 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Hand-drawn animation Television production |
| Founded | March 20, 1991; 34 years ago (1991-03-20) inVan Nuys,Los Angeles,California, U.S. |
| Founder | Gregg Vanzo Nikki Vanzo |
| Headquarters | 615 Allen Avenue Glendale, California 91201, U.S. |
Key people |
|
| Divisions | Rough Draft Korea Rough Draft Feature Animation |
| Website | roughdraftstudios |
Rough Draft Studios, Inc. is an Americananimation studio based inGlendale, California,[1][2] with a sister studioRough Draft Korea located inSeoul,South Korea.[3] The studio was founded inVan Nuys,Los Angeles byGregg Vanzo in 1991.
Rough Draft Studios and its divisions have produced specials, commercials and direct-to-video work for companies such asWarner Bros. Animation,Cartoon Network Studios,20th Television Animation,MTV Animation,Film Roman,Disney Television Animation andNickelodeon Animation Studio.
Rough Draft Studios was founded in a Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California garage by Gregg and Nikki Vanzo. While working onThe Ren & Stimpy Show as a contractor forSpümcø, Nikki approached series creatorJohn Kricfalusi, about taking the animation to South Korea, in order to avoid ballooning costs from working withBob Jaques at Carbunkle Cartoons as well as low-quality work fromLacewood Productions. Nikki founded and runs Rough Draft Korea, which initially produced animation forRen & Stimpy; they worked on a majority of the series' episodes after the first season.[4]
After working onThe Ren & Stimpy Show, many other shows requested the assistance of Rough Draft Korea in animation and ink & paint. In 1992, Rough Draft Studios had produced animation for its first feature film,FernGully: The Last Rainforest. In the same year, the studio began producing animation forThe Simpsons and then forBeavis and Butt-Head in 1993. Also in 1993, Gregg's brotherScott Vanzo was brought on board. Rough Draft Korea quickly built a strong portfolio in the animation business with shows like their first series produced outside of South Korea,The Maxx in 1995, which was nominated for anAnnie Award.[5]Claudia Katz, who had joined Rough Draft Studios in 1994 to produceThe Maxx, andRich Moore, joining in 1995 after having worked with Gregg onThe Simpsons, completed the core of a Rough Draft Studios which would help "drive the cartoon boom of the late ‘90s".[6] It was also in 1995 that Rough Draft Studios moved to Glendale, California, where they enjoyed further success.Peter Avanzino, who was acquainted with the studio during his career, joined in 1998 and stayed a director at the studio.[1]
Rough Draft Studios is known for its blending of 2-D withcomputer animation, ornon-photorealistic rendering which it first used onThe Maxx and further utilized withMatt Groening's projects likeFuturama,The Simpsons Movie, a few episodes ofThe Simpsons after the film andDisenchantment.
Most projects produced by Rough Draft Studios, Inc. inGlendale,California are also animated overseas by Rough Draft Korea Co., Ltd. inSeoul,South Korea.
| Show | Year(s) | Client | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | |||
| The Maxx | 1995 | MTV Animation | |
| Futurama | 1999–2003; 2008–2013; 2023–present[7] | The Curiosity Company 20th Television Animation[a] | |
| 2000s | |||
| Baby Blues | 2000 | Warner Bros. Animation | 5 episodes |
| Star Wars: Clone Wars | 2003–2005 | Lucasfilm Cartoon Network Studios | |
| Drawn Together | 2004–2007 | Double-Hemm Productions Comedy Partners | |
| Korgoth of Barbaria | 2006 | Williams Street | TV pilot |
| Sit Down Shut Up! | 2009 | Adelaide Productions 20th Century Fox Television | |
| 2010s | |||
| Good Vibes | 2011 | Rough House Pictures Warner Horizon Television MTV Production Development | "Pilot"[8] |
| Napoleon Dynamite | 2012 | Hess Films Scully Productions 20th Century Fox Television | |
| Full English | Two Brothers Pictures | ||
| Coffin Dodgers | 2013 | Williams Street | TV pilot |
| Clash-a-Rama | 2015–present | Tolerable Entertainment Supercell | Web series |
| Tarantula | 2017 | Rough House Pictures Solid Brass Studio T | |
| Disenchantment | 2018–2023 | The ULULU Company Netflix | [9] |
| 2020s | |||
| Fired on Mars | 2023 | Pat & Mike Productions NN Productions | [10] |
| Ted | TBD | Universal Content Productions MRC Fuzzy Door Productions | [11] |
| Title | Year | Client | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | |||
| The Thief and the Cobbler | 1992 | The Completion Bond Company | ink-and-paint |
| RoboCop 3 | 1993 | Orion Pictures | "Johnny Rehab" commercial animation |
| 2000s | |||
| Whizzard of Ow | 2003 | Warner Bros. Animation | theatrical short |
| Duck Dodgers: Attack of the Drones | 2004 | theatrical short produced in 2003 | |
| Futurama: Bender's Big Score | 2007 | The Curiosity Company 20th Century Fox Television[a] | direct-to-video |
| Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs | 2008 | ||
| Futurama: Bender's Game | |||
| The Pink Panther 2 | 2009 | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Columbia Pictures | opening title sequence only |
| Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder | The Curiosity Company 20th Century Fox Television[a] | direct-to-video | |
| 2010s | |||
| How Murray Saved Christmas | 2014 | Universal Television | TV special |
| 2020s | |||
| King Star King!/!/!/[12] | 2023 | Williams Street | TV special |
Rough Draft Korea, RDS' sister studio based inSeoul,South Korea, has produced animation for the following series, features and specials:
