Colby Nelson: Sticking With Pen and Paper

By Kristine Kostuck
Contributing Writer

A lot of us grew up hovering over the TV catching as many Saturday morning cartoons as possible. But our generation witnessed a change, as our favorite ‘80s and ‘90s cartoons disappeared and graphic animation moved forward. This left shows like “Rocko’s Modern Life,” “Duck Tales,” “The Powerpuff Girls,” and “Thundercats” in the dust, as well as the artist’s long hours of hard work behind the drawings. Things were just so much easier on the computer and they may never be the same.

However, our generation had many that aspired to keep the old way of cartooning alive. Colby Nelson is one of these artists. As a Smurf fan, Nelson says that his love for cartoons and art came from his first Smurf toy, a gift from his aunt. But this love may have dated back even further, as Nelson recalled drawing cereal box characters, like Captain Crunch, off of the box over breakfast, during his toddler years. These copy cat cartoons were drawn in black pen and sketched in a notebook. This was all Nelson knew.

As he grew up he continued to draw, but during his teen years began using it as an outlet to express his darkest feelings. He enjoyed the whimsical side of cartooning along with the open mindedness of the artist that just made people happy. “I guess you could call it my refuge,” he said. He calls it this because years later, he continues to use it this way.

Following high school, Nelson pursued art at Northwest Tech College, in a program he calls commercial art. Even though Nelson was trained in graphic design and computer illustration, he continued to sketch with his black pen and notebook.

Now he is working as a geographical technician, making GPSs by day, and is a freelance illustrator the rest of his time. Nelson’s drawings start on paper and then are scanned and colored on Adobe Illustrator, but not altered in any way. After many drawings, he established his own name, Colby Sunshine.

As Colby Sunshine, he has made logos for Hooligans, Toad Mountain Ranch, Fargo South High School and many more. He is currently working on designing logos for a yachting company and also for Captain Spirits.

Despite the difficulties freelance artists undergo, Nelson has had quite a success. However, he refuses to call himself a breakout artist, but rather a hoarder of his own art work. His computer has projects he has worked on since high school and before. Some of the work he has sold, others hold sentimental value, like the Valentine’s Day card he drew for his girlfriend.

Or the character Nelson hopes someday will be the star of the next big children’s book, Chalula, a character of the future with bionic arms. “He likes to do a lot of things, all the things I like to do, like cook eggs, surf, snowboard and bake, but he is a robot, so he is much cooler than me,” he said. “It’s ideas like this that I hope will introduce art to children at an early age,” he said.

Although he has found success through his freelancing, his work will be displayed at the Atomic Coffee shop in Moorhead this month, from the first through April 1st. To a casual observer, his work looks like a child’s story book, a cutesy tee from Hot Topic or even a newspaper comic. However his viewers see his pieces, Nelson hopes only to bring one thing to his audience—a lighter side of life.

“If I can just make someone smile with my work, I have done my job right,” he said.

The coffee shop exhibition will be featuring work that could fulfill Nelson’s goal. Every piece is colorful and eye-catching. The work being shown is: “Wise Owls, Soap Box Bandits,” starring an elephant as the bandit and bunnies falling from the sky, and a flying Panda series, “I kinda took that idea (the pandas) from “The Wizard of Oz,” with the monkeys, but on this they are less scary and more sad,” he said. These characters spell innocence, yet are fascinating.

There is a deeper side to his work than the cartoon portrayed, and even though he is incorporating themes of peace, love and serenity into his work, he is often influenced by things that may disgust him. “I was at the Basement Bar one night and saw this lady continuously reaching her hand into a jar of olives,” he said, “It was so gross.” The minute observation led him to create his “Olive Jar” piece, a radioactive jar of olives.

Nelson’s work will be shown at Atomic Coffee in Downtown Fargo in April, following his Moorhead display. If you miss his work in March and April there will other chances to see his work. Just keep your eyes open around downtown. 

Nelson has pitched the idea to his friends that are writers about a children’s book, but that has yet to happen. He has also thought of screen-printing his work and selling stickers. “It (freelancing) has been stressful, but artwork and jobs just seem to come now, so maybe someday I can be a full time artist, but I’m still taking steps to get there,” he said. For now, he is sticking with the pen and paper.

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If You Go

What: Colby Nelson
Where: Atomic Coffee Moorhead and Downtown Fargo
When: Moorhead: through April 1; Fargo, April 2-30
Info: 218.299.6161, 701.478.6160