reached out a year later to chat again, 2 weeks before Kobe passed away. An interesting guy.

3- Kathryn Bigelow; 2014
Our studio animated an anti-ivory trade short "Last Days" produced by Sandy Rabins, directed by Kathryn who was a pleasure to work with.
With our coordinator, fellow Canuck Shawn Eddie.

4-Roger Allers; 2017
Roger directed "The Lion King", "Open Season, and "The Prophet". He came by for lunch with producer Lisa Poole and I....

5- Tone Thyne; 2018
Tone is a producer/writer of children's television animation; "Wonder Pets", "Go! Go! Carson", etc.
I worked with Tine at Disney when he was an Animation APM on "Tarzan". A good friend.

6-Buck Lewis; 2014
Buck (AKA H.B. Lewis) is a great designer and illustrator. He did great character designs on "Tarzan", "Treasure Planet", "Ice Age", "Cars"", "Ratatouille", "Kung Fu Panda", etc, etc...
Super talented.

7-Mark Dindal;
Director of Disney's "Emperors New Grove", Mark came over to chat...and I don't recall why.

8- Al Madrigal; 2014?
Al was a correspondent in John Stewart's "The Daily Show", "About A Boy", etc. We worked with Al creating some artwork for a poker app that he's building.

9- Jorgen Klubien
Jorgen was an animator at Disney and joined Pixar in the 90's as a story person. He shared his idea for "Cars" to his former roommate John Lasseter, and the rest is history.

10- Brett Morgan; 2014
Brett directed the docu "The Kid Stays in the Picture". We animated 2 scenes in his defilement "Montage of Heck", about Kurt Cobain.
A tough guy.

11/26/2023

.
Inside Duncan Studio
pre-Covid
#2

1-Fozzie Bear answering calls!
Story artist Dave Boudreau is a fan and brought in Fozzie one day. So fun; 2014

2-Me, FX legend Michel Gagne and Brad Bird selfie.
Brad came by to launch us on 2 new "Iron Giant" sequences we were about to start at the studio. They were sequences that Brad didn't have the time or budget to complete in 1999.
He wanted them for the new "Signature Edition" release in 2015 (you can view it on Apple TV, Amazon, etc.); 2015

3-Animator Brooke Shay working on the "Minion Safety Short" we created for the Japanese Universal park; 2016

4-Ink/Paint and Scene Planning crew during "Iron Giant"; 2015

5- The compositing team and director of "KFP2: Secrets of the Masters" special. Richard Ramazinski with glasses, Director Tony Leondis (with less hair), and compositor Jason Stovall on the right; 2012

6-IT Supervisor Mark Handler, and our always reliable Coordinator Shawn Eddie enjoy some Duncan Studio 8th anniversary cake!; 2015

7- Some of the crew for "Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life" celebrating at our wrap party; 2016

8- Director Rob Marshall as well as choreographer Tara Hughes visit while we create the animation for "Mary Poppins Returns". I'm at the end of the table showing the animation completed at this point; 2017

9- The "Poppins" Layout team. Supervisor Lorenzo Martinez on the far right: 2017

10- "Poppins" choreographer Tara Hughes came by to step us through the dance steps for the penguins that was filmed by dancers during the live action shoot it England a few months earlier; 2017

11/26/2023

Inside Duncan Studio
pre-Covid
#1

1- Animators during Poppins Returns; 2017

2- Production Designer Jeff Turley discussing the design style for Poppins Returns; 2017

3- Duncan Studio 0th anniversary party; 2017

4- "9" Director Shane Acker during the early days of production (at Duncan); 2007

5- Production Manager Pilar Flynn getting info out of APM Ray Morales on "KFP2: Secrets of the Masters"; 2012

6- "Hercules, Aladdin, Treasure Planet, Moana" director John Musker visiting the studio to some voice recording for our "ABCs" app.
He's with PM Pilar Flynn and illustrator Susan Blanchard; 2012

7- Animator Cinzia Angelini enjoying party cake, during "Minion Mayhem"; 2012

8-"Proud Family" creator Bruce Smith and "Klaus" creator Sergio Pablos visiting the studio; 2015?
(We used to work together at Disney Animation)

9- Supervising Animator James Baxter chatting with Animation Sup Sandro Cleuzo during "Poppins Returns"; 2017

10- Animation historian Jerry Beck dropping off film reels I'd purchased from him, of old Nelvana animated 1/2 hour specials, such as
"Cosmic Christmas " and "Devil and Daniel Webster". I loved these as a kid back in Canada.
This photo was taken a couple of weeks before Covid changed the industry; 2020

11/25/2023

.
Duncan Animation Studio
Pasadena, Ca

10/21/2022

.
Little fella

Ink pen

10/25/2020

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/studios/duncan-studio-partners-with-nelvana-to-develop-original-and-ip-based-animated-features-197930.html?fbclid=IwAR0JfjCyS7FOHBV_O94s35AAr7RyeUCx-ZaviQoVnqjdYhld8btE6dnMEss

The first title they are developing is "Mother Nature," a character-driven action adventure with ecological overtones.

12/29/2019

Women who built Duncan Studio: 2007-2015

When I began Duncan Studio, it was with the immense help and experience of several women who were our first employees. They were the management leadership at the studio....people that collaborated well together, who I could confide in and who gave me great guidance. I have been extremely fortunate and humbled that that these talented women came through our little studio. There are of course, many, many other people who have been important (pretty much everyone) at the studio over the years and I hope to discuss them too, in the near future.
Just giving a shout out to these folks important folks during the first few years.

1- Juliet Duncan: Co-owner/Artist. Julie of course, is the key to the success of the the studio. She has been very supportive and great with advice on how we should approach things. Julie had been a Key Clean-up artist at Disney where she'd worked from 1987-2009. We worked together on several films at Disney.
Juliet also Supervised the clean-up of the 2D animation Duncan Studio did for "Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters", "Mary Poppins Returns" and many other projects.

2- Jinko Gotoh: Producer. Although not an employee of the studio, she was there at the start, when it began out of my home. She would come over and we would strategize, setting up meetings at studios, etc. Several months after I formally opened the studio in Pasadena, Jinko would bring the CG feature film "9" into our studio for the next year. She has helped on other occasions over the past 13 years. Jinko recently produced the film "Klaus" with Sergio Pablos.

3- Sue Blanchard: Production/Artist. Sue was one of the best production people I worked with while at Disney. In 2001 I attempted to start my studio and Sue was someone I wanted to be the first hire. It didn't work out at that time, but when I finally did start Duncan Studio in 2007, Sue came aboard. She was extremely helpful in bringing in many of the production people into our studio in the initial few years. She also created some fine works of art as well. Over the past few years Sue has achieved her goal of being a designer, having worked on both "Angry Birds" films.

4- Delia Fance: Finance Manager. Delia was employee #5 I think. She managed the studio's finances through some very tough early years. One year after the studio began, the economy crashed (late 2008) and there would be no work for several months. She did an amazing job of keeping us afloat! I'm forever grateful. Delia headed to Dreamworks around 2014 and currently does finance for "special projects" there.

5- Lisa Poole: Producer: Lisa also joined very early on. Although she had been a production manager for Disney in Florida (Mulan, etc.), I'd never met Lisa until she worked at Duncan.
Lisa was my "right-hand person" for many years, attending client meetings and dealing with the laborious task of creating bids for clients.....so many bids.
Lisa would work on Mary Poppins Returns and moved over to Netflix as Line-Producer on Glen Keane's feature film "Over the Moon"!

6- Ameake Owens: Studio Manager/Coordinator. Ameake had been a production person at Dreamworks. At our studio she managed the organization of the studio, setup meetings and helped with some production management. When we decided to move our studio 2 blocks over, in 2009, Ameake packed up the studio in a very organized way and led the charge to move over in one weekend! Soon after, she left the studio to raise her first born.

7- Pilar Flynn: Producer/Writer. Pilar joined the studio in 2010, coming from working as a Line Producer on "Astro Boy". She would producer our largest project to date, "Kung Fu Panda; Secrets of the Masters", as well as our work on the "Minion Mayhem" ride for Universal. Pilar also wrote and produced our app "My Beastly ABCs'".
Pilar moved on to produce the animated film "Sausage Party" and has been at Disney TV, garnering a few Emmys as a Producer of "Elena of Avalor".

8- Dana Goldberg: Producer. Dana took over from her very good friend Lisa Poole. I'd known Dana at Disney who worked as a production person for several years. Dana helped with bidding and was the Supervising Producer on several projects such as "Middle School" and the "Iron Giant" work we did at Duncan Studio.
Dana has stepped away from animation and now is an advocate in several causes such as the fight against ALS and the issues of homelessness.

We have had many other women in production management since....Melissa Andres, Libby Smith, Bethany Harnois, Jennifer Newfield, Angelique Yen, and currently April Lawrence came over from Dreamworks to line-produce our current project.
And a shout-out to our studio lawyer Nancy Newhouse, who I’ve worked with since 1994.

As mentioned before, I have been very fortunate to work with all these folks and look forward to collaborating with many of them again in the future.

K

10/01/2019

A little interview I had with L.A. Business Journal recently. Haven't read it yet, but I do recall being interviewed ;)
Enjoy!

https://labusinessjournal.com/news/2019/sep/27/drawn-animation/

Duncan Studio’s Ken Duncan looks to animation history for inspiration.

07/26/2019

Duncan Studio once again looking for an outstanding Production Designer (with Feature Film experience)
***Please email for inquiry:
[email protected]

Position Summary:

Duncan Studio is looking for a Production Designer to join the team for a new feature in the early stages of production at our studio in Pasadena, CA. We are seeking experienced Feature Animation Production Designer candidates. --Partnering with the Director, the Production Designer will create, articulate, and maintain a singular vision for the show across both characters and sets. Our ideal candidate will help inspire the artistic team and ensure they deliver their best work.

Essential Job Responsibilities:

-Collaborate with the Show Leadership to discuss creative ambitions and look of the show
-Develop the project’s artistic vision
-Design original and creative concepts
-Research and establish references for environments, characters, props and visual effects
-Establish the film’s Color Script and Mood Board in collaboration with the Director
-Actively participate in dailies Partnering with the VFX Sup to ensure that the film’s artistic direction is followed throughout production
-Participate in the talent acquisition process to review portfolios, interview candidates, and provide detailed feedback
-Mentor and support the Design team
-Supervise the work done within the Art Department
-Establish the Art Department’s work process based on the production schedule and milestones
-Communicate and work in collaboration with the supervisors of the other departments

Qualifications:

-At least five (5) to seven (7) years of work experience in a feature film production environment
-Minimum five (5) years of work experience in production design
-Thorough knowledge of Photoshop
-Strong design skills & strong knowledge of color theory and lighting
-Strong verbal and written communication skills
-Proven ability to meet deadlines and keep a team on schedule
-Experience supervising a design team
-Strong organization and time management skills

02/04/2019

Congratulations to Chris Sauve, Sandro Cleuzo, and James Baxter on winning “best Character Animation” at the Annie Awards!(Mary Poppins Returns)
Chris is a fellow left-handed Canuck who has been with the studio since the start(12 years). So great to see Chris get this recognition!
To reiterate, Chris was the “Animation Supervisor” at Duncan Studio for Poppins.
Congrats to the whole Duncan Studio team, and Jim Capobianco, for the “Best Animated Special Production” victory too!!

12/18/2018

Several images from the animated sequences that Duncan Studio created for "Mary Poppins Returns"....as seen in many trailers of late.
A shout out to Layout Supervisor Lorenzo Martinez, for designing such well composed backgrounds, and Travis Rui , our Background Supervisor for painting such a beautiful world. Also, big kudos to Jason Stovall, our VFX Supervisor for designing a process to create such as believable world.