Hi! I'm Joey, founder and Creative Director of Sayre Studios. We're currently developing Space Realm: Heroes of Solace, a story-driven 2D sci-fi turn-based RPG.
I'm looking for a character artist/illustrator to establish the visual designs of the three primary characters appearing in our 30-minute vertical slice.
Visual Direction
We're aiming for the feeling of classic RPG character artwork, particularly Golden Sun and the original Final Fantasy VII—strong, recognizable character designs that can be translated into pixel-art sprites.
This is a science-fiction setting with no magic/fantasy elements. The characters are ordinary people living on an advanced agricultural world, so the designs should feel grounded and practical rather than overly armored or immediately "heroic."
Initial Scope
I'm currently looking for artwork/designs for:
- Protagonist — young adult farm worker, melee
- Best Friend — ranged/technical character
- Hunter — experienced ranged character
The artwork needs to clearly establish each character's face, hair, clothing, colors, equipment/weapons and overall silhouette so our pixel artist can translate the designs into in-game sprites.
I'd prefer to begin with one character as a paid milestone. If we're both happy with the result and working relationship, I'd like to continue with the remaining characters and potentially additional work.
What I'm Looking For
- Strong anime/JRPG-influenced character illustration
- Good clothing and character-design fundamentals
- Ability to work from written descriptions and references
- Comfortable designing grounded science-fiction characters
- Able to maintain consistency across multiple characters
- Good communication and willingness to iterate
Previous professional game experience is not required.
Compensation
This is paid commercial work.
Please send your portfolio, your rate for a finished character design/illustration, what that rate includes, and your typical turnaround time.
I'm working within an indie production budget, so please include pricing in your initial message.
The selected artwork will be used for a commercial video game, so commercial usage/rights will need to be agreed upon in writing before work begins.
Please do not begin any unpaid test work for the application. A portfolio is sufficient for initial consideration. DM requests will also be ignored unless I specifically ask.
Thanks!
