We recently connected with Dana Corrigan and have shared our conversation below.

Dana, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How has Covid changed your business model?

Pencil Gator formed during COVID. Although I was a freelancer and animation instructor prior to COVID, it was still an influence over many decisions made during the formation of Pencil Gator.

When COVID hit, the universities I taught at switched from an in-person model to online exclusive and later hybrid. Thankfully, I already had a home office and computer from my freelance background, so I had the space and most of the equipment. I quickly noticed that there were issues with internet connectivity and differing time zones with my students, so while my classes were synchronous (which means we had online meeting times at our regularly scheduled class times) there were some students whose attendance was inconsistent for reasons that were not their fault.

Thinking on ways to add asynchronous options, I started recording my classes and pre-recording tutorials to use as supplementary material. I found that teaching online and providing resources allowed such flexibility to the project that, when I formed Pencil Gator, I knew I wanted it to be a remote company.

My students suffered from isolation during COVID and to mitigate it my students had suggested making Discord Groups for each class, so the students could mingle outside of school the way we used to in person. I gave it a try and had multiple students come back to me later saying what a positive affect it had on their mental health. Prior to that, my last few freelance projects and remote companies also communicated through Discord, so it was a natural choice for Pencil Gator.
We’re stationed in Florida and some of our employees are local, but we don’t require anyone to move to the state nor do we have a public office. Our teammates are required to have their own equipment and software (or a low-cost alternative), and we meet and communicate online. I’ve helped train and provide internships to young animators and have created tutorial videos and instructional documents as supplementary material for them and the rest of the team. Additionally, I use a redlining software to assist with feedback to help make the critiques as clear as possible.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am an Animation Instructor and have taught 2D, 3D, Story Development, Motion Graphics, Character Design and Animation Production at the college level since 2011. I have an MFA in Animation from Savannah College of Art and Design, and presented at conventions such as the SIGGRAPH 2020’s Women in Animation: Bird’s of a Feather event, and some of my students’ 2D animated short films have presented at the SIGGRAPH Student Showcase in 2020. I was recently a recipient of the University of Tampa’s award for Outstanding Achievement Part-Time Faculty for the 2022-2023 year.

Outside of teaching I worked as a freelance animator for studios including Spindlehorse and Humoring the Fates, and for independent projects including e-cards, pitches for cartoon shows and products, interactive media, pilots and short films. I’ve designed the t-shirts and assisted with supporting material for the FishHawk Turkey Trot charity events since 2016. I’ve taught animation (2D, 3D and Stop Motion), game design and drawing summer camp and classes for kids at Elite Animation Academy and worked as a project lead and consultant for Neuroshifts on educational videos for neurodiversity.

It has been a dream to lead a studio and create my own animated series, and I have been working on my personal project, Chorus to Dero, since 2011. I’ve pitched Chorus to Dero to Warner Brothers back in 2011, and Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network in 2013, where I received positive and helpful feedback. For a few years I had to put the project down and focus on making an income through freelancing and teaching, though I continued to tweak the concept. In 2019 I recommitted to the project and started production on a pilot episode. In 2021 I formed Pencil Gator Animation Studio as an LLC and occasionally hired my colleagues and students to help with the project whenever I had the funds to spare, and after a successful fundraiser in 2022 we have been working steadily on Chorus to Dero and are aiming to finish the pilot this year.

My goal is to continue fundraising, gain support from a network or streaming service to make Chorus to Dero into a series and build more clientele to make Pencil Gator into a flourishing Florida based animation studio.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Make your teammates feel valued. Something I’ve picked up in the classroom is the ability to analyze the work of my colleagues and students and gauge their strengths and areas of improvement. I use that in combination with my teammates’ interests to tailor assignments to either suit their skills or expand upon them. Reliability and trust are paramount, on both sides. I keep an open communication with my team, encourage them to ask questions and remain open to feedback, and try to ensure that we’re on the same page.

Along with money, I also try to provide additional value by providing training and support in areas that they’re interested in developing as much as we’re able to so that, along with financial stability they can also have mental stimulation and direct impact on our projects.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

If you strive for perfection for every project, it’ll never get done. I’ve seen both students and colleagues burn out and either abandon their projects or even their whole careers because they can never reach the level of perfection they strive for. The problem is that perfection doesn’t exist. You’ll always be tweaking, there will always be something you missed, something you could have done better. Eventually we need to accept and even appreciate the mistakes that are there, because if not for them the project may not exist at all and we wouldn’t continue to grow and expand our skills as creatives.

Additionally, I’ve had students lament that due to their life circumstances (other classes, family, jobs) they can’t commit themselves 100% to the course. This happens in the working world, too. Be it for health reasons, family, additional jobs and stress we may not be able to commit all of ourselves for every project, and these can be for very real, legitimate and unchangeable reasons. Maybe it’s a financial issue and the project is under-funded or produced individually, for those who have their own stories to tell. What can help, then, is how do we make the best use of that 80%? 60%? Where can we invest that time, our skills, our budget, etc. to make the best with what we have?

Overall, it’s okay to make mistakes, to have to cut corners in places in order to put more of your percentage in others. Fix mistakes where you can but know when to let go, laugh and learn from them.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.pencilgator.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pencilgator/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dana.corrigan
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pencil-gator-animation-studio/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/pencilgator
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpweR7y2VhthPX_NQVCSjPw

Image Credits
Credits: 3D Layout Underlay by Amber Newman Layouts by Barbara Knupp, Kennedi Perez and Threnody Gawron Animation by Dana Corrigan, Jamie Lewallen, Matt Bixler Ink and Paint by Gian Marler, Mateu Bernal, Matt Bixler, Trinity Manugas