A wayward duck misses the migration south and struggles to catch up to his companions in this hand-drawn animated short.

A wayward duck misses the migration south and struggles to catch up to his companions in this hand-drawn animated short.

The original idea for "Landscape with Duck" was probably stirred by the constant yammering of ducks that live near our Portland home. Initially the story was almost somber, emphasizing the isolation of the duck who misses out on the southward migration. Many of the spare backgrounds were homages to Edward Hopper paintings. As the animation work began, the film evolved into a slapstick comedy which was more fun to watch, and much more fun to animate!

The simple, black and white style is directly inspired by George Herriman's "Krazy Kat" comic strip of the 1920's and 30's, as well as the Fleischer Bros. and Ub Iwerks cartoons of the same period.

The short took several months to complete, with the character animation and backgrounds drawn with pencil on paper, then scanned into a Mac and finished in Toon Boom, After Effects (for compositing characters and backgrounds), and Final Cut for editing and sound work.