Hi! I’m Nicole, a 3d artist based in Minneapolis, MN.

I began my creative career in fine arts, but fell in love with digital worlds when I touched a grass simulator at the science museum and accidentally changed my life. Since then, I’ve ventured into environment building and level design. While the aesthetic of my work shifts for the needs of a given project, my best pieces are rooted in bright colors, whimsy, and detail that inspires closer inspection and exploration. My work centers curiosity within both myself and players who encounter it, embracing wonderful moments of discovery.

More About My Work

My process almost always begins with research–conceptual, technical, and sometimes historical. My findings within conceptual and historical research often lead me towards technical puzzles to solve. For example, when making Under the Divine Sun, I needed a rich variety of seventeenth century fabrics for the costumes and set pieces. I learned to use Adobe Substance Sampler to implement my historically inspired designs, creating several brocades and a transparent lace pattern. On the conceptual side, I also wanted to implement visual elements of the sublime, which led to research in particle systems. This way of working pushes the bounds of what I can achieve technically, but necessitates careful planning and an understanding of limitations. Therefore, it’s important to balance this process with moments of spontaneous creative expression. I tend to reserve the more technically straightforward aspects of a game for experimentation and risk, particularly within artistic fundamentals like color, space, and sound. This returns the whole project back to a state of play–a reminder that the end result is meant to inspire joy in those interacting with it.

I want players to feel a bubbling curiosity when they encounter my work. What’s over here? What happens if I push that thing? Am I even allowed to get over there? Fostering this feeling creates an exploratory mindset that allows the player to embrace complexity, which mirrors the way I feel about the design software itself. I am driven by discovery in my work. I’m equally as inspired by the things I want to express as I am by the technologies I can use to express them. And if I can share a spark of this curiosity with the people who experience my games, then I can also share the gratification of that exploration.

Where I’m Headed

Embracing the unknown with a sense of joy has completely changed my artistic practice, widening the horizons of what I could create. I’ve learned a lot since I touched that grass simulator, and I’m always excited to learn more. My primary game engine has so far been Unreal, but I’m eager to look into other engines, such as Godot. I’m also looking to study more about manners of interaction to incorporate into my practice. When I do, I hope anyone who encounters my work will be excited to explore with me.