About the Character Design Program with FunPlus
For the third year in a row, Creative Art Works and FunPlus, a leading independent mobile game developer and publisher, collaborated on a Character Design Program. The goal of this program is for each intern to create a fully-realized character with a backstory, personality traits, and strengths and weaknesses.
CAW Teaching Artists provided two hours of in-person instruction twice a week over the course of fifteen weeks. In addition, FunPlus artists and creatives from across the globe critiqued youth work, provided career advice, and offered lectures on topics such as body shape, silhouette construction and anatomy, storyboarding, costume and prop design, color scripts, environment and world-building, and more.
The program concluded with an awards ceremony on May 22nd, 2023.
This paid internship served nearly 100 Interns from five New York City Career and Technical Education (CTE) High Schools. The schools are:
BAYSIDE HIGH SCHOOL
CHELSEA CTE HIGH SCHOOL
Chelsea CTE High School
Click on any image to view an intern’s portfolio.
Alexander Tiburcio
Claire Cancel
Litzy Millan
Esmeralda Balderas
Luis Gonzalez Garcia
Gabriel Morales Vidal
Marc Anthony Palaguachi
Jeffrey Cano
Saniah Borgella
Kamila Mukhamedova
Zury Reyes
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY HIGH SCHOOL
Information Technology High School
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Alan Cajamarca
Junhao Fu
Sebastian Balladeras
Anthony Puma
Kenn Gabriel Cataluna
Tashif Mahmood
Ashvir Singh
Mahmoud Elnagar
Tenzin Kunsang
Bryan Arevalo
Neev Thapar
Thiago Alvarez
Jonnathan Agudo
Nieves Colmanares
Tomas Flores
Jorge Victoriano
Rose Bajracharya
Xiohang Su
Yi Liang
Manhattan Early College School for Advertising (MECA)
Manhattan Early College School for Advertising (MECA)
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Alexis Martin
Ellie Garcia
Ava Thompson
James Tyler Foster
Catherine Chong
Jeanine Afoakwa
Rylynn Walters
Charisma Danquah
Jeshua Santiago
Taylor Phillips
Christopher Santos-Diaz
Kayleigh Mateo
Tyler Richburg
Edwinah Malgoire
Manrou Zou
William Zheng
Urban Assembly Gateway High School
Urban Assembly Gateway High School
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Aaron Gambrell
Cathleen Brady
Ja'Mya Lowe
Mohammed Ba
Adrian Rojas
Cole Ogando
Jason Bonifacio
Nicholas Aroca
Alberto Pina
Daniel Casado
Jayden Diaz
Owen Lee
Alvaro Dolores
Ethan Gonzales
J. J. Marte
Rashawn Webster
Amaury Fernandez
Hunter Bradford
Lea Avelino
Tyler Robey
Ashley Diaz
Immanuel Stanley
Leonard Vargas
Yadir Martinez
And the Winners are...
Congratulations to the Best Character Designs as Chosen by Funplus!
Judged by the pros: The winner and runner-up for the 2023 Best Character Award were chosen by: Josh Burns, Fio Fuentes, Juan Garcia, John Hopson, Maia Raigorodsky, Marta Selva, and Eleanor Twilton, of FunPlus.
Finalists for Best Character Design :
Runner Up for Best Character Design: Xion Von Zoahar by Yumi Lu
Xion Von Zoahar Character Design
Winner Best Character Design: Axl by Rayna Lin
Axl Character Design
Thank You!
Our Supporters
This Creative Art Works program was made possible, in part, by generous support from FunPlus.
This Creative Art Works Youth Employment program is supported, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor, and the New York State Legislature; and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council, and by The Milton & Sally Avery Arts Foundation.
Our People
Teaching Artists
Clive Jacobson, CAW Teaching Artist
Serena Ladouceur, CAW Teaching Artist
Brandi Martin-Yu, CAW Teaching Artist
Ivory Nunez-Medrano, CAW Teaching Artist
Abby Walsh, CAW Teaching Artist
Riki Sabel, Program Manager for Character Design
Madeline De Leon, Program Associate for Character Design
Staff
Karen Jolicoeur, Executive Director
Brian Ricklin, President
Ellen Seltzer, Director of Finance and Administration
Ivory Nunez-Medrano, Program Manager | Teaching and Learning
Donna Manganello, Program Manager
Erika Sabel, Program Manager
Clair Vogel, Development Manager
Scott Lucas, Marketing & Communications Manager (Please email Scott for website corrections.)
Jill Goldstein, Office Manager
Frances Flood, Marketing & Communications Intern