Praise Petey is my quickest-binged show of the summer. Funny, fresh and satirical, Anna Drezen’s animated series is a full-on laugh riot. And wonderfully enough, Her Campus at UCLA had the opportunity of sitting down for a conversation with some of the women behind this animation. From the creation of Praise Petey to advice on working in design, these artists – Amanda Lake, art director, Annalise Hollosy, character designer and Kati Prescott, background supervisor – provided HC at UCLA with many thoughtful reflections on their careers in the arts.
Her Campus at UCLA: To start, can you each describe to me the role you had in making Praise Petey?
Amanda: I was the art director, so I was in charge of the whole design team overall.
Kati: I was the background supervisor, so I was in charge of both background designs and background paintings.
Annalise: And I was one of the character designers, so I helped kind of flesh out the population of the world.
HC: What was each of your favorite parts about working on this specific show?
Amanda: I mean, for me, it was just getting to work with the most talented team I’ve ever worked with. I had these general ideas; I put together these mood boards, I designed the main cast. So, giving all that to these artists and having them take it from there and show me things that I could never do is just amazing. I felt like I had a hive mind, you know? I had all these brains that I could use and work with. It was just an incredible experience.
Kati: My favorite part of it was really the collaboration; both collaborating with Amanda on creating this world but then also just collaborating with this team. We had such a small window to get the world together. By the time the team started we had the framework, and seeing how the rest of the team took that and added so much more life to it was really cool to watch. Even though we were all separate – only interacting via Zoom – the way we were able to pull it all together was really special.
Annalise: I think that my favorite part was the amount of trust and excitement from the creators and the directors and how much they let us really go crazy with stuff. I think it was really special that we had such a rapport with them and were able to really mold this world in a new way.
HC: Taking it back to the earlier stages of your careers, how did you come into animation? Was it always something that you wanted to pursue or did it spark later on?
Amanda: I never thought I would work in animation. I went to college for illustration; I was screen-printing posters – I thought I was going to be making gig posters for the rest my life – so that’s where I started. Then I just so happen to get an internship at a motion design studio, so I was in the advertising animation world for a while. I found out that they need people who can draw and not just animate, and I realized, ‘oh my God, there’s a place for me in animation even though I’ve never animated’. Learning how that that process worked and everything, I mean, I immediately fell in love with it. Creating something and then watching somebody else like make it come to life is just such a cool feeling.
Kati: I had a unique exposure to animation because I grew up in North Hollywood; my mom was a paralegal for an entertainment studio, so I knew about animation. Growing up, I was like ‘oh man look at these silly adults doing awesome things, I want to be a silly adult doing awesome things’. Like Amanda, I did not know how to animate. I went to school for fine art painting and kind of stumbled into doing backgrounds. But I realized that I could use these more static skills and still be part of the animation world, so sign me up!
Annalise: I guess I’m the only person here who has gone to school for animation – I figured out in high school that animation is such a cool industry. I didn’t even know all the different things you can do with it; I was just so fascinated by it. So, I went to Savannah College of Art and Design, studied animation, graduated not really knowing exactly what I wanted to do in animation. There really are so many jobs and there’s so many that they don’t tell you about. In school, we had we had classes on, like, colour theory, but we never talked about colour design as like a career. So, it took me a while to figure out that characters are really what I love working on. I’ve done work on some smaller projects in freelance but this is my first industry job!
Kati: And you’re killing it.
Annalise: I mean, I think it really spoke to the production we were on that I was able to start from the bottom, and be able to say ‘hello, I’m new here’, and then still be able to keep up with everyone. I think that really spoke to how everybody was supporting each other and the community of it.
HC: Do you have any advice that you’d give to young women who want to go into design or animation? Or also, what do you wish you had known when you started?
Amanda: That’s tough. I wish I knew all of the different positions; I wish I knew all of the jobs that were available. There are hidden art jobs everywhere. If there’s something that you’re passionate about outside of art there’s probably an art job related to that thing. Art is everywhere; you just have to find it.
HC: That’s good to hear. I need to write that on my wall.
Amanda: Just email people that you think would never respond. They probably will and they’ll probably be able to help you out. Definitely just reach out.
Kati: Invest in the thing that excites you and makes you happy. The thing that excites you can be your superpower when it comes to looking for work in the arts. I graduated with a BFA in fine art studio painting and I didn’t know if I really wanted to go into the fine arts. But it’s all about building your toolkit and having more elements in that tool kit that will really help you in the long term. Also, you’ll be surprised how much you learn after you’ve gotten your degree.
HC: So, you just have to have the guts to say, ‘I’m going to try this, even if I don’t completely know how to do it’, and learn on the go.
Kati: Oh, absolutely. Try it, and just admit, ‘alright, I’m going to make some bad art for a while, and hopefully one day it’ll start to improve’. It’s a little corny, but it really is just about investing in yourself, investing in what makes you happy.
Amanda: Ask a lot of questions. That’s super important. Every time someone new starts out and asks a lot of questions, I’m like, ‘they’re going to be good’!
Annalise: I think it’s really important to just understand that you don’t have to know everything, and that’s why there are other people working with you; you all have different experiences and different levels of knowledge about programs and techniques, and that’s part of the beauty of the industry. It really is a place where you can learn and grow. Coming out of college, you might be in a place where you feel like you’re supposed to know everything and be ready for the world and that’s not how it works at all.
Amanda: Every single show and every job is completely different, too. Even if you think you know what you’re doing, you’re not going to know what you need to do for that job – you’ll still have to learn how to do that job on the job. So, you just need to have flexibility and always be ready to learn.
Kati: Yeah. Adaptability is key and there’s a real strength in saying ‘I don’t know’ and learning from there. It seems like such a scary thing to admit, but there really are no dumb questions except the ones you didn’t ask. Nobody can help you if they don’t know that you need help.
To finish us off, in Praise Petey, the cult worships this ancient tortoise. If you were a cult leader, which animal would your cult worship?
Amanda: Oh, man. I mean all I can think of is goat.
Annalise: I think a bat would be really cool. Bats are such crazy looking animals.
Kati: Bats are just so freaky, like it’s insane that they exist. For me, I’m going say a cat.
A cat, a bat, and a goat. There you have it. If these women started a cult, I’d be in.
There’s no doubt about it; the artists behind Praise Petey are just as funny and interesting as the show itself. Their reminders to be bold, to ask questions and to explore new elements of your passions ring true for women in any field. Keep an eye out for their next creative projects and be sure to check out Praise Petey on Freeform! I binge-watched every released episode in one sitting and I truly doubt you’ll be able to do any differently.