Texas is basically the last place you'd expect a CGI revolution to start. Back in the late 80s, if you wanted to do high-end animation, you went to California. You went to Disney or Pixar. You didn't set up shop in a Dallas suburb with a five-thousand-dollar loan and a dream of making weird shorts about old ladies and cats. But John A. Davis and Keith Alcorn aren't exactly "traditional" industry types.
They founded DNA Productions in 1987. The name? Simple. Davis 'n Alcorn. For a decade, they were the ultimate "scrappy" outfit, churning out corporate videos for Kroger and Dairy Queen while spending their nights tinkering with experimental animation. They weren't just business partners; they were a creative hive mind. Davis was the guy obsessed with Ray Harryhausen and stop-motion, while Alcorn was the classically trained artist who just wanted to draw cartoons.
From Nanna to Neutron
Before the big-headed kid with the rocket ship, there was Nanna & Lil' Puss Puss. Honestly, if you saw those shorts today, you might not believe they came from the same minds as Nickelodeon’s golden boy. They were edgy. They were raucous. They were the kind of stuff that made waves at Spike and Mike’s Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation. It was pure, unadulterated creativity. No clients. No censors. Just two guys in a garage—which eventually became a much bigger garage.
Then came the "Johnny Quasar" demo.
Davis had this idea for a kid inventor. He’d written a script years earlier called Runaway Rocketboy, but it sat in a box while he moved houses. When he finally pulled it out, he realized the science fiction elements were perfect for this new thing called CGI. John A. Davis and Keith Alcorn used LightWave 3D—commercial software you could literally buy off the shelf—to create a 40-second clip of Johnny and his robot dog, Goddard.
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They took it to SIGGRAPH in 1995. They won "Best in Show."
More importantly, they caught the eye of Steve Oedekerk. You might know him from Ace Ventura or Kung Pow: Enter the Fist. Oedekerk saw something in the "future retro" style that Davis was going for. It wasn't trying to be photorealistic like the big studios. It was cartoony. It was fun.
Why Jimmy Neutron Still Matters
When Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius hit theaters in 2001, it was a massive gamble. DNA Productions was still a relatively small team in Irving, Texas. They were competing against Shrek. Think about that. A boutique studio in Texas going toe-to-toe with DreamWorks during the first-ever Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
They lost the Oscar, but they won the culture.
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The film cost around $30 million to make—peanuts for a feature film—and grossed over $100 million. The secret sauce was the "digital backlot" strategy. John A. Davis and Keith Alcorn convinced Nickelodeon to let them do the movie first, then use those same digital assets (the sets, the character models, the textures) to power the TV series. It was a genius move. It meant the show looked almost as good as the movie, which was unheard of in 2002.
The Ant Bully and the End of DNA
By 2006, the studio was at its peak. They were working with Tom Hanks and Playtone on The Ant Bully. Hanks had seen Jimmy Neutron and thought these were the guys to adapt John Nickle's book. The cast was legendary: Julia Roberts, Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep.
But then, things got weird.
Despite the star power, The Ant Bully didn't catch fire at the box office. People often assume the film's underperformance is what killed DNA Productions. It’s the standard narrative: one flop and the doors close. But Davis has since clarified that he just felt the time was right to move on. After decades of grinding, the studio shut its doors in 2006.
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A lot of the staff moved over to Reel FX or followed Oedekerk to Omation. The "DNA" era was over, but the legacy of John A. Davis and Keith Alcorn was already cemented. They proved you didn't need a billion-dollar campus in Emeryville to change how kids saw the world.
Where are they now?
John A. Davis has taken a fascinating turn. Since about 2007, he’s become a world-renowned astrophotographer. He spends his time capturing high-resolution images of deep space, many of which have been featured as NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day. It’s a different kind of "rocket boy" life, but it fits.
Keith Alcorn hasn't left the screen. He’s been deeply involved in faith-based animation, including work on The Chosen Adventures. He still talks about the importance of kindness and collaboration in an industry that can often be, well, a bit of a bully.
What you can learn from their journey
If you're a creator, the story of John A. Davis and Keith Alcorn is basically a blueprint for "doing it your way."
- Tools don't make the artist: They built a franchise with off-the-shelf software and a 1400-CPU render farm in Texas. Focus on the story, not the gear.
- Recycle your wins: The "movie-first" strategy for Jimmy Neutron allowed them to build a massive library of assets that kept a TV show running for years on a budget.
- Keep your voice: Even when they were doing commercials for Kroger, they were making Nanna & Lil' Puss Puss on the side. Never stop making the "weird" stuff that makes you happy.
Actionable Next Steps
If you want to dive deeper into the world of mid-2000s animation or start your own creative path, here is what you should do:
- Watch the "Johnny Quasar" pilot: You can find the original 1995/1997 demos on YouTube. It’s a masterclass in how much character you can cram into a low-polygon model.
- Study LightWave 3D history: Understanding how DNA used "off-the-shelf" software to beat big studios is essential for any indie filmmaker.
- Check out Davis’s astrophotography: Search for the "Astrophotography Special Interest Group" (APSIG) or his NASA features to see how his eye for detail translated from CGI to the cosmos.
- Analyze the "Future Retro" aesthetic: Look at the architecture and car designs in Jimmy Neutron. Notice how they used "bubble domes" and top-heavy designs to accommodate the characters' giant heads. It’s a lesson in form following function.