Personal Profile

In the 1990s computer graphics were becoming more and more advanced, from animated movies like “Toy Story,” to the explosions and action in traditional movies, the technology was fast becoming something people marveled at. While other people sat back and watched, Nicolas Brown was dreaming about creating them.

Today, Nicolas owns his own animation studio which he opened in 2003 with his friend Ryan Diggs. The studio is located in the small town of Young America, Minnesota. The studio is hidden in a mini-mall on the west end of the town, but inside is the workshop where him and his team film, direct, and edit a variety of projects. Their work ranges from television commercials to developing training videos for companies. They use some of the top computers and equipment available, and often have to upgrade each year, or every six month

He grew up in La Junta, Colorado about forty miles away from Denver, and admitted his first inclination toward visual graphics was when he was 15 years old. “I began to seriously consider what I would do with my future. I've always loved visual effects in movies and had a pretty good knowledge base with simple 3D programs.” He moved to Young America in 1999 and fueled his interest by taking classes in high school that let him intern at local business that specialized in media development. Soon after graduation him and Ryan started looked for a place around town to create a storefront. “Ryan wanted to start it from home, but I knew we needed a real place to call our own.” They found something and it has now become one of the fastest growing businesses in Young America'.

When I first walked toward the studio the first thing you notice is the large “Digital Sunfire” signage prominently over the door. He often can be found manning the front desk when a customer walks in. Greeting the customer with “Hi, can I help you?” “We are getting more popular, but we aren’t big enough that I can leave the counter yet.” Past the front counter there are two cubicles with computers and desks piled high with project orders and designs sketches. His friend Ryan is still around and helps take down the work. He also recently hired a full time animator which brought the time from start to finish of the projects down tremendously. “I’m really glad we could bring in more help, it freed up my time to do around the studio and gives me time to do what I best which is compositing post production work.” He read my look when he said “compositing post production work” he followed it up by explaining: “It mainly consists of taking the initial animation and adding visual effects, color correction, and any other added elements to make the final composition. Basically I touch up the footage and make it look spiffy.”

With my interview happening in his studio, we were interrupted by the sound of the door opening. In walked a customer or a client as he called it. He excused himself from our interview, but not before inviting me to follow and watch. He approached the client with ease, shaking hands and proceeded to invite them to sit down in one of the unoccupied chairs decorating the area in the front of the studio. I watched from behind the desk. They began by talking about what the customer wanted completed. It turns out they want an animated commercial for his local paycheck advance service. After some quick sketching on some paper, Nickolas took the guy into his office behind the counter and opened several computer applications; he was nice enough to wait for me to have a good view of the screen before he proceeded. I got to see firsthand