Before he made Gumby, Clokey did a few experiments with clay animation. Most of these were short movies for adults, including his first movie "Gumbasia". Clokey made this in 1953, and released it in 1955. It consisting of animated clay shapes dancing to jazz music. The title "Gumbasia" was named after Walt Disney's "Fantasia". In 1963, he made "The Clay Peacock". This was a reinvention of the animated NBC logo of the time. Clokey's third short movie was "Mandala" (6 minutes, 30 seconds). He made it from 1974-1977, and it was released on August 31, 1977. He described it as a metaphor for the evolving human consciousness. All three of these animations were later released to the public on several collections of "Gumby" television shorts.