Today we’d like to introduce you to Kenny Vallenca.
Hi Kenny, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Hi! My name is Kenny Vallenca, and I’m a storyboard artist currently based in Dallas, Texas. I’ve been working in the animation industry since 2019, contributing to TV shows, games, short films, children’s book illustrations, and design. Most of my career has been at Disney Television, where I worked on *The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder*, created by Bruce W. Smith and Ralph Farquhar. It was an incredible honor to work alongside such talented artists and storytellers.
I’m originally from Indonesia, and storytelling has captivated me for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I’d spend hours playing with LEGO bricks, inventing adventures, talking to imaginary friends, and giving names to the objects and even the shadows in my room. Looking back, I think those stories were also how I made sense of the world around me.
When I was 15, I moved to the United States. Around that time, I watched *Zootopia* in theaters, and something clicked: someone actually made this movie. Until then, I had never considered that animation could be a career. That day, I decided I wanted to become an artist for the animation industry.
Since I couldn’t afford a well-known art school, I enrolled at AIE Seattle, where the curriculum focused primarily on game development. Although I enjoyed it, I knew my heart was in filmmaking and visual storytelling. After a year, I left school and taught myself through online resources until I reached the ceiling of what I could learn alone. I was then mentored for a year by Sergio Paez, a veteran storyboard artist whose career includes Lucasfilm, Pixar, and Sony. Six months later, I landed my first industry job at Netflix and after, Disney.
On paper, I had everything I had dreamed of as a child—a career, financial stability, and the opportunity to tell stories for a living. Yet internally, I was battling depression, anxiety, panic attacks, and suicidal thoughts. Eventually, I reached a point where I no longer wanted to keep living, yet I didn’t want to end my life either. In the dark night of the soul, I prayed to Jesus—a God I had grown up hearing about but never realized wanted a relationship with me.
“Jesus, I give You my life. You can do whatever You want with it.”
The next thing I knew, I was face down on the floor, weeping, unable to get up. It felt as though liquiid Love Himself had embraced me, delighted to finally hug me on His arms after years of me keeping Him at a distance. Since that day, my life has never been the same. Jesus has been faithfully rewriting my story, redeeming what was lost, healing what was broken, and teaching me to find joy even in suffering.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Some of this I mentioned in my answers above, but I would say my biggest struggle has been my identity. Growing up, I was always the kid chosen for everyone’s art team at school, and people often admired me because I was good at drawing. Over time, I made being an artist my primary identity. As a result, I felt like I always had to improve, or else I was a failure.
After landing my first job at a well-known animation studio, I became so burned out that I started hating drawing. Because my identity was completely tied to being an artist, I felt like I hated my life. I didn’t know who I was apart from art. I questioned whether my friends liked me for who I was or only because I could draw. Deep down, I believed I was unlikable and worthless unless I was making art.
After I met Jesus, He began to speak identity to me as a son of the most High God, first and foremost. I have never been a parent, but I’m just imagining when I hold my future baby child, I would love them not because they knew how to draw, I love them because they’re just them, perfect in everyway. That’s how God sees you!
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I think one of my strengths is emotional storytelling. I love taking people on an emotional journey—making them laugh, ache, hope, and wonder. You know the opening 10 minutes of Up, where everyone is smiling from ear to ear one moment and bawling their eyes out the next? That’s the kind of storytelling I aspire to create. Not to manipulate emotions, but to tell stories rooted in truth and laced with grace—stories that help people find beauty in the ashes, joy in the midst of suffering, and the extraordinary within the mundane.
Some of the works I’m most proud of are the ones born from my own brokenness and the ways Jesus has met me in it. One of them is a short film I wrote called ‘Drying Rack’. It came from a moment when Jesus helped me realize that although my traditional Asian grandparents rarely said, “I love you,” or hugged me ( perhaps because they had never received that kind of affection themselves ), they loved me deeply through acts of service and FOOD! and places where I have never received that love, He will give it to me in double portion!
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
The most cliche christian answer would be reading your bible with Jesus ( which is true! ) but on a more practical level, if we’re talking about improving as an artist, I highly recommend Schoolism, founded by Bobby Chiu. It offers courses taught by some of the top professionals in the industry at a fraction of the cost of traditional art school.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kennyvallenca.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kenny.vallenca/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenny-vallenca/
