Nicole Jansen

Character Artist, Designer, and 3D Modeler

My name is Nicole Jansen, and I’m an artist interested in character design in accordance to narrative. Using both traditional fine and digital art mediums, I’m constantly looking for ways to bring my characters to life within game and simulation worlds so they may draw players into the lore that exists within and around them.

I believe that characters are one of the most important parts of the storytelling experience due to their tendency to act as guides for the audience, and I find that showcasing their backgrounds and personalities through their appearances has immeasurable strength when it comes to their believability. When a character reflects their surroundings, it makes them feel at home within their environment and engages an audience into their world. This means that the designed character is able to act as a representative to help the audience understand and become invested in a presented landscape.

Refusing to neglect incorporating the character’s environment and backstory into even the smallest of details in their design allows me to make them feel cohesive within the world they reside. While this cohesion can be accomplished through color palettes and standard association, detail connotation is also prominant in steering the audience's impression of these representatives and what they learn from them. As such, it’s useful to make design choices that also allow a character to display their own personality and role so that the audience may easily identify an entrypoint of understanding. By recognizing this back-and-forth relationship between the character and their world, I hope to hint at broader stories with just a quick glance and a first impression.

The Gardner and Her Garden

The Medic

The Lantern Boy and his Fireflies


- Eubie the Bumblebee and Detective Duck:
The Mystery of the Hijinx Curse -
Forest Creatures and Working with Environmental Artist Chantil Hunt Estevez