SPYRO Reignited Character Designer Nicholas Kole Talks ART, Nostalgia, & JELLY
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- Nicholas Kole is a character designer who’s worked on projects like the Dawngate Chronicles, The Wingfeather Saga, Shardbound, Disney Books, Super Lucky’s Tale and most recently, the Spyro Reignited Trilogy. He’s also developing his brilliantly imaginative world Jellybots on the side.
I met up with Nick a few months ago and sat down to talk about everything from art to character design, personal work to studio work, fanfics to freelancing, and his advice for everyone from beginners to those hoping to get official studio work.
Keep up with Nick:
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Character Design Forge 2018
A HUGE thank you to Nick for being my first guest! Are there any other artists you’d like to see interviewed?
There are dozens of us! 😄
Max Ulichney
And Nicholas Kole again 😋
tbh... this felt like such a relief to watch. to get to hear one of the "big guys" say terms like "oc" and talk about the vibe and bond with the people you work with is just really comforting. i was afraid i was just being picky at work or something, i mean, even my parents thought it was a bit odd to complain about. so it's nice to know that it's like... a real thing and not just my head. maybe one day i'll make it in the character design field. i feel hopeful!
This is just so cool. I truly love Nicholas Kole's work. His art has just a charming whimsical style, and I end up feeling a bit happier after looking at his work.
I really love Nicholas Kole's work
Always love when two of my favorite artist sit down and talk about art. Brookes, you gotta up your mustache game, lol.
😋 everything but the stache grows for me. Thanks AJ!!!
His moustache leads me to believe that he is a Puff main, and I love that.
He recently said he’s planning to main Kirby in Ultimate, so pretty much!
Epic video! It was so great to hear from Nicholas Kole especially about Jelly Bots and personal projects
Maybe I don't give indie games the credit they deserve. When I was a child I looked up to all these cool characters in video games and how unique their designs are. One of the major reason I got into character design was the question I kept asking myself every day. Could I make a character that I love? Could I make a character as respectable and unique as those characters I love so much? Seeing all of the hard work and time being spent on these new games is just amazing. Not to mention, I'll being joining the race soon myself.
Thats amazing! Really good motivation behind you 😃
@@CharacterDesignForge Thanks man.
Two of my favorite artists in the same video??? Amazing!
Sarah ☺️☺️☺️
I like the contrast between his facial hair, and head hair, they are literally opposites.
Awesome. I'd love to see more of this stuff.
Nicholas is really awesome! I hope I can draw like him one day in my career, or atleast learn his use of colors.
Long time fan of Nicholas Kole, his work is so refreshingly whimsical and genuine. This was such a treat to hear him discuss influences, work, growth, focus. Excellent questions and I look forward to more interviews in the future. Maybe Pernille Orum? Agnes Cecile?
Ooh, great suggestions!
awesome talk guys, thanks for sharing your thoughts. i love both of your art styles and attitude towards the industry. y'all got me fired up for drawing some new characters.
Thanks so much, Steven!
Thank you nicholas kole for all your hard work!
Fantastic!! Was looking for inspiration and this did it. Keep them coming...
Thank you so much for this interview! I found it so insightful! I found it really interesting to hear about your connection to the early Nintendo games (I wasn't around when the very first ones came out). This interview brought up a lot of interesting topics which I haven't considered before or have heard other artists discuss. Specifically; being a girl-it was eye-opening to be hear you both talk about swaying towards drawing very "edgy" and "sharp", masculine characters and using muted colours (The way you delivered that was very funny!) when you where younger due to that being the gender norm to a greater extent at the time. It made me glad and grateful thinking that those norms have been increasingly blurred and that male artists like yourselves can use what have previously been considered more "feminine" colours and subject matters and therefore have more freedom in the art you create. Also Nicholas and yourself discussing introducing more colour into your work (I can really relate to Nicholas when he talked about preferring using black and white and being apprehensive of using colour-because I'm like that now) has inspired me to try developing more colour into my work. This is especially as I really like the colourful art that I see on Pinterest and in your and Nicholas' work-but I feel sad that I can't use colour in that way in my own art yet, though I would love to. I understand that I should probably dive in (literally the day I watched this I said to myself "Right! I've got to try to make a colourful character painting tonight!) and with practise I'll get the hang of it.
I also really liked Nicholas talking about the main goal with his art in terms of bringing more light and fun into the world. As a goal that is also close to my heart, I found it very moving to hear.
I've been watching your videos for a couple of months now (I'm subscribed on my personal account that I have-this is a new channel of mine) and I really love your content! Your videos, just like this interview, cover concepts that I often haven't thought about and, for me, I love that you bring another angle to the way I think about characters and their stories. Thus far I've been rather hopping from the seeds of ideas for different universes and stories-but once I'm set on one particular story I feel like I'm going to come back and re-watch a lot of your videos so I can start implementing your amazing advice!
(I'd also like to just note say that I'm sorry if there's any inaccuracies in my comment; (such as who said which piece of dialogue that I refer to) I watched the video a few days ago so I'm trying to remember as best I can.)
Once again thank you very much for providing us with this amazing interview! I'm excited for more interviews on the channel (whenever they can be facilitated of course!) Thanks so much Brookes!
Sorry Laura, your comment was initially snagged in the "possibly spam" net. Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment, I really appreciate it! I'm so glad this video and my other vids have been enlightening for you! Really grateful for your support!
20:13 I was always good at black and white pencil art back before I started using color. I wasn't afraid of using bright colors but I didn't want to take the steps to get better; to learn how colors complemented each other. I've always enjoyed dark games and stories, but I also grew up with Nintendo, most of there games are full of color that is used in many unique ways. Four Swords Adventures pulled me out of that black and white mindset, and that's when I feel like I really started growing as an artist.
(Still haven't figured out what complements orange, it just sits there, wanting to be red).
Blue is always a good compliment to orange. Purple and cyan work too.
@@Flomen01 Cyan? There's a color I haven't tried yet.
@@a.j.morrow5533 Yeah basically any color on the other side of the spectrum from Orange will work.
@@Flomen01 It would also depend on what type of orange you use.
very impressive
Nicholas Kole is my spirit animal...
You got a guest from the games industry! Time to learn.
🙌🙌 its a great day!
Shoutout to Nick for having the most AMAZING mustache in the world
*nice*
What a legend
21:50 you guys had me dying here
yo waddup its your boi BRO ARTIST, he's got "feelings" but they're all about AXE Body Spray and Quizno's
@@CharacterDesignForge you two were very spot on a lot of feelings in this, also with the concept of working with hope and confidence without professional validation.
Who did the character designs for viewtiful joe? It would be cool to have him on.
I like Spyro Reignited Trilogy's Videogame animation it looks perfect for an animated movie adaptation like Disney DreamWorks Pixar Don Bluth or Tim Burton.
I'm glad Spyro was made a purple kid dragon and not a green adult dragon because he looks better purple and we already have a lot of green dragons in The Spyro Series and we don't need Green Spyro Purple Spyro is cooler and better. Besides Green Spyro would've been hard to see in the grass and it was a bad idea to begin with I don't think Green Spyro would've been popular if he was kept I don't really like green Purple Spyro makes him unique and stand out
I like Tom Kenny Spyro too.
are you creator of crash bandicoot 4: it's about time
Am I?
So I hear u love animal crossing
Of course!
_Unbelievable, we have to do the whole thing over with moist hands!_
Pardon that the quote isn't verbatim, my hearing is atrocious sometimes. @3@
Wait.....you guys have the same kind of glasses. Coincidence? I think not!
His style made Spyro look too Disney. I mean i admire it but it's weird.
You admire it but you still have to talk smack publicly huh