Chelsea
About the 2025 Character Design Program at Chelsea CTE
Creative Art Works’ Character Design Program is a paid internship offered at four NYC Career and Technical Education High Schools. Interns are challenged to create their own fully-realized characters with backstories, personality traits, and strengths and weaknesses.
This year, the curriculum suggested three themes to help interns shape their creative vision: Climate Change, Peacekeeping, and Hunger. As the program progressed, some students naturally evolved their characters beyond these original themes, reshaping stories, motivations, and designs in ways that reflected their growing skills and imagination.
DRAMA
Interns: Jasiah Hernandez, Sari Andrews, Shania Prince
Featured Drama Character Designs
Jade by Jasiah Hernandez
She’s an angel born from divine light by celestial design and entrusted with a sacred mission: to guide lost souls and protect the veil between the mortal world and the eternal. Hidden in a mortal form, she descended into the kingdom she would one day rule, living among its people, healing the broken, and steering wandering souls away from damnation.
Sirius and Luna by Sari Andrews
Sirius is a 20-year-old college freshman still deciding on his major. Just as things start to go well and his life begins to get back on track after a tragic event, something unexpected disrupts his peace. Luna, Sirius's twin brother, may be dead, but that doesn't stop him from possessing Sirius and protecting him from beyond the grave whenever he's in a bind.
Hyra by Shania Prince
Hyra and his mother are Galaxy Control Bearers, powerful beings assigned to maintain balance across the universe. When a mysterious school kidnaps his powerful mother, Hrya goes undercover as a student, risking everything to uncover the hidden secrets and rescue his demigod mother before it’s too late.
Costumes, Expression Sheets & Story Boards
FANTASY
Interns: Gabriela Guerro, Bianka Bratton, Pablo Tapia, Madia Dabre, Garnet Fessler, Arya Singh, Nicolette Bethea, Alani Richburg
Evette Sylias
by Gabriela Guerrero
After sacrificing herself to save her people, a brave girl awakens in a peaceful kingdom and teams up with a tiny creature hiding a monstrous secret to find her way back to her beloved Mother Slime. Along the way, she learns a new language and discovers a powerful truth: beyond the kingdom lie terrifying monsters unlike any she has ever seen. There, she meets a small, adorable companion who hides a secret. When angry, it transforms into a massive, fierce beast. Together, they set off on an epic quest to find a way back to Evette’s world.
Summer Greene
by Madia Dabre
In a famine-stricken region, 19-year-old Summer Greene uses her mysterious superhuman strength to defend her community from creatures that steal their food and threaten their lives. Summer deeply values her community and is committed to making sure as many people as possible are cared for. She hopes to avenge her parents' deaths and eradicate the creatures that are haunting her people.
Ruth Avyee
by Bianka Bratton
Ruth Avyee, a 24 year old woman, grew up in the harsh under-city where survival meant everything. She quickly honed her skills as a deadly sniper to protect herself. After a traumatic betrayal by the gang she once trusted within the Eclipse Syndicate, she now fights back as part of an underground resistance determined to bring the organization down.
Dendra
by Garnet Fessler
A curious forest nymph who has never met humans sets out to make friends and discover the world beyond the woods. Dendra is a nymph who is over one hundred years old but appears to be in her twenties. She is bubbly, curious, and emotionally aware. She values honesty and friendship, placing them on the same level of importance as her curiosity. Her goal is to make more friends and to learn about society as a whole.
Min Meng Yao Ying
by Nicolette Bethea
Min Meng Yao Ying is a 24 year old fox spirit, also known as a kitsune, with a playful and mischievous nature. She once had a temple of her own, but because of the negative reputation her parents carried, she was exiled to the Dune of Sands. This is the kingdom where she grew up and trained as a shaman. She possesses a powerful third eye that allows her to choose someone's fortune. When used on a god, the eye can either banish them, trap them within a time paradox, or let them stay in the world with a new title and purpose. Can a fox spirit ever live in peace? The world seems determined to make sure she never does.
Larry, Dale, and Haxora
by Pablo Tapia
After witnessing the destruction caused by humanity, three beings born from one ancient guardian decide to wipe out mankind to restore balance, even if it means waging war against gods and their former allies.
Princess Georgina Dell
by Arya Singh
A lazy and careless princess must learn how to bake to become her kingdom's respected crown princess and future leader. Princess Georgina is 17 years old and lives in the Kingdom of Coralithea, with her parents, the king and queen. As an only child, she has always had their full attention and presence in her life; despite this, the princess is a careless and lazy young lady.
Mushroom Ninja
by Alani Richburg
Poses, Expression Sheets & Story Boards
SCI-FI
Interns: Tianna Melvin, Sezen Bakis, Rama Diallo, Omari Black, Aurelius Johnson, Diana Mason, Claudia Lutumba
Jasmine
by Tianna Melvin
In a future where trash and smoke have engulfed the city, Jasmine must find a way to save her farm and help restore the environment before it's too late. When Jasmine was young, her parents forced her to join the Girl Scouts because she despised farm life. She moved to the city to live with distant relatives and was given the task of helping clean parks around New York City. From the start, she hated being a Scout. As pollution worsened and the environment declined, a younger girl named Hazel joined the group. Hazel constantly bothered Jasmine, but over time, she helped Jasmine discover a love for nature and a sense of responsibility for the environment.
001
By Omari Black
001 was created in a secret lab beneath the Core Zone, where the ruling Dominion experimented with merging magic and machines. Engineered to be the perfect weapon, 001 was infused with ancient energy and advanced technology, wiping away any trace of their former identity. But a fragment of memory slipped past the control systems, awakening self-awareness. One night, 001 escaped, leaving the lab in ruins. Now, hunted by both the Dominion and rebel factions who fear their power, 001 searches for the truth about their origins and whether they were ever truly human.
Hazel
by Sezen Bakis
Hazel is a 16 year old girl. Unlike her younger self, she is now introverted, though she remains just as brave. However, now that she’s older, she has lost touch with her passion for nature and animals. That changes one day while walking through Central Park, a place she would frequent when she was younger. She witnesses a man killing a squirrel, and in that moment, her love for nature and animals reignites.
Michiru Chusuke Sao
by Aurelius Johnson
Far off in a future of advanced technology and magic, the government continues to put people on puppet strings and turn folks against each other, And it is up to two people to stop it. Michiru is a 37-year-old man who had enjoyed his life until humanity went into ruin, due to the government being more corrupt then he thought, and people turning against each other out of fear and hatred. Michiru tries to help the world alongside his adoptive child, Rascal; however, not all stories have a happy result, and Michiru has to find out the truth of where he stands.
Gabriel
by Claudia Lutumba
Yara
by Rama Diallo
Yara is a 17-year-old who struggles to fit in at school and feels out of place at home. No matter how hard she tries, her efforts often go unnoticed. Whenever she shares her accomplishments with her parents, they are quickly overshadowed by her older sister’s achievements. This constant comparison makes Yara feel invisible and disconnected from her family. As she navigates the challenges of growing up, she searches for a way to be seen for who she truly is and to find her own place, both at home and in the world around her.
Rascal
by Diana Mason
In a future shaped by advanced technology and magic, a corrupt government manipulates its citizens and turns them against one another. Now, it’s up to two unlikely heroes to break the cycle and fight for freedom. Rascal is a 19 year old cat-jester with prosthetic limbs and a vibrant, colorful palette. They were born to serve as a jester in the royal court of a great queen; however, their life changed completely after a devastating accident involving an explosion that caused them to lose their limbs. Forced to flee their home, Rascal wandered alone until they were found by a kind mechanic who crafted them new prosthetic limbs. Eventually, Rascal was adopted by Michiru.
Iara
by Nichole Leigertwood
Iara is a clumsy, quirky, and ambitious middle schooler who deeply admires her parents, who are both retired veterans of the space force. She dreams of following in their footsteps by becoming a magical girl in the space force, but her age and lack of experience pose major challenges. Despite the setbacks, Iara remains determined to prove herself, especially when she begins to suspect that Earth is in far greater danger than anyone realizes.
