Digital Character Design

CHARACTER DESIGN INTERNSHIP

This Program Builds Character: This spring, Creative Art Works joined forces with FunPlus, an international interactive entertainment company, to offer an online character design internship to 70 NYC high school students. This 9-week internship included live instruction from CAW Teaching Artists augmented by guest lectures and critiques from FunPlus artists and other industry professionals from across the globe. For many, this was their first work experience.

Character-Driven: Our young interns learned fundamentals of drawing, such as the difference between ideal and exaggerated proportions and how facial expressions and body language can covey emotions. They also developed the confidence and skills to inject personality into their characters in order to make them memorable, whether they are a hero, villain, or comic sidekick. Knowing what’s inside the character’s heart and mind informs the design.

Each intern completed a portfolio which included their final design, a process drawing, a brief bio and a video artist statement. While all of the portfolios have been collected on our website, each one has a unique URL which means that interns can refer to their own page on college or job applications. The program culminated with a massive online event with participants joining from China, Europe and across the United States.

You can see all the character design portfolios on our website! https://www.creativeartworks.org/2021-character-design-program

“I had no idea what I was going to draw when I started sketching, but then I had a spontaneous idea about robots stealing pieces from other robots to complete themselves, but then they don’t know how to make these pieces their own.”

— Christian Concepcion

Amari Outlaw-Clark

“The biggest thing I learned from the program was the ability to tell a character's story with just their appearance. The way a character looks reveals so much about them.”

— Amari Outlaw-Clark

Brandon Green

“Something that I liked about working on this character was that, before this internship, she didn’t look like this at all. This program really helped me refine my character’s design and personality.”

– Brandon Green

This Creative Art Works program is supported, in part, by the generous private corporate support of FunPlus, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council.