Niko and the Sword of Light

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Niko by techgnotic














DeviantArt is excited to share the recent release of the pilot for Niko and the Sword of Light, a new fully animated piece from Titmouse Animation Studio currently available to watch for free on Amazon’s website. It’s based on the motion graphic comic created by Imaginism Studios that was showcased in an earlier article upon its release in 2013. Several of the major figures involved in the production are longtime members of the DeviantArt community, many of whom are part of Titmouse’s group.  The show’s creators are Bobby Chiu and Kei Acedera both Toronto deviants and the founders of imaginism Studios.  Since 2005, their studio has specialized in pre-production character and concept art for movies, TV, videogames, and traditional publishing. On DeviantArt, they have built an international fan base independent from their contracted projects. Bobby and Kei are exemplars of newly emerging online entrepreneurship, understanding and exploiting the new online economic ecology. Niko and the Sword of Light marks the ascendancy of Imaginism Studios to their next level…


Enter Titmouse


A veteran in the animation space, with shows under their belt such as Black Dynamite, The Venture Brothers., and Metalocalypse, Titmouse was the perfect partner to help bring this project to life. Ben Kalina (aka bkalina7) first discovered and fell in love with Niko during its Kickstarter phase and jumped at the chance to be the one to help transition the motion comic to an animated pilot.


As the producer on Niko, Ben assembled a team of artists including tapping one of their own animators, Sung Jin Ahn, to serve as director on the project. Once they had the key members in place, Ben and Sung Jin took to the web to find the rest of their team searching DeviantArt and other sites for portfolios that might be a fit for the show’s style.




imaginism & Titmouse


Who Is Niko?


NNiko is the story of a ten-year-old boy who is the last of his kind, living in a strange, fantastical world. Darkness has descended on the land. He must embark on an epic quest to defeat the Darkness and bring the light back to his home. Armed with his magic sword, brave Niko journeys to the Cursed Volcano, making new friends and powerful foes along the way, all while uncovering secrets about his mysterious past.


The results speak for themselves as Titmouse works to bring back the action cartoons so many other studios have foregone in favor of comedic cartoons. For those of you ready to embark on Niko’s exciting, but dangerous quest head on over to Amazon’s website, then after watching the show let us know in the comments what you thought of it.


Watch Pilot Episode on Amazon













Interview with Titmouse Animation Studio & Imaginism





What cartoon shows or animated films inspired you the most?


Sung Jin:

I always had great exposure to both American and Japanese animation, so my personal taste and style have evolved around those two industries. My inspiration changes day to day, but I always have interest in combining the aesthetics of American and Japanese animation in my own work.






Where does your creative process start? What comes first the writing, drawing, characters or environments? How do you work?


Sung Jin:

It really depends on the project. But for Niko, Bobby and Kei had already created such a lush world, it was really fun and enriching to get creatively involved. That being said, I always try to think about how other peoples' visions compare to my own, and try to find a perfect blend of both.









imaginism & Titmouse







What was the process of working with Bobby and Kei to bring Niko and the Sword of Light to life like? Was this experience everything you expected it to be?


Sung Jin:

Working with Bobby and Kei was great. They had a clear vision of what Niko should and shouldn't be, and it really gave us a good footing for our own creative take on it. Being involved on a project as unique and special as this, I honestly didn't know what to expect, but thats what made it such a great experience for me.





Working with Bobby, Kei, and Jim and Adam at Studio NX was great.  They’re all artists so it made the design process one of the best experiences we’ve had on a new project.


Often series creators are writers and it takes a lot of talking to get concrete visual ideas out of them.  In this case we started with tons of reference straight from the creators heads.  Through the process we’d send illustrations and doodles back and forth to communicate ideas for story, design, and revisions.  It was great.


Sometimes we would go too far with reference and have to tell the team know they didn’t have to spend a day creating a beautifully rendered piece to get a simple note across.






imaginism & Titmouse


How did Titmouse Studios become involved with this project?



The Niko Kickstarter was released when we were working on Motorcity.  We saw the first trailer and were like “Damn! I wish we were making this!  This feels like Titmouse stuff!”


Years later, Melissa Wolfe (our executive at Amazon) called us to see if we’d be interested in working on the project.  When networks call us about new shows they usually keep the details a little vague at first.  All we knew on that first call was  “Its a new 22 minute Pilot.  6 -11 age group.  Based on existing digital comic book. Adventure show.  Its like Adventure Time meets Avatar”.


Immediately we thought “Are they making Niko into a series?!”


When we found out it was Niko we started campaigning get the project.  Niko is so in line with what we at Titmouse love to create.  We’re very happy to be apart of it.









imaginism & Titmouse






imaginism & Titmouse





Titmouse Studios has a great track record of hiring artists from within the DeviantArt community, what suggestions do you have for up and coming artists to get themselves noticed?



Keep posting new work, be active on the site, make friends, and let people know what you want to do.  When we look for artists we usually start by looking at the pages of people that we work with already or people that we know and like, and see who are they following, what artists and work do they like?









imaginism & Titmouse







Ben, you are an producer on Niko and the Sword of Light, while that title on a show can mean different things depending on the project, can you tell us what your involvement on the show is?



The topline job description is bringing in work for the studio, budgeting, scheduling, making sure the work is up to the quality of the studio, putting out fires, and making sure everyone is happy when its delivered.


On Niko a lot of my job was working with Sung Jin and Antonio (our art director) to put together the right team.  Bobby, Kei, Jim, and Adam already had great concept for the show, so we had to find artists that would do their work justice.


Sung Jin Ahn (our director) started at Titmouse when he was still in high school.  He’s done everything. He’s gone from intern, to assistant designer, to animator, to storyboard artist, to director.  Sung loves doing action comedy, so he was a natural fit for the project.


Antonio Canobbio (Creative Director at Titmouse) oversaw the art direction and helped communicate with Imaginism and Studio NX on designs.  Antonio put together a great team of in house designers for the project.


After we had our in house team, Sung Jin and I spent a lot of time on the internet searching through DA and other sites to find portfolios we liked and sent out freelance to artists around the world that could assist our staff with the project.









imaginism & Titmouse







You worked as a storyboard artist on several animated shows. What advice would you give to aspiring deviant artists looking to break into the field?


Sung Jin:

Keep setting short term goals for yourself and just churn out bodies of work, good or bad. Those small milestones of challenges and struggles will add so much to your growth as an artist. Don't get caught up on where you want to be, but instead focus on the next step you have to take to move forward.









imaginism & Titmouse






imaginism & Titmouse





With Niko and the Sword of Light you’ve successfully made the jump from storyboard artist to director. How did you become involved in the project and what made you want to make the transition to director?


Sung Jin:

Luckily for me, Ben thought my sensibilities would be a great fit for Niko. So when he first introduced the idea of this pilot to me, I was immediately on board without a second thought. Most of my career was invested in storyboarding, but since Titmouse is a full service studio, I was exposed to all the different processes of the animation production. I guess the interaction of all the artists and the amount they had to collaborate attracted me to directing. Because you are involved in every step of the production, being a director at Titmouse is really collaborative and rewarding.





What were the biggest challenges you faced making in turning this popular comic into an animated show?


Sung Jin:

The actual animation process was pretty challenging. Since the original comic was already animated, we had to make sure we carried on the same caliber and even plus it. Our talented team of animators really made sure that this pilot stood out from other shows and that the level of animation went the extra mile.









imaginism & Titmouse








How closely did you work with Kei and Bobby to make sure the essence of Niko and the Sword of Light carried through from the page to the screen?


Sung Jin:

We worked very closely with Kei and Bobby, because keeping the essence of the comic book was a mutual goal we both had. And it was awesome having consistent communication with them on every step.






What other shows is Titmouse currently involved in?



  • "Moon Beam City" - Comedy Central (premiering later this year)
  • "Venture Bros" - Adult Swim
  • "China IL" - Adult Swim
  • “Nerdland" - A new feature we’d producing
  • "Turbo F.A.S.T."- Dreamworks / Netflix
  • "Randy Cunningham 9th Grade Ninja" - Disney XD
  • A new pilot with Jhonen Vasquez and Jenny Goldberg for Disney
  • A new short with Jhonen that we can’t talk about
  • "Kirby Buckets" - Disney XD
  • Our Canadian team is currently animating “Breadwinners" - Nickelodeon

There’s some other really cool stuff in production right now, but I don’t think they’ve been announced yet.









imaginism & Titmouse








Imaginism


We also reached out to the show’s creators, Bobby Chiu and Kei Acedera, to update us since their previous article on the show:



What inspired you while you were growing up to focus on your art?


:iconimaginism: imaginism — Kei:

Getting exposed to a lot of art from the past. All the great masters and what they achieved made me want to contribute to the conversation of art as well.




:iconimaginism: imaginism — Bobby:

For me, a huge amount of inspiration came from cartoons, comic books and comic strips. Growing up, I loved studying them, copying them and eventually trying to create my own.




Did you ever consider that art might be a possible career?


:iconimaginism: imaginism — Bobby:

Not until my 20s did I consider a career in art. I always thought that art would be just a hobby and that I'd gravitate towards being a lawyer or a business man. It wasn't until I realized that I could work in the movies that I switched my focus from making art as a hobby to turning it into a career.


:iconimaginism: imaginism — Kei:

Yes! I always thought it could be a possible career. My family brought me up to be very creative and crafty because they are! I never really thought I'd be anything else but an artist.












imaginism & Titmouse







Who were your main influences growing up and was there a particular artist that inspired you more than any other?


:iconimaginism: imaginism — Kei:

I'd have to say Bobby Chiu. I've never met anyone who so successfully balances their life with their art. Early on in my career, and still to this day, that balance has been instrumental to my own success.




:iconimaginism: imaginism — Bobby:

Not to copy Kei's answer, but I'd say Kei was a huge influence at the beginning of my art studies because I was — and still am — in awe of her creativity, her ideas and her love of art. It's quite inspiring.




imaginism & Titmouse


What made you decide to create Niko and the Sword of Light as a motion comic and not as an animated feature to start with?


:iconimaginism: imaginism

We decided to create Niko and the Sword of Light as a motion comic and not as an animated feature because our mission was to make something that felt like a 'magical comic book.' Something that, when the viewer started using it, they would feel like the comic book panels are coming to life.




imaginism & Titmouse


How has being a part of the DeviantArt community helped your career and/or artistic process?


:iconimaginism: imaginism — Kei:

I really like the variety of art in the DeviantArt Community. It's chock-full of great artists, inspiration, ideas, and wonderful things to look at. DeviantArt is a bottomless font of inspiration that I can draw on anytime I need to!




:iconimaginism: imaginism — Bobby:

Being a part of the DeviantArt community has been a huge help to get our art out there into the world. Everyone seems to have a DA account so it's kind of a must-have for artists. Also it's a great springboard for trying out new ideas and getting instant feedback. My favorite thing about DA is its huge community. There is always more feedback from DA than from anywhere else, and we wouldn’t be where we are without it!










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payton009's avatar
Awesome! I Love It! :D (Big Grin)