Permanent Collection

Quacky Comedy: AJ Jefferies Drops “DUCKS” Short Film

Posted on Tuesday, April 28, 2026

UK 3D artist/animator/illustrator AJ Jefferies, whose brilliant PEAS! short film graced the cover of Stash 159, is back with more of his gently eccentric and perfectly timed character comedy in a new mini-masterwork entitled DUCKS.

AJ Jefferies: “This film, like all of my shorts, is self-initiated and self-financed. The main catalyst was taking a walk with our kids when we saw a set of ducks in the water, all with their tails in the air. I started coming up with weird things that could happen when they eventually flipped back over and our kids loved this.

“I started to sketch some of these out with the plan to maybe animate a small, short loop. Once I had the whole thing roughly plotted out, I pitched it to my wife and our kids and they all laughed a lot, which got me fired up to sit down and start making it.

“Once I had the whole thing roughly plotted out, I pitched it to my wife and our kids and they all laughed a lot, which got me fired up to sit down and start making it.”

“Stylistically, I wanted clean, geometric shapes but married with a slightly painterly look. This softened the characters’ appearance to help them feel organic, but it also allowed the ducks and the various people to stand out while still feeling integrated into the world.

“Technically, there are a million things I could talk about, but the one thing I will say is that creating a clean, art-directable body of water in CG is a LOT of work! I’m really happy with the end result but there were lots of different roads I had to venture down to achieve that.

“Up until this point, I had handled the audio myself on all of my films, but I really wanted DUCKS to have a distinct, musical theme tying everything together. I hired Tom Hudson of Megalithic Sound to create an original score and help with the sound design and he knocked it clean out of the park (no pun intended).

“It was also just so nice to have someone else working on the film! To be able to send him updates but also when he’d send me his treatments for the score, it was like Christmas! He was a dream to work with.”

Images

A stylized, cartoon figure pushes a pink stroller along a path beside a calm pond, inspired by DUCKS Short Film by AJ Jefferies. Large green trees frame the scene, and all are reflected in the water’s surface. Frame from Stash Magazine article.

A smiling animated baby, inspired by AJ Jefferies' style, wearing a yellow cap peeks out from behind an orange slide against a blurred green background. Frame from Stash Magazine article.

A cartoonish duck, inspired by AJ Jefferies’ DUCKS short film, stands on the edge of a pond with an abnormally long, straight leg stretching over the water and trees blurred in the background. Frame from Stash Magazine article.

A stylized clock with two hands is surrounded by abstract bird figures—reminiscent of AJ Jefferies' DUCKS short film—flying in a circular pattern against a bright yellow and orange background, creating a radiant, sun-like effect. Frame from Stash Magazine article.

A large, dome-shaped, grassy creature with a bright orange beak floats partially submerged in calm green water, creating gentle ripples. Tiny creatures sit on its back—a whimsical scene from AJ Jefferies' DUCKS short film. Blurred green fills the background. Frame from Stash Magazine article.

Credits

Director/animator: AJ Jefferies

Music/Sound Design: Megalithic Sound

Stephen Price

Stephen is the co-founder/CD of Stash Media Inc. and the executive editor of Stash Magazine and the Stash Permanent Collection.
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Category: Animation, CG, Character Animation, Featured, Short Films · Tags: AJ Jefferies, Megalithic Sound