Colby is a designer, illustrator, dungeon master for hire, and Art Director of Print Innovation for Magic: The Gathering at Wizards of the Coast. So, besides my partner Meg, Colby is the closest thing to a Wizard I've ever met. lol. Anyway, before joining Wizards, he was a Creative Director and Co-Founder of Jolby, a design and illustration studio he started with his best friend Josh Kenyon. After 12 long years at Jolby, he decided to step away to rediscover his "why" and realized he was spending most of his time writing and playing tabletop games, which convinced him to pursue a role at Wizards. However, long before becoming a professional dork, Colby drew characters from Nintendo Power Magazine like Link from The Legend of Zelda, popped his first pack of Magic cards in 1995, and wanted to be a Sunday morning comic strip artist when he was a kid. Fast-forward through hundreds of D&D sessions, therapeutic Post-It notes, and video games, and Colby has partnered with Nike, Pixar, Nickelodeon, Google, and many other impressive clients throughout his career. He lives by the "Rule of Cool," knows how to "Ride the Weird," and self-published his own light-hearted gothic "Karma Crawl" called Chadwick and the Southern Scourge. Tune in for a talk about following his passion for storytelling and tabletop games, why he stepped away from a design studio he co-founded, and how playing D&D can help you become a better creative professional. Worst case, you get to hear us be reasonably cool-sounding dorks! Follow Colby on Instagram @colbynichols, and check out more of his work on his website: colbyhichols.com. “You’re gonna need good people way more than you’re gonna need good talent.”
Colby is a designer, illustrator, dungeon master for hire, and Art Director of Print Innovation for Magic: The Gathering at Wizards of the Coast. So, besides my partner Meg, Colby is the closest thing to a Wizard I've ever met. lol. Anyway, before joining Wizards, he was a Creative Director and Co-Founder of Jolby, a design and illustration studio he started with his best friend Josh Kenyon. After 12 long years at Jolby, he decided to step away to rediscover his "why" and realized he was spending most of his time writing and playing tabletop games, which convinced him to pursue a role at Wizards. However, long before becoming a professional dork, Colby drew characters from Nintendo Power Magazine like Link from The Legend of Zelda, popped his first pack of Magic cards in 1995, and wanted to be a Sunday morning comic strip artist when he was a kid.
Fast-forward through hundreds of D&D sessions, therapeutic Post-It notes, and video games, and Colby has partnered with Nike, Pixar, Nickelodeon, Google, and many other impressive clients throughout his career. He lives by the "Rule of Cool," knows how to "Ride the Weird," and self-published his own light-hearted gothic "Karma Crawl" called Chadwick and the Southern Scourge.
Tune in for a talk about following his passion for storytelling and tabletop games, why he stepped away from a design studio he co-founded, and how playing D&D can help you become a better creative professional. Worst case, you get to hear us be reasonably cool-sounding dorks! Follow Colby on Instagram @colbynichols, and check out more of his work on his website: colbyhichols.com.
“You’re gonna need good people way more than you’re gonna need good talent.”
Questions for this interview.