Check out these early Spyro concept drawings

Insomniac Games and the Animation Academy have put together a gallery full of early concept art for the original Spyro the Dragon.

In early 1997, president and CEO of Insomniac Ted Price contacted designer Charles Zembillas. At the time, Zembillas had finished work on the new Crash Bandicoot property for Naughty Dog. Insomniac learned about Zembillas from the offices they shared with the developer at Universal and asked him to create a character for them. The result was the purple dragon we know as Spryo, but it took a little trial and error to get his look just right.

The gallery offers an in-depth look at the character design process through a series of sketches. Which ones do you like best?

Follow @wita on Twitter for tales of superheroes, plumbers in overalls, and literary adventures.