Next Generation Trading Cards | Compositor Abigail Riegel

Talk to us about your role within The Mill.

I am a Compositor at The Mill’s Los Angeles studio, basically the last defense or last in the pipeline. Some ways I describe it to my family is that I push buttons and make things sparkle or that I use photoshop but on steroids. It’s a lot of fun because you can be artistic but also technical. Also, when there’s a problem there’s always some weird and wacky way to solve it and it makes every day interesting.

What type of projects get you excited and spark your interest?

Game Cinematics! I grew up with two older brothers so I definitely grew up on a lot of video games. We were either playing co-op on Halo 3 or battling it out on Super Smash. I think because of those times as a kid I find working on game cinematics are very nostalgic for me and it’s fun to share with my brothers.  I just also love doing anything integrative or anything you can just get creative & weird with as I find that’s where I learn the most. I always want to find something new to improve upon and that will spark my creativity.

How do you want to help shape the next generation of 2D at The Mill and beyond?

I want to help shape the next generation of 2D at The Mill to not compare themselves. One phrase that someone at The Mill told me is that “comparison is the thief of joy” and I want to carry that message on as I think it’s important. As artists we can get stuck in our heads. We are all our own worst critic but there becomes a point where it can tear you down. We do incredible things and learn so much from each other. We are here for a reason and at the end of the day we are just a team of artists making something rad.

You were apart of Pepsi’s Super Bowl Halftime Teaser and BMW’s ‘Zeus & Hera’ at last year’s Super Bowl. Do you have any favorite moments from working on these projects?  

Oh man these projects were so much fun! The halftime teaser was incredible because the Super Bowl was happening In LA, it also involved some iconic artists too.  We were basically building environments based around each artist, so every sequence was completely different. It was a lot of fun and I adored the team. When it first aired we had our chat sharing all of the articles and the reactions of it after it released, which was probably one of my favorite moments of Super Bowl last year.

Then BMW’s ‘Zeus & Hera’ was just hilarious, and also had the cutest pegasus ever rendered. It had Arnold Schwazenegger in it and before the spot was released Arnold posted a teaser of it that looked like he was playing Zeus in a new movie. Someone in my family was excited about. It was very hard not to tell them it was a teaser for a commercial and not a movie.

Do you have any favorite Super Bowl traditions?

Napping and maybe waking up to catch a few commercials. My family is also huge football fans so I’ll also get a lot of excited texts from them as well!

Discover our full roundup of Super Bowl 57 spots here.