Dusty Studio

Dusty Studio is an independent animation design and production studio based in New York City, founded in 2009 by animator and documentary filmmaker Dustin Grella. Its work combines pastel-on-slate chalkboard animation with traditional hand-drawn animation, stop-motion, mixed media and handcrafted illustration. The studio creates commercial commissions, documentary animation, short films and fine art installations, bringing tactile drawing techniques to screen-based storytelling.

Grella established the studio following the international festival run of Prayers for Peace, a short animated frame by frame with chalk on slate. This analog approach remains central to the studio’s identity, alongside work in other animation techniques. Its production spans film direction, animation design, creative development, title sequences, bumpers and gallery video installations.

Personal stories and public screens

Launched by Grella in 2011, Animation Hotline turns voicemail messages from anonymous callers into short animated stories. Personal confessions, everyday observations and humorous anecdotes provide the material for its micro-animations. The project has appeared at MoMA and through The New York Times Op-Docs, connecting intimate recordings with wider audiences through animation.

The studio also works across feature films, television, museums and public art. It produced animated sequences for Lars Von Trier’s The House That Jack Built and a commissioned sequence for Amazon Studios’ Lore episode “Goody Bassett.” Museum work includes Intrepid Animated, a series of historical animated shorts for the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.

Its portfolio also includes the autobiographical short Twenty Years, Hummingbird’s Wings and stop-motion work for Cracking Chirality, produced for Chemistry Shorts and Day’s Edge Productions. In October 2026, Grella’s animated film Sunday Morning featured in Times Square Arts’ Midnight Moment, presented across synchronized electronic billboards.

Across these formats, Dusty Studio serves entertainment, documentary, cultural, nonprofit and advertising clients. Its work ranges from brief commissioned animations to experimental films and installations, combining personal filmmaking with production for external partners.