About the Author
Nick Harborne
Creator of Roary the Raptor
How Roary Began
Roary the Raptor started with a simple request from Nick’s nieces and nephews:
"draw us colorful dinosaurs!"
Not ordinary dinosaurs. Wild ones. Rainbow ones. Neon ones. The kind of dinosaurs that looked like they had stomped through a paint store, crashed into a crayon box, and proudly called it fashion.
The kids loved them. And that reaction stuck with Nick. What began as a fun family drawing moment slowly opened the door to something much bigger.
Looking Back at Childhood Cartoons
As Nick kept thinking about those colorful dinosaurs, he started reflecting on the cartoons and characters he loved growing up. The early 90s were full of strange, funny, loud, high-energy worlds that felt fearless. They were wacky. They were weird. They were bursting with personality.
But when Nick looked at a lot of what kids were watching today, he felt something was missing. So much of it seemed safer, quieter, more muted, and less creatively electric than the worlds that had inspired him as a child.
He also noticed something else: there did not seem to be many characters speaking directly to young artists. Kids who love to draw, color, make, invent, scribble, paint, and imagine were not always being given a world that felt built for them.
That became the spark.
A Winter in South America
During the winter of 2023 and 2024, Nick went through a major personal and creative shift and spent the season in South America. While away, he kept coming back to the idea of Roary.
He sketched the character. He imagined the stories. He started thinking beyond one book and into a larger world filled with color-themed adventures, goofy friends, art lessons, songs, videos, and characters that kids could grow with.
By the time he returned to Vancouver, Roary was no longer just an idea sitting in a sketchbook. It was something Nick knew he had to build.
Why Roary Is So Bright
Vancouver is a beautiful city, but winter can be grey, wet, and heavy. Growing up in that environment had a real effect on Nick. Those long gloomy stretches made him crave color, energy, warmth, and creative escape.
That feeling became part of Roary’s DNA.
Roary’s world is loud because the grey days were quiet. It is vibrant because the winters were muted. It is full of neon color because Nick always wanted something brighter to step into.
A Childhood Dream, Reimagined
As a kid, Nick dreamed of becoming an animator or character artist for Disney. Like a lot of childhood dreams, that path shifted as life moved forward. He went on to build a career in art, branding, marketing, design, websites, visual storytelling, and helping create brands for companies and entrepreneurs.
But Roary brought something back.
This project reconnects Nick with the kind of creativity that first made him fall in love with art: character design, storytelling, color, humor, imagination, and building worlds that make people feel something.
Why It Matters Now
After years of creating brands for other people, Nick has never felt more at home creatively than he does building the world of Roary the Raptor.
Roary is a return to childhood wonder, a love letter to colorful cartoons, and a creative invitation for kids who see the world a little louder, brighter, weirder, and more wonderfully than everyone else.
