Welcome to the first of our Artist Spotlight series, where we Q&A Golden Wolf creatives to find out their inspirations, fav projects, life lessons, and everything inbetween.

First up, our amazing Associate Talent Director, Karl Fekete.

Karl is a multi-talented and energetic US-based director who excels at taking well known IP and pushing it into new visual territory. His work feels intentional, design forward, and confidently mixed media. Across projects for Fortnite, Nickelodeon, Hulu, and Disney, he’s shown how to elevate existing characters and assets into campaigns that feel premium, contemporary, and culturally tuned in.

⁠Where it all began...

"Tripping and falling into animation was a complete accident, and damned if I don’t like it here. I grew up drawing letters in my sketchbooks and writing graffiti under bridges, eventually wandering into school for advertising and graphic design. I always had a love for sign painting and pulp art, so I figured I could scrape a living doing logos instead of tagging my name in the alley. Finding myself with a few free credits in my last year at university, I dropped into Intro to Motion Graphics and * moonstruck * instant crush. The next ten years I spent learning everything I could about motion design, slowly pawing my way to my voice.

I like anything that moves fast, snaps with you, makes you feel it, and has teeth. Give me any excuse to hone into ephemera of any vintage to find new ways to make stuff look old, or just a chance to style some letters and I’m cool as a clam.

That GW Magic

Working with the gang at Golden Wolf is just good times, man. Everybody that touches any part of a project is always pushing to make it better, be that visually or aurally or conceptually or just trying to make each other’s day better. Or that last little thing, that oh dang that actually is a fantastic idea, do more of that. I love that. Seems like there’s always room for everyone, and there’s just so many amazing artists that bring their magic through our gates, it’s not for long if you’re feeling like a cold grey lump that never had a good idea. 

Fav Project?

One of my fave projects from the archives was a phony ad for a phony toy based on a phony cartoon called The Starstriker Bandits. 80s action animation mania and vinyl action figures and sci-fi space odyssey heroes, cosmic villains, and android sidekicks?? It was one of those hyper nostalgic moments where you rediscover one of your childhood obsessions and no one gets mad at you for exposing your deepest nerdself. It was also one of my first rodeos art directing a fully 2D animated piece, and we had a ball capturing the authentic look of 80s action cartoons. Plus, I got to rock out an illustrated chromed-out logo build for the title sequence and that may well be my eternal happy place, so long as there’s good snacks for me and my dog. 

There’s an evolve-or-die fear thing happening right now in the motion industry with AI on the rise and an everlasting perpetual tidal stream of content, and it can be catching. Honestly though, I’m feeling more excited and optimistic than ever about developing new techniques and continuing to hone my own workflows and ways of bringing visions to life, and when you’re facing an endless river of content, it kind of eases the pressure to jump in the mix and try something new. 

Best Piece of Advice You've Ever Received?

The two best pieces of creative advice I ever got were short and sweet, delivered separately across decades from two different mentors of mine. They were more for specific creative questions, but I’ve gone back to them time and time again:
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Draw what you see, not what you think you should see. 
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⁠Take some room, make some room.