Nicholas Smal is a South African animator, actor, comedian, and musician. Alongside Lucy Heavens, he is the co-creator of the animated musical-comedy Kiff and serves as an executive producer, writer, and storyboard artist for the series, in addition to writing and producing songs and voicing Principal Secretary and other characters.[1]
Early life
Smal's obsession with cartoons started at an early age when his family got a cable subscription to the M-Net channel in South Africa.[2] His cartoon heroes growing up were The Simpsons, Rescue Rangers, Animaniacs, BraveStarr and Rocko's Modern Life.[3] He cites 2D animation as the visual style that he most gravitated towards as a child, a medium which continues to inspire Smal to this day.[3] As a young kid Smal would try to draw and emulate the cartoons he loved by doodling in his textbooks and teaching himself how to create a flip book of moving objects.[3]
When it came to studying animation in Africa, Smal only had one choice: The Animation School in Cape Town.[3] However, in the early 2000s the trend was to teach and learn CGI animation which Smal wasn't keen on learning. He chose instead to study in a graphic design program where he learned typography by hand, figure drawing and photography. This broader education allowed him to eventually pivot back to his first love of 2D Animation.[3]
Career
Cartoon productions in Africa were extremely limited when Smal was coming out of school. However one of Smal's classmates from Zimbabwe was affiliated with Sunrise Productions (best known for producing Jungle Beat) and he invited Smal to do some character drawings for them, which quickly expanded into storyboarding and writing work as well. Smal credits this experience to giving him a well-rounded jack-of-all trades approach and understanding of the animation pipeline.[3]
From there, Smal worked in the animation and art departments of shows such as Caillou, Florrie's Dragons, Boxed Warriors, and Team Jay. Smal continued his trajectory of working in a variety of mediums, taking on work as an art director, animator, editor, ad creation and solo content creator of animated shorts.[3]
Smal also played in the rock bands Serving Suggestion (with his brother Tim),[4] Gravity Wins Again, and Versus the Wolf, and later formed the comedy duo Derick Watts & the Sunday Blues with his Gravity Wins Again bandmate Gareth Allison.[5] In 2016, a YouTube video of Smal recording and mixing catchy beats made by his English bulldog Banjoe caught the attention of the Huffington Post in the UK.[6]
Variety named Heavens, along with her animating partner Nic Smal, as one of the top ten animators to watch in 2021.[7]Smal met playwright and comedy writer Lucy Heavens at a studio in South Africa where they bonded over similar comedic, animation and story sensibilities.[8] Their collaboration on the creation of Kiff started when Smal re-shaped an initial crude image of Kiff the squirrel, originally drawn and imagined up by Heavens.[8] Heavens and Smal have noted that ‘Kiff" is a slang word for ‘cool’ in South Africa, and they were inspired by the people and places they experienced when growing up in Cape Town, with many of the characters of Kiff reflecting the personalities of their own family and friends.[9]
Smal ended up designing the entirety of the characters and world of Kiff, including Kiff's best friend Barry the bunny that caught the attention of the Disney Channel.[3]
Kiff premiered on March 10, 2023, on Disney Channel in association with Titmouse Inc.[10] In 2023 Smal was nominated for two Children's and Family Emmy Awards in the Main Title and Voice Directing for an Animated Series categories.[11] At a Disney Branded Television - TCA Winter Press Tour and panel that Smal and Heavens attended, it was unveiled that Kiff has become one of the most streamed and most watched animated series on Disney Channel and Disney+ worldwide.[12]
In June 2024 Smal was a panelist on the Disney presentation at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival called "Storytelling Through Music" where he offered an insightful look at the storytelling benefits of songs.[13]
Smal has an overall development deal with Disney and will develop new animated shows, films, shorts and specials for the Disney Channel & Disney+. The deal includes a second animated series for Disney Channel currently in development pending for a series greenlight.[14]
Smal is currently working on the third season of Kiff, which was recently announced as officially renewed by Disney.[15]The New York Times placed Kiff in the top 50 best TV shows and movies to watch on Disney+.
