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Summer 2D Character Design Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Skydance

Character Designer

Santa Monica, CA · On-site

$2.9K - $4.0K/wk

Create clear and expressive character turnarounds, pose sheets, and supplementary drawings in 2D and/or CG visual development formats * Conduct visual and thematic research to inform design choices ...

Skydance

Character Designer

Santa Monica, CA

$2.9K - $4.0K/wk

Create clear and expressive character turnarounds, pose sheets, and supplementary drawings in 2D and/or CG visual development formats * Conduct visual and thematic research to inform design choices ...

Montgomery College

MD · On-site

... 2D Design. We are seeking an enthusiastic and dedicated teacher who exhibits a high degree of ... During summer part-time faculty at Montgomery College may teach no more than 10 ESH (equivalent ...

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All JobsSummer 2D Character Design Jobs

Summer 2D Character Design information

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How much do summer 2d character design jobs pay per hour?

As of Jul 22, 2026, the average hourly pay for summer 2d character design in the United States is $29.96, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $24.04 and $33.65 per hour, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What are some common challenges faced by Summer 2D Character Designers, and how can they be overcome?

Summer 2D Character Designers often face tight project deadlines and the need to quickly adapt to different artistic styles, especially when working on collaborative projects like summer animation workshops or game jams. Communication with other team members, such as animators and art directors, is essential to ensure character designs are both visually appealing and functional for animation. Staying organized, accepting constructive feedback, and maintaining a robust portfolio of work created during the summer can help overcome these challenges and set you up for future opportunities in character design.

What is the difference between Summer 2D Character Design vs 2D Character Animator?

AspectSummer 2D Character Design2D Character Animator
Required SkillsConcept art, character sketches, design softwareAnimation techniques, rigging, motion software
Work EnvironmentDesign studios, freelance projects, gaming and animation companiesAnimation studios, gaming companies, post-production houses
Common CertificationsDigital art, illustration, design coursesAnimation, motion graphics certifications

Summer 2D Character Design focuses on creating the visual concepts and character designs, while 2D Character Animator brings those designs to life through movement and animation. Both roles often collaborate but require different skill sets and tools, making them distinct yet complementary positions in the animation and gaming industries.

What are Summer 2D Character Designers?

Summer 2D Character Designers are artists who create and develop character concepts and illustrations, typically for projects or internships that take place during the summer months. Their work is essential in fields such as animation, video games, comics, and advertising, where visually appealing and original characters are needed. These designers use traditional drawing techniques or digital tools to bring characters to life, often collaborating with other creatives like writers and animators. Summer positions may be geared toward students or emerging artists seeking hands-on experience and portfolio development during a limited timeframe.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a Summer 2D Character Designer, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Summer 2D Character Designer, you need strong drawing skills, a solid understanding of anatomy, color theory, and character development, often supported by a degree or coursework in art or design. Familiarity with digital illustration tools such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and drawing tablets is typically required. Creativity, attention to detail, and the ability to take feedback make someone stand out in this position. These skills ensure the creation of engaging, visually consistent characters that align with project goals and captivate audiences.
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What cities are hiring for Summer 2D Character Design jobs? Cities with the most Summer 2D Character Design job openings:
What are the most commonly searched types of 2D Character Design jobs? The most popular types of 2D Character Design jobs are:
What states have the most Summer 2D Character Design jobs? States with the most job openings for Summer 2D Character Design jobs include:
What job categories do people searching Summer 2D Character Design jobs look for? The top searched job categories for Summer 2D Character Design jobs are:
Summer 2D Character Design jobs near you
Infographic showing various Summer 2D Character Design job openings in the United States as of July 2026, with employment types broken down into 96% Full Time, and 4% Part Time. Highlights an 99% Physical, and 1% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $62,322 per year, or $30 per hour.

Senior 2D Character Animator

Ello Technology, Inc

San Francisco, CA • On-site, Remote

$124K - $142K/yr

Contractor

Posted 6 days ago

Job description

Our mission at Ello is simple and urgent: Maximize the potential of every child, everywhere.
We're building the world's first AI teacher to close that gap: one that listens, speaks, adapts, and inspires, just like the best human educators.
Our first product, Read with Ello, is already helping tens of thousands of kids each week learn to read. It listens as they read aloud, offers support when they stumble, and generates magical, personalized stories using generative AI. It works - and kids love it.
Now, we're scaling that success into something even bigger: a complete AI teacher for all children. We're building a real-time learning platform - one that combines language, speech, and memory to power personalized, interactive education for kids worldwide. We're moving fast: we ship weekly, test directly with kids and families, and push the boundaries of what AI can do in education.
With the resources of the world's top investors and the heart of a public benefit corporation, we're here to revolutionize how children learn globally. Featured on TIME's Best Inventions and Fortune's Change the World, Ello is a small, mission-driven team taking on one of the most important challenges of our time: to democratize education.
About the Role
Animation is how Ello's characters come alive - and it's one of the most visible expressions of our product's magic for kids and families. We're looking for a Senior Character Animator to join us on a part-time contract basis and bring genuinely exceptional character performance to our interactive learning experiences.
You'll work closely with our Design and Engineering teams to animate and ship character states in Rive, our real-time animation tool. Your primary focus: crafting animation that is expressive, emotionally resonant, and delightful for children ages 4-8 - bringing personality and warmth to every interaction a child has with Ello.
The right person for this role is, above all, an outstanding character animator. If you also bring technical depth - state machine design, integration thinking, rigging - that's a significant bonus and will shape how much ownership you take across the animation pipeline. But we're hiring first for craft.
What You'll Work On
  • Animate character states - idle, reactions, celebrations, emotional responses - for Ello's interactive learning experiences in Rive
  • Collaborate with our Art Director and technical animator to ensure quality and consistency across the character system
  • Work with engineering to ensure your animations integrate cleanly into the live product
  • Build scalable animation libraries and naming conventions that others can extend

Required Qualifications
  • A portfolio or reel demonstrating exceptional character animation - expressive, emotionally resonant, some examples that appropriate for a children's audience, and with range of acting style
  • Production experience with real-time, state-machine-driven animation tools (Rive preferred; Spine, Unity Animator, or similar accepted)
  • Strong communicator who makes collaboration with engineers and other animators easy
  • 3-5+ years in character animation
  • US-compatible timezone; ability to travel to SF occasionally

Nice to Have
The following aren't required, but would significantly expand your impact and ownership on the team:
  • State machine architecture - experience designing states, transitions, layers, and trigger logic for real-time interactive products
  • Integration experience - you've owned the handoff between animation and engineering, designing deliverables that land correctly in a live product without extensive back-and-forth
  • Rigging - building skeletal structures, joint constraints, and deformation setups for character animation
  • Children's or interactive products - experience animating for kids' products, interactive games, or edtech
  • Animation-forward companies - background at studios like Duolingo, Toca Boca, Headspace, ClassDojo, Lingokids, Supercell, gaming studios, or similar

We Look for Candidates Who
  • Animate with intent - every timing decision serves the character's emotional state and the child's learning moment
  • Think in systems, not just scenes - build animation that can be reused, extended, and handed off cleanly
  • Own their queue - surface risks early, flag scope changes proactively, and don't wait to be managed
  • Push back when it matters - care deeply about quality and advocate for the right creative decisions

Reasons to Join Us
  • Animate characters that are genuinely loved by hundreds of thousands of children
  • Work at the intersection of AI, animation, and education - one of the most technically exciting spaces in consumer tech
  • Collaborate with a world-class design and engineering team that cares deeply about craft
  • Real ownership: ship work you're proud of directly to kids and families every week

About Ello
Ello is a public benefit corporation on a mission to maximize the potential of all children. We're currently around 50 people, headquartered in San Francisco with another office in Nairobi, Kenya.
Our team has deep expertise in artificial intelligence, K-12 education, and child development across institutions such as Stanford, Berkeley, Google, Apple, and more. We were part of Y Combinator's W20 batch and are funded by world-class investors, including Goodwater Capital, Homebrew, Reed Hastings, Common Sense Growth, Ravensburger, Project A Ventures, Reach Capital, Khosla Ventures, WndrCo, Visible Ventures, and K9 Ventures.
We're a small, collaborative team that takes each other's voices seriously. Because our mission is to support all children, our team must be representative of the communities we work in; we place significant emphasis on ensuring diversity in our team and inclusion in our culture.
We feel enormously privileged to be one of the few companies with the opportunity to take a shot at truly revolutionizing education with AI at this inflection point in technology. We don't take it for granted, so we work urgently to turn that vision into reality. We want to create an environment where we can all be our best selves, use our strengths to take Ello forward, and develop our skills. We want to have fun while working hard to do impactful things we're proud of - and we believe it's possible to do both.
At Ello, diversity is a moral imperative and a competitive advantage. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, skin color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We plan and structure our interviews to assess skills and experience directly. If you need accommodations throughout the interview process, please contact recruiting@ello.com.

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