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“With newer internet technology that allows for ownership, instead of animators being paid once for their labor, the work they create can actually hold value and continue to generate it. That’s never been possible before.”
— Claynosaurz co-founder and creative director Nicholas Cabana
It’s a Claynosaurz world— we just live in it! The story of how the popular dino-transmedia property launched by animators Nicholas Cabana and Daniel Cabral exploded into becoming a multi-million property after being introduced in the NFT space a few years ago has become an instant creator economy legend. As Cabana recently told the audience at a packed VIEW Conference session in Italy, “Our mantra was … we’re going to meet the audiences where they’re at, which is everywhere. Entertainment is clearly nonlinear now and distribution is free!”
We recently caught up with Cabana, a talented Annie-nominated animation supervisor and VFX artist before founding Claynosaurz, to learn more about the secrets of his phenomenal success and his take on the current boom in self-distributed animated content.
Animation Magazine: Can you tell us a little bit about your background in animation?
Nicholas Cabana: I started my career at Sony Animation & Imageworks. Eventually, I transitioned to VFX and creature animation. That’s where my passion was. It’s the films that pulled me in … dinosaurs, monsters, Lord of the Rings.
I’ve since worked at MPC, Image Engine, Rodeo FX, Framestore, on tentpole films like Jurassic World, Paddington 2, Fantastic Beasts, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Suicide Squad (for which I was nominated for an Annie) and have been an animation supervisor leading teams on projects like Paddington 2, Game of Thrones, His Dark Materials, Fantastic Beasts 2.
I’ve also worked with recording artists like Kaytranada on award-winning music videos — and that was mostly for fun!
Take us back to the beginning of Claynosaurz…and your big “Aha!” moment about the new age of animation.
We started this as an idea — that we could challenge the traditional IP launch models, but also take back control for artists. We knew that studios were taking less and less risks on greenlighting original ideas. We were just a bunch of crazy animators and artists from just about everywhere … Illumination, DreamWorks, Sony, Framestore, Disney, Ubisoft, you name it! We felt that we knew what resonates with audiences, but we never truly felt seen. We wanted to prove a point. Some of us were perpetually online or on social media, observing shifts in how people consumed content.
So we thought, why not launch with just characters (avatars) as digital collectibles and a creator-first narrative, as our initial crowdfund mechanism. But we also felt that collectibles could be a great way to create a deeper relationship with those early patrons. Because they’re digital, you can create experiences around them, add loyalty loops and even cast those avatars and community members as characters in our content!
In our first release, we sold out and crashed the website, for 1.3 million. That was a huge milestone for us! And we realized, “Okay, people really do like these!”
We held community events with huge attendance. Met the fans! It was crazy! But we still had to test our product. Our characters. The big “Aha!” moment was when we released our first shorts on social media, and it went viral, hitting millions of views organically.
Why do you think Claynosaurz made it so big when other similar properties crashed and burned?
We’re a fan-first company. We co-create and invite them into the journey of building a brand. We leverage on-chain digital collectibles to nurture deeper connections with early fans as well, whether through experiences we can offer or a feeling of ownership. We believe the future lies in community-driven franchising and that community is the mote in over-competitive landscapes. And as a transmedia brand we explore many different expressions through ages and stages. Many stories in different places.
Gen A/Z expect participatory, emotionally intelligent media ecosystems that extend into their lives. They don’t consume content in a linear fashion anymore. The winning formula for creators and studios is content that feels lived-in, co-created and shared — not just watched. In an increasingly digital world, people are drawn to experiences that feel real, shared and lasting.
Social media reach is fantastic for us, and the future of distributing content, but that reach can feel rented — it’s attention without ownership. To make fandom owned, you also need discovery in meaningful places and products that nurture relationships. Experiences, digital and physical. Metrics are a ride. Story, interactivity, and product ecosystems are the journey.
You mentioned that for the first time in the history of animation, an artist can actually make money by creating a walk cycle. I love that. Can you expand on that idea?
Buying physical art — people understand that. You hang it on a wall. But in animation, the work lives in motion — a walk cycle, a gesture, an expression. For the first time, with digital collectibles and blockchain tech, that kind of creative fragment can itself be owned, traded and rewarded. Many people misunderstand what an NFT is. It’s really just the underlying technology that solves for authentication and a contract. But that doesn’t matter, in the same way no-one cares how YouTube’s protocol is able to stream videos en masse directly on the internet browser.
So now, with newer internet technology that allows for ownership: instead of animators being paid once for their labor, the work they create can actually hold value and continue to generate it. That’s never been possible before — an artist can make money not just for a finished film, but for the creative DNA that builds it. A great example is Robbie Shilstone, an indie animator who has made waves in the art world selling his stunning animation clips for display, and co-creating with his patrons! (Publique.world)
Tell us about what your proudest moment has been so far?
Where do I begin? We won over 40 industry awards for our animated content, we had major presence at Annecy, with over 1,000 people trending our event, we’ve held fandom events all over the world, sometimes reaching capacity at 1,500 people, and we have changed the lives of many artists that dared to believe.
Favorite animated movies/TV shows?
Surf’s Up, Ratatouille, Arcane.
When was the first time you knew you wanted to work in animation?
I fell into it. Initially I wanted to direct, but really I got into movies because I was obsessed with Jurassic Park as a kid. That was magical. Eventually I got accepted into an animation program rather than a production program, and I was hooked once I started!
How do you see the future of animation changing in the next couple of years?
It’s a scary time for many artists, with the advent of AI, and a market that is often predatory for creatives. I think that AI can be a super empowering tool especially for creatives, but taste-making matters. Good taste. That has value when there’s an oversaturation of slop. I think that the more bad stuff comes out, the more audiences want the quality content, and seek the “rustic” human-made.
Claynosaurz co-founder Nic Cabana will present a creative keynote speech at the 2025 World Animation Summit (Nov. 17-19) and will participate in the panel “Finding Success in a ‘Digital First’ World.” Claynosaurz is also a sponsor of this year’s event.
Find out more about Nic and his Jurassic friends at claynosaurz.com.
