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The world of digital media and visual arts has changed drastically in the past two decades, with important technological developments. Animation advances have made possible highly engaging advertisement, and mesmerizing special effects. Nonetheless, not a lot of people know of the experts behind all this.
Nicholas King, better known as Nickels, is a Digital Media Artist who has been behind a lot of the popular videos you have seen trending on the internet. From convincing reptilian eye lids, to bionic implants on personalities such as Dennis Rodman, Fedez, and Jake Paul – It is apparent that Nickels is pioneering a new wave of hi-tech convincing visuals that are resonating with modern culture.
This amazing artist was born in Maryland, and lived overseas for the most part of his youth. Nickels says that this forced him to be open minded from a very early age and to push boundaries without worrying about social norms.
“I’ve always seen things differently, embraced things that are not normal, and expressed my ideas in forms that satisfied my creativity.” Nickels says.
Nickels started his career in early 2016 after a Pokémon GO video edit that he created started trending on reddit, which was uploaded to his YouTube channel. The video went viral and articles about his work started to gain traction on online publications. Ever since, he has been actively featured in multiple magazines and platforms where his work is showcased.
What motivated Nickels to get into the industry was the feeling of having reached a plateau in his career, where he remained stable in a comfortable job. He feels that the feeling of not progressing is one of the worst situations one can be in, and he welcomes new challenges with a passion. So he decided to turn his hobby of creating really crazy ideas into reality and executing those ideas.
“I decided to take it to the next level and reached out to some of my now close friends who were popular on social media. We created viral content together, really crazy ideas, but done in such a professional way that it was extremely convincing.” Nickels shares.
For him, one of the biggest challenges when trying to find your niche is to not be like everyone else, but instead be like yourself. In addition, it is important to figure out how to build while using your passion to that advantage. Overall, what got Nickels through these challenges was what had originally inspired him to get into the industry.
“I learned a lot from my childhood, and I was able to try a lot of things that quickly made me realize what I wanted in life. I had a drive to always create something from scratch, and making it tangible with your name on it, on this earth. I love technical challenges, and computers in general, which is why I wanted to pursue a career in Computer Programming. After two years in Penn State, though, I decided that career wasn’t creative enough and I transferred to Fine Arts with a focus on Animation, moving to Florida to realize that goal.” Nickels recalls.
Flashforward to today, Nickels is able to see where it all started: when he realized he wanted to create digital media for the masses. After college he found a job in the advertising industry and now has over a decade of experience and is the Head of CG for a post-production studio that specializes in film and commercials. Finally, he has been able to include his love for science fiction into his work, by visualizing realistic crazy ideas.
This year, Nicholas shifted his focus to work on a new production style in advertising to position a brand with artists for viral marketing campaigns. Nickels was notably recognized after XXL Magazine and WorldStarHipHop reposted a video edit that he created with Atlanta rapper Nessly, showing an “autotune arm device” that was implanted on the artist. Other media outlets also published the story, which caused one of his first Instagram video edits to go viral.
Nickels’ advice for those starting their own portfolio of art is to keep at it consistently even when you doubt yourself. In fact, Nickels’ fear is to do nothing or stay in the norm. This mindset is what has helped him achieve success, which for him means to be recognized for the level of skill and talent he has built and utilized to craft his career. This success allowed him to obtain financial freedom, and be able to sustain his life, hobbies and day-to-day happenings without having to worry too much.
“My ingenuity differentiates myself from my competition. I give a new approach to traditional advertising. I develop elements from computer generated visual effects and transfer them to the real world in a convincing way.” Nickels says.
Nickels’ next projects include a huge visual effects (VFX) music video filled with robots for Kekra on his song ‘CLS’. It has reached close to half a million views after only one day of its release. Hints of more inventions and devices have been speculated for his Instagram which, through history, tends to act as small bites to bigger projects, as been evident from his Kekra music video and the robots he has featured months before it’s release.Learn more about one of the pioneers of science fiction in digital marketing, Nicholas King aka Nickels, by following him on Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook.
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