Nathaniel Antonio

* Nathaniel
* Artist

**Nathaniel Antonio**, also known as **Nathan** or **Nate**, is one of the protagonists of *Paleoart*. He is the author and illustrator of the *Field Guide to Dinosaurs and Other Mesozoic Reptiles*. In "Adventure of a Lifetime", after his computer mouse and pen are brought to life, he transforms into **Artist**, the superhero of **Imagination** who can bring his imagination to life.

## Appearance

### Physical appearance

Of Spanish-Filipino ancestry, Nathaniel is a slender young man of average height, with turquoise eyes and ginger-colored hair.

### Civilian attire

Nathaniel wears a red-orange T-shirt with a *Tyrannosaurus rex* skull design on the front. Over the shirt he wears a gray blazer with a folded collar and sleeves. He wears dark purple, almost black denims that are rolled up at the bottom, and his shoes are stone gray.

### As Artist

Artist's skin is the color of old parchment. His red hair is longer and untamed compared to his civilian form, and it has pink instead of orange highlights. He wears a dark blue beret with a sewn-on feathered dinosaur-shaped patch with "XII" embroidered on it.

He wears a one-piece spandex suit that stretches from his neck to his toes. The top part of the suit is white, with the Roman numbers for I-V and VII-XI on his left and right arms, respectively. At his shoulders there are off-white leaves that can be torn off and used as note paper. His chest has a twelve-color wheel with a clock design that has white hands that join at a black dot. Dark blue stripes curve away from this design. There is a lavender-colored trapezoid that stretches from just below the clock to his waist. His thighs are dark blue, his knees are brown, and the rest is red-orange.

A dark blue belt is tied around his waist. Two blue paintbrushes are tied to it by rope. A palette attached to a wooden board hangs between the paintbrushes. It holds seven paints, one for each color of the rainbow, and has an upside-down "VI" marked on it.

## Personality

Nathaniel is a creative, calm and empathic young man who loves to create and take care of his creations. He is kind to those he knows well, such as his daughter Brooke or the characters he creates. He describes himself as a scientist and often thinks scientifically, shown when he refuses to color a drawing for fear of being inaccurate and initially doubting the veracity of Pen's powers in "Adventure of a Lifetime". He is also a time freak, often checking his pocket watch and insisting that his schedule be accurate down to the second. Despite his shortcomings, he is enthralled by the thought of magic and adventure, excitedly bringing his magical companions on a trip back to the Age of Dinosaurs.

## Abilities

Nathaniel, obviously, is artistic and capable in many different fields of art. He can draw digitally and traditionally, as well as write the entire intro of a book within a single night. He is also knowledgeable in the sciences, capable of memorizing and calculating facts and statistics and applying them to his daily life. As the author of a dinosaur book, he knows a lot about paleontology and biology, but he's also good at mathematics, aviation, physics and horology, enough to build a working jet plane time machine.

### As Artist

As Artist, his artistic and scientific knowledge drastically increase. He also gains paintbrushes, a palette, and self-regenerating leaf-shaped pieces of paper so he can draw wherever he is. The paintbrushes can also be used as swords, and, combined with their rope, used as grappling hooks that can allow him to swing from place to place. Spinning them also allows them to be used as shields. He also has access to a time machine, Pen, and a magical drawing tablet that can draw things to life.

## Relationships

### Brooke

Brooke is Nathaniel's teenage daughter. He loves her very much and they share a favorite food - chicken fingers and fries. He always buys it for her and they often eat it together. They also like discussing their projects with each other.

### Dana

Nathaniel and Dana trust each other very well. Nathaniel loves Dana so much because she brought Mousey and Pen to life, and in return he made her the copilot of his time machine. Dana sees him as a good caretaker and friend. They are bonded by the love of art.

### Mousey

Mousey was created when Nathaniel was just twelve, so their relationship has lasted quite long. However, for most of her lifetime, she was a fictional character, so he was only able to display his true feelings for her recently. From what we've seen, he really likes Mousey, considering her his favorite OC.

### Pen

Like Mousey, Pen was created in Nathaniel's youth, and has remained inaminate until recently. However, he seems to have forgotten about her, forgetting where she came from and even doubting her abilities. However, he ends up trusting her again.

## History

### Before Season 1

When Nathaniel was twelve years old, in eighth grade, his creativity began to shine. He created OC's based on everyday objects, and even wrote a short comic featuring him as the artist superhero, "Super Nathan". In high school, he identified with this persona to woo his crush.

Later, in his teenage years, he was inspired to create his *Field Guide*. Over the next twelve years, he collaborated with an online friend to choose creatures, also obtaining lots of clocks, expensive art supplies, and learning enough science to build a working time machine.

### Season 1

In "Adventure of a Lifetime", he finally gets all the creatures for his book and starts working on it. After failing to come up with color schemes, he meets Dana, who brings Mousey and Pen to life. Inspired by them, he transforms into Artist and officially starts his journey back in time.

## Trivia

* Nathaniel was created as a digital artist to increase the representation of digital art in popular culture.
* Nathaniel's name, appearance, and superhero costume are based on Nathaniel Kurtzberg and his supervillain identity "Evillustrator" from the French animated series *Miraculous Ladybug*.
	+ Artist's costume is also loosely based on cuckoo clocks. His palette and brushes, for example, mimic a clock's weights and pendulum.
		- The combination of artist and clock motifs reflects his personality as a brilliant artist and scientist. This is because superhero costumes reflect the thoughts and desires of their wearers.

* The time on the clock design on Artist's shirt changes based on the color Pen or his paintbrushes are set. For example, when the output is black, the clock reads 7:15.
	+ It is a reference to the color wheel in the art program *MediBang*; the position of the hands correspond to the positions of the pointer on the wheel. The pointer in the square corresponds to the hour hand, while the pointer in the circle corresponds to the minute hand.
* For a short time, User:Atlantis536 considered making "Artist" his actual given name.
* User:Atlantis536 considers Artist to be a reflection of him.
	+ Atlantis536 created Nathaniel with some of his personality traits, but as the story was developed he started seeing *himself* as Nathaniel.
* For a while, Artist's superpower was called "**Illustration**".
	+ "Illustration" is now the name of Pen's power.
		- While Artist's and Pen's powers are similar, they are also slightly different and in fact complement each other. Pen can only bring drawings to life, but Artist can create things and even affect reality itself by writing, speaking, or even thinking.

## Gallery

A drawing by User:Atlantis536 featuring a quote from *Miraculous Ladybug*. A coloring page is also available here

**Nathaniel Antonio/Artist** • Dana • Magic Mousey the Second • Pen

Other characters
Brooke Antonio • Gabriele Rustico • Marietta Rustico • Minor characters