Animator — 2D Cartoon Animation & Character Animation

Job Description

Onward Star Studios is seeking experienced and creative 2D Animators to help bring our upcoming animated project, Seedling, to life.

We are looking for animators who are comfortable working with both rigged animation and traditional frame-by-frame animation. Because Seedling was designed without traditional line art, our characters and visual style allow for a combination of animation techniques, including rig-based animation.

We are particularly interested in animators who have a strong understanding of cartoon movement, character expression, timing, and storytelling, and who can bring personality and life to relatively simplistic character designs.

Who We’re Looking For

Our ideal candidate has experience in 2D cartoon animation and is comfortable working across different animation techniques.

A major part of Seedling revolves around plants, nature, and botanical characters, so we are particularly interested in animators who are familiar with or have experience animating:

• Plant-based characters and botanical designs
• Expressive cartoon characters and facial expressions
• Character acting, body movement, and personality
• Stylized movement commonly found in children’s cartoons
• Both rigged animation and traditional frame-by-frame animation

We aren’t simply looking for someone who can make characters move. We’re looking for animators who understand how to bring characters to life through movement, personality, expression, and storytelling.

Responsibilities

Animators will work alongside the director and other members of the animation team to bring characters, environments, and scenes to life while maintaining the project’s established visual style.

Responsibilities may include:

• Animating 2D cartoon characters and scenes
• Creating both rigged animations and traditional frame-by-frame animations
• Working with character rigs and developing animation cycles
• Creating expressive character movements, facial expressions, and reactions
• Animating plant-based characters and botanical elements
• Creating walk cycles, idle animations, gestures, and other character movements
• Maintaining consistent character proportions and visual styles
• Working with storyboards, character designs, and animation references
• Collaborating with the director and art department to achieve the intended movement and visual direction
• Reviewing and revising animations based on creative feedback
• Preparing completed animations for integration into the production

Ideal Background

We’re particularly interested in animators with experience in 2D cartoon animation, children’s animation, television animation, independent animation, or animated film production.

Experience working on cartoons, animated series, independent films, or other character-driven animation projects is highly desirable.

Professional animation experience is valuable, but a strong portfolio, technical ability, and understanding of character animation are more important to us than a specific job title.

Experience with programs such as Adobe Animate, Adobe After Effects, Toon Boom Harmony, Adobe Photoshop, or other 2D animation software is a plus.

We are especially interested in candidates who have experience using Adobe Animate and understand both rig-based and frame-by-frame animation workflows.

Portfolio

Your portfolio should ideally demonstrate strong 2D character animation, cartoon movement, character acting, animation cycles, and/or completed animation sequences.

We would especially like to see examples of:

• Frame-by-frame character animation
• Rigged character animation
• Cartoon characters and expressive movement
• Plant, nature, or botanical animation
• Children’s animation or character-driven storytelling
• Completed scenes or animation projects

We especially want to see animators who can take relatively simple character designs and bring them to life through expressive, creative, and memorable movement.

Compensation is negotiable based on experience, portfolio, availability, and level of involvement.