Henderson couple shares animation aspirations

Henderson residents Margaret Condol and Jeff Capili aren’t afraid to mix fun and pleasure with business.

Working under the alias of CCPixels, the couple design animations for corporations such as McDonald’s, Lego and Axe using Tongal, a crowdsourcing platform that allows people and businesses to share ideas through collaborative contests.

Condol, 30, and Capili, 33, work side-by-side on each project as they develop storylines, characters and models together.

“I only got into animation through Tongal,” Condol said. “(Capili) has more experience with it, so he does all the animations, and I help with everything else.”

Although Capili took some animation courses during college, he said he’s learned most of his skill set studying online videos.

“I started with animation in 2007 back in the Philippines,” he said. “I was learning 3-D animation when we found Tongal, so it just made sense to continue with animated videos.”

Founded in 2008, Tongal connects content designers with businesses interested in alternative online advertising.

Sponsors post projects to Tongal, and users can reply with ideas. After the top ideas are selected, users can come up with pitches using text, images, links or videos to explain how they will produce a video based on the idea. The video can range from live action to animation as long as it follows the basic guidelines provided by the sponsor.

Additionally, users who weren’t selected for the pitch can submit “wild-card” videos, which are judged alongside the pitched ideas and can bring home the top cash prize.

“Most of the time, we submit videos as wild cards,” Condol said. “We read the approved ideas, and if it works with animation, we’ll try to make something a little quirky and funny. Those are the main things we look for.”

Although the lengths of the videos depend on the sponsor’s taste, a 30-second clip usually takes the couple about two to three weeks to produce.

“We have to develop the story and characters first and then build a model,” Capili said. “Then we draft it and create the actual video.”

Condol said it was her growing discontent for her day job that sparked her curiosity in exploring new opportunities online.

“I used to work for the (district attorney) for child support, and it just wasn’t what I wanted to do in life,” Condol said. “We were researching ways to make money working from home, and I found Tongal. It’s been great ever since.”

Despite working with additional outside clients, the couple said they enjoy the creative freedom Tongal offers.

“Through Tongal, we have the option of picking and choosing what project we want to work on,” Condol said. “We also come up with the ideas rather than someone dictating to us what we have to do.”

Condol and Capili have been awarded more than $100,000 by Tongal for their submissions, including $28,500 for their first-place video for the Lego Hero Factory: The Next Saga contest. They also received almost $40,000 for being named first-place winners of Tongal’s Production Season 5, an award for being one of the top-performing creators across a series of projects.

“We mostly went with what interested us or spoke to us,” Condol said. “Even though we’ve worked with Tongal for a while now, we don’t always win everything, but we’re not afraid to fail, either. It’s always good to try something new.”

For more information, visit ccpixels.com or tongal.com/tongaler/maggie.

Contact Henderson View reporter Caitlyn Belcher at cbelcher@viewnews.com or 702-383-0403.