Bent Image Lab

Bent Image Lab is an independent mixed-media animation and production studio founded in Portland, Oregon, in 2002 by David Daniels, Chel White, and Ray Di Carlo. Its work brings together stop-motion puppetry, computer-generated imagery, hand-drawn and digital animation, visual effects, and live-action filmmaking. The founders came from Portland’s animation community, including Will Vinton Studios, and built a production practice around their complementary backgrounds in animation, filmmaking, fine art, and commercial production.

The studio produces advertising, broadcast sequences, music videos, television specials, short films, and animation and effects for feature films. Its capabilities extend from concept art, storyboarding, character design, and puppet fabrication through animation, rendering, compositing, and editorial. Projects can combine physical materials and practical animation with digital environments and effects, allowing the studio to work across several visual approaches within a single production.

Animation across formats

Bent’s television work includes the opening sequence for Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time, animated rat and squirrel segments for IFC’s Portlandia, and stop-motion segments for The Muppets. Its holiday productions include Hallmark’s Jingle All the Way and Polariffic, alongside anniversary broadcast updates and a 4D special involving Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Feature-film contributions include visual effects for Gus Van Sant’s Paranoid Park and Restless, the animated telephone-tree sequence in Milk, and effects for Todd Haynes’s I’m Not There. Its music-video portfolio includes work for Thom Yorke, Aesop Rock, Modest Mouse, and They Might Be Giants. Commercial and public-service projects have served brands and organizations including Coca-Cola, Nike, LEGO, Honda, the American Lung Association, and the American Indian College Fund.

Evolving production

Bent also develops augmented-reality experiences and uses virtual environments for design reviews, asset inspection, and client collaboration. In 2024, its commercial division shifted toward distributed production and virtual collaboration while retaining Portland as its administrative and creative base. This operating model connects its founding animation disciplines with digital production tools and international creative partnerships.