When an opportunity to work on an original project utilizing animation and drawing arose in Pittsburgh, animation majors Gianna Regoli and Mireya Rojas couldn’t pass it up.
The pair helped create an original kid’s book titled “Milo the Mime.” They each individually interned at Incubator Productions, a Pittsburgh-based comic production house which also describes itself as a freelance agency and studio for cartoonists.
Regoli said one day her animation teacher, Geoff Munn, said Incubator Productions needed volunteers for the Pittsburgh Indie Comic Expo. Munn himself is also a resident animator at Incubator Productions. Two of the four volunteers were Regoli and Rojas, who served as tablers for Incubator Production’s “Mobile Cartoon Museum.” They each soon got internships afterward.
Their internships included things such as putting illustrations into Adobe After Effects, creating animations for the book’s social media pages and fine-tuning the book’s manuscript while also giving creative input.
Beyond helping create “Milo the Mime,” the two also had to find a voice actor to narrate the book. This led both Regoli and Rojas to meet Alex Rochon, the voice of Caine in the animated web series “The Amazing Digital Circus,” who agreed to narrate the book.
Regoli said the majority of coursework for animation majors is individually completed, besides a collaborative project in the later years of the degree. This is similar to how Regoli and Rojas worked respectively in the internship, who often had a list of tasks to complete which were not strictly animation-related. They said most animation jobs are highly collaborative, though the exact essence depends on whether someone is freelance, with a company or works for an indie production house.
Regoli said her and Rojas learned “important lessons in communication, marketing and strategic management” along with using the skills they have learned at Point Park to create the book.
“Milo the Mime” is about a mime who doesn’t speak. The story follows Milo and the ways his method of communicating causes mishaps. By the end of the book, he helps save the day.
The book, which was written and illustrated by Pittsburgh artist Chas Chasler, purposely has an artstyle that resembles 1990s Cartoon Network.
“Milo isn’t just a mime — he’s a celebration of all the kids and adults who think or feel differently, and don’t always get heard,” Chasler said. “I wanted to tell a story where someone’s unique way of being is what makes them the hero. And to do it in a way that’s visually rich and funny, like the shows and comics I grew up loving.”
According to Incubator Productions founder Isaac Fisher, “Milo the Mime” is supposed to serve as a model for getting people’s stories into published works that also extend a story’s impact via educational engagement. He said he wants to bring original, local stories to audiences that need them most with a “quirky, community-centric” approach.
As for Regoli, she wants to work independently and create her own projects while also working at Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network or Adult Swim after graduation. She currently has a personal project called “PrincessMush,” where she designs characters and turns them into plushies through an overseas company.
