See How Insomniac Hatched Spyro In Concept Art Gallery

Characters don't pop into the world fully formed. For the vast majority of the time, our favorite heroes and villains are the result of a long cycle of brainstorming, sketching, and revising. If you'd like to see an excellent glimpse of how a well-known character was born, from concept to the end result, the Animation Academy has a fairly exhaustive look at Spyro the Dragon's genesis.

The series of drawings shows how Spyro evolved from a one-word description – dragon – into something significantly more interesting. Insomniac designer Charles Zembillas started with a few humble sketches, and then he iterated on them until he arrived at something that's significantly more interesting. The gallery is a fascinating look at the creative process, whether or not you're a Spyro fan.

Thanks for the tip, Chris!